Roald Dahl - James and the Giant Peach

"Thanks very much!" snapped the Head of the Fire Department.

Soon there were no less than seven large fantastic faces peering down over the side of the peach - the Centipede's, the Old-Green-Grasshopper's, Miss Spider's, the Earthworm's, the Ladybug's, the Silkworm's, and the Glowworm's. And a sort of panic was beginning to break out among the firemen and the policemen on the rooftop.

Then, all at once, the panic stopped and a great gasp of astonishment went up all around. For now, a small boy was seen to be standing up there beside the other creatures. His hair was blowing in the wind, and he was laughing and waving and calling out, "Hello, everybody! Hello!"

For a few moments, the men below just stood and stared and gaped. They simply couldn't believe their eyes.

"Bless my soul!" cried the Head of the Fire Department, going red in the face. "It really is a little boy, isn't it?"

"Don't be frightened of us, please!" James called out. "We are so glad to be here!"

"What about those others beside you?" shouted the Chief of Police. "Are any of them dangerous?"

"Of course they're not dangerous!" James answered. "They're the nicest creatures in the world! Allow me to introduce them to you one by one and then I'm sure you will believe me.

"My friends, this is the Centipede, and let me make it known

He is so sweet and gentle that (although he's overgrown)

The Queen of Spain, again and again, has summoned him by phone

To baby-sit and sing and knit and be a chaperone

When nurse is off and all the royal children are alone."

("Small wonder," said a Fireman, "they're no longer on the throne.")

"The Earthworm, on the other hand,"

Said James, beginning to expand,

"Is great for digging up the land

And making old soils newer.

Moreover, you should understand

He would be absolutely grand

For digging subway tunnels and

For making you a sewer."

(The Earthworm blushed and beamed with pride.

Miss Spider clapped and cheered and cried,

"Could any words be truer? ")

"And the Grasshopper, ladies and gents, is a boon

In millions and millions of ways.

You have only to ask him to give you a tune

And he plays and he plays and he plays.

As a toy for your children he's perfectly sweet;

There's nothing so good in the shops - -

You've only to tickle the soles of his feet

And he hops and he hops and he hops."

("He can't be very fierce!" exclaimed

The Head of all the Cops.)

"And now without excuse

I'd like to introduce

This charming Glow-worm, lover of simplicity.

She is easy to install

On your ceiling or your wall,

And although this smacks a bit of eccentricity,

It's really rather clever

For thereafter you will never

You will NEVER NEVER NEVER

Have the slightest need for using electricity."

(At which, no less than fifty-two

Policemen cried, "If this is true

That creature'll get some fabulous publicity!")

"And here we have Miss Spider

With a mile of thread inside her

Who has personally requested me to say

That she's NEVER met Miss Muffet

On her charming little tuffet - -

If she had she'd NOT have frightened her away.

Should her looks sometimes alarm you

Then I don't think it would harm you

To repeat at least a hundred times a day:

'I must NEVER kill a spider

I must only help and guide her

And invite her in the nursery to play.' ''

(The Police all nodded slightly,

And the Firemen smiled politely,

And about a dozen people cried, "Hooray!")

"And here's my darling Ladybug, so beautiful, so kind,

My greatest comfort since this trip began.

She has four hundred children and she's left them all behind,

But they're coming on the next peach if they can."

(The Cops cried, "She's entrancing!"

All the Firemen started dancing,

And the crowds all started cheering to a man!)

"And now, the Silkworm," James went on,

"Whose silk will bear comparison

With all the greatest silks there are

In Rome and Philadelphia.

If you would search the whole world through

From Paraguay to Timbuctoo

I don't think you would jind one bit

Of silk that could compare with it.

Even the shops in Singapore

Don't have the stuff. And what is more,

This Silkworm had, I'll have you know,

The honor, not so long ago,

To spin and weave and sew and press

The Queen of England 's wedding dress.

And she's already made and sent

A waistcoat for your President."

("Well, good for her!" the Cops cried out,

And all at once a mighty shout

Went up around the Empire State,

"Let's get them down at once! Why WAIT?")

Five minutes later, they were all safely down, and James was excitedly telling his story to a group of flabbergasted officials.

And suddenly - everyone who had come over on the peach was a hero! They were all escorted to the steps of City Hall, where the Mayor of New York made a speech of welcome. And while he was doing this, one hundred steeplejacks, armed with ropes and ladders and pulleys, swarmed up to the top of the Empire State Building and lifted the giant peach off the spike and lowered it to the ground.

Then the Mayor shouted, "We must now have a ticker-tape parade for our wonderful visitors!"

And so a procession was formed, and in the leading car (which was an enormous open limousine) sat James and all his friends.

Next came the giant peach itself. Men with cranes and hooks had quickly hoisted it onto a very large truck and there it now sat, looking just as huge and proud and brave as ever. There was, of course, a bit of a hole in the bottom of it where the spike of the Empire State Building had gone in, but who cared about that - or indeed about the peach juice that was dripping out of it onto the street?

Behind the peach, skidding about all over the place in the peach juice, came the Mayor's limousine, and behind the Mayor's limousine came about twenty other limousines carrying all the important people of the City.

And the crowds went wild with excitement. They lined the streets and they leaned out of the windows of the skyscrapers, cheering and yelling and screaming and clapping and throwing out bits of white paper and ticker-tape, and James and his friends stood up in their car and waved back at them as they went by.

Then a rather curious thing happened. The procession was moving slowly along Fifth Avenue when suddenly a little girl in a red dress ran out from the crowd and shouted, "Oh, James, James! Could I please have just a tiny taste of your marvelous peach?"