Gerald Durrell
The Talking Parcel
by Gerald Durrell
Illustrated by Pamela Johnson
The big brown paper parcel that washes up on the beach seems perfectly ordinary—that is, until it begins to speak and sing, and not in one voice but two! And the talking parcel is only the beginning of the amazing adventure of discovery that takes Penelope, Peter, and Simon from modern Greece to Mythologia—where flowers never die, where there are four different sunsets every day, and where all the famous (and infamous) mythological animals now live, ruled by absent-minded magician H. H. Junketberry.
Mythologia is in turmoil, for the gruesome, firebreathing Cockatrices are trying to enslave all the other animals. In their urgent quest for a way to save Mythologia, the three cousins journey all over the magical countryside meeting such legendary beasts as the beautiful Unicorns, the fiery Phoenixes, the fearsome Werewolves, and a hard- of-hearing Sea Serpent who likes to cook.
In The Talking Parcel, his first fantasy for young people, renowned author and naturalist Gerald Durrell has created a world of surprising twists and turns that is like no other yet discovered.
THE TALKING
PARCEL
by Gerald Durrell
Illustrated by Pamela Johnson
J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
Philadelphia and New York
Text copyright © 1974 by Gerald Durrell
Illustrations copyright © 1975 by J. B. Lippincott Company
All Rights Reserved
Printed in the United States of America
First American Edition
U.S. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Durrell, Gerald Malcolm, birth date The talking parcel.
SUMMARY: Three children travel to the land of mythical animals and try to save it from the evil Cockatrices.
[1. Fantasy] I. Johnson, Pamela, ill. II. Title.
PZ7.D9343Tal3 [Fic] 74-23367 ISBN-0-397-31608-9
This book is for my Goddaughter
Deirdre Alexandra Platt
Dear Deirdre,
Here is the book that I promised you, and I hope you will enjoy it.
It is no good your asking me the next time we meet whether it is all true, because I have been sworn to secrecy. But I can give you some hints.
For example, I can tell you that Parrot's cousin in India was a very real bird and not only traveled in Rolls Royces but had an International Passport as well. If at some time in the future you are in Greece, you will find Madame Hortense sitting on a siding exactly as I have described, and you will be able to take a diesel train up the valley to the very entrance of Mythologia. Finally, if you look in a book called The History of Four-footed Beasts by Edward Topsell, you will find that weasels were, in fact, the cure for Cockatrices.