THE
NUMBERLAND TALES
BOOK
THREE
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THE
QUEEN OF TENTOWN
In
Which Danny Learns The Ten Times Table
THE
STORY SO FAR
Danny
was playing in his grandfather's garden when he accidentally found his way into
an enchanted world called Numberland. There
he met a colourful dwarf called Frolly who gave him lots of cakes to eat, and
explained how tables work.
During
tea, Danny learned the five times table.
In
order to get home (taking the last doughnut with him), Danny has to recite the
five times table while he walks. He doesn't concentrate, and getting it wrong,
ends up in another part of Numberland altogether.
He
lands at the feet of a strange woman, dropping the doughnut that rolls away.
Now
read on....
THE
QUEEN OF TENTOWN
"My
what have we got here?" Asked the voice again.
Danny
looked up to see a tall woman peering down at him. Purple robes swept down to
the ground, and around her neck a necklace of amber sparkled in the sunlight.
"Well,
who are you and who gave you leave to enter the ancient kingdom of Tentown in
the farthest corner of Numberland? Come on boy. Speak up."
Danny
realised that although her robes were worn and frayed, she was probably a queen,
"Please your majesty....." He began.
"Oh
how charming. Not everyone is so polite these days."
Danny
looked around. He was close to the
gates of a walled town. Ivy clad walls of grey stone rose to high crumbling
battlements where guards paced to and fro. Beyond them tall spires rose almost
to the clouds, and colourful flags fluttered in the breeze. He'd seen pictures
of towns like that in books, but didn't know they still existed.
"I'm
Danny. I was on my way back from Frolly's house, and I got my tables wrong and
ended up here. I didn't mean to enter your kingdom. I'm sorry."
I
am Queen Beatrice, you'd better come with me." She strode off towards the
gate. "And what do you do when you're not busy getting lost?"
"I
go to school. I'm learning
tables."
"School.
Whatever's that? We know all about
tables, in fact we invented some of them here.
Danny
had expected to see a busy market with craftsmen selling their wares, soldiers
and horses, knights in armour even. But Tentown was a dump. Rubbish lay rotting
in the streets, dogs roamed about sniffing everything in sight, and large brown rats scurried among them. There were market stalls,
but they were empty, and most of the shops were boarded up.
They
passed through another gateway topped by more stone faces, and crossed a
courtyard surrounded by high walls with many windows. Climbing the steps between
two huge stone lions, they entered the royal chambers.
"This
is where I receive visitors. I
haven't had any for a while. Do sit down. How about some tea and scones?"
The
chamber would once have been fitting for a queen to receive her guests. Now the
carpets were worn, the velvet curtains torn, and cobwebs festooned the
chandeliers. From a window high
above, a shaft of sunlight struggled through the layers of grime on the glass,
lighting up the dust that filled the air.
"I
make the scones myself. I'm rather proud of them. Do you prefer tea or lemonade?
I think I have some somewhere."
Danny
was about to reply, but Queen Beatrice didn't seem to wait for answers and had
already left the room. As he sat
down on a red padded chair, more dust rose about him, and he sneezed several
times. He didn't have a hankie so he used his sleeve. It didn't seem to matter
here. He'd read stories about
Queens and castles, but real life seemed rather disappointing.
Danny
wished he was still with Frolly; the cakes, and the dancing and the lemonade.
He'd even enjoyed learning the five times table. He went through it again, this
time being careful not to make any mistakes.
"Two
five's are ten, three five's are fifteen, four five's are twenty, five five's
are twenty five, and six five's are thirty."
He
thought about those wonderful cakes Frolly had given him. "Seven five's are
thirty five, eight five's are forty, and nine five's are forty five, and ten
fives are fifty. There it wasn't
difficult. If he'd paid more attention last time he'd be with Granddad now,
instead of being stuck in this dump, Tentown or whatever it was called.
"Jolly
good. One likes a young man to know how to multiply. I'll take you to the
counting house after tea and you can meet Bliggins. He invented the ten times
table.
More
dust rose as Queen Beatrice pushed some old papers off a table to make room for
the tea tray. Danny held his breath so he wouldn't sneeze again.
"One
can't get servants these days. One has to do all the housework oneself, and it's
such a big place. Do have a scone.
Made them myself actually."
The
scones tasted like they'd been baked with dust instead of flour. There was no
jam, they were hard, and the currants were burnt. Danny wasn't even hungry.
"Good
eh?" Queen Beatrice was tucking into her second one.
Danny had always supposed that queens ate sumptuously, but he was
learning a lot in Numberland.
"Er
yes. Delicious." Said Danny, trying to chew a hard crunchy bit. He wondered
what it could be, and hoped it wasn't a cockroach that had fallen into the
mixture. "Actually I'm not hungry."
"Nonsense."
Retorted the Queen, "I know, you're just being polite. Don't worry about
that. Now eat up and we'll go and see Bliggins."
It
was no use arguing with Queen Beatrice. Danny thought he'd have to eat the whole
plateful, but in the end he was saved by a strong burning smell.
"Drat.
Left the oven on again. Hurry up, I'll only be a trice. Get it? She laughed
loudly at her joke. "Be a trice, Beatrice. It's my name." She chuckled
as she left the room.
Danny
didn't waste time and hid the scones under a cushion.
"I wonder if the mice will want to eat them," he thought as he
wiped the crumbs from his mouth.
"You've
finished. More? Come on then, I'll take you to see Bliggins."
Danny
followed The Queen down gloomy corridors with high grimy windows that turned the
sunlight grey as they passed through old doorways until at last they reached the
counting house.
"Bliggins.
A visitor. Name's Donny. Tell him about multiplication will you. Must go."
With
that she was off and Danny found himself in an enormous room with rows of long
tables. Along the sides of the room sacks and sacks of gold coins glinted in the
pale candlelight.
At
the furthest table sat an old man, bent over from years of working at a desk. He
looked as old and worn as the rest of the castle. His long grey beard reaching
almost to his waist, it's faded grey colour matching his grey robes perfectly.
"Hello
Donny."
"It's
Danny actually. I'm very pleased to meet you Mr. Bliggins."
"Never
listens that woman. Still, she has
a good heart. You didn't have any of her scones did you?" Bliggins raised
an eyebrow, his bright blue eyes twinkling in the candlelight.
"Only
a bit of one."
"That
should be alright. They aren't easy on the old intestines. Can have you running
to the loo so best not to have too many. Interested in tables eh?"
Asked Bliggins changing the subject.
"Yes.
Er very interested."
"Well
sit down here and I'll show you something."
Danny
sat down next to Bliggins and was surprised to notice that unlike everything
else in Tentown, the counting house was clean and orderly.
"It
was in the old days you see." Said Bliggins, with a faraway look in his
eye. "In the old days when the King was still alive and this was a rich
city, all these tables were filled with people busy counting money. All day long
from morning till night it was, busy counting.
Five thousand coins to a sack, well you know how long it takes to count
to five thousand."
Danny
didn't but he thought it must take a very long time.
"Well
of course when a sack had been counted, it had to be checked and counted again
to make sure it was right and it never was, so then you'd have to start again
and then it would come to a different amount again. Sometimes it would take weeks just to get one sack
right."
Danny
thought this sounded even more boring than having to learn tables but he didn't
say anything.
"Then
I, Arnold Wilberforce Bliggins, invented the ten times table. And that has
changed the world! Watch this."
And
with that Bliggins emptied a sack of coins onto the table, and scooping up a
handful, he carefully placed them one on top of the other to form a neat column.
"Ten."
He announced proudly.
Danny
counted, and there were ten coins in the pile.
Bliggins
took another handful, and faster than the eye could see, there was another
column next to the first one.
"You
don't have to count them this time because if the pile is the same height as the
one next to it, there must be ten in that one too. We only use one type of coin
here, and as they're all the same thickness, one pile of ten is the same as any
other pile of ten."
"I
suppose so." Said Danny
"So
how many coins is that?"
"Two
tens are twenty." Said Danny.
"And
three tens?" Bliggins paced a third pile next to the other two.
"Thirty."
Answered Danny.
"You
see, that's the great thing about the ten times table." Said Bliggins as he
placed a fourth pile of ten coins next to the others.
"Four
tens are forty." Said Danny. This was easy.
"The
great thing about the ten times..." He added a fifth pile and Danny said
"Fifty" without even thinking.
"The
really exciting thing about ten times.." A sixth pile was added as Danny
said "Sixty," wishing Bliggins would get to the point.
"Is
that, unlike all the other times tables where you have to learn them, and
remember them, which can take a while.." He added a seventh pile, "And
as you already know seven tens are seventy.
With
the ten times, as long as you can count..."
"Eight
tens are eighty."
"Exactly,"
Said Bliggins. "As long as you can count, you don't have to remember the
ten times at all, you more or less say "Ti" after the number you
multiply by. Nine ti." He
added a ninth pile.
"And
then One a Hundred!" He announced with a flourish of his hand. "Now
what could be easier than that?
"Brilliant."
Said Danny who was beginning to be a bit impressed, he could see it might save a
lot of time.
"There's
more." Said Bliggins. You see
with ten times, not only do you not have to learn the tables themselves as such,
but also you can go on counting in tens as long as you want.
Watch this." He gestured towards the table.
There
was a line of ten piles of ten coins which Danny knew was ten tens which is a
hundred. In no time at all Bliggins
had placed another line of ten piles of ten next to the first row.
"How
many now?" He asked.
This
was more like two times table. "Two
hundred?" Said Danny
"Correct!
And as you can see, it wouldn't take very long to add up to a thousand
doing it this way, and so you can add up five thousand in no time. And it
doesn't have to be checked either because you can see if any are missing. You
can multiply by ten all day long if you want. Mind you, the numbers get very
big."
"Once
we discovered how to do this we didn't need all those people to sit here
counting all day. Two of us could do it in a morning.
"How
are we getting on Bliggins? Queen Beatrice asked breezily as she swept into the
counting house. "Has he got it yet?"
"I
believe so maam."
"Splendid!
Seven tens?"
"Seventy."
Replied Danny without hesitating.
"Good.
Well, we'd better be getting along." Danny
waved his farewell to Bliggins as he followed the Queen.
He
had to run to keep up through the dusty corridors, up long tiring staircases,
and through dozens of doorways until at last they emerged onto a balcony
overlooking the town and the farmland beyond the walls.
"Please,
excuse me. I would like to get home again if that's possible." Danny called
after her.
"Oh
yes of course. I'll get one of the footmen to take you to the woods. Now listen
carefully. The woods are enchanted. If you want to get back to where you came in
you have to say tables as you go along. Don't make any mistakes or goodness
knows where you'll end up. Not everywhere in Numberland is friendly, and there
is danger in some places, so mind how you go. Ten times is the quickest."
"Hector.
Take this young fellow to the woods will you, and try not to lose him." She
called as she strode away.
Hector
took Danny to the stables and sat Danny in front of him on a strong brown pony.
Danny enjoyed the ride and they were soon at the edge of the woods.
Hector wished him luck and turned back towards Tentown.
Danny
set off down the path.
"Two
ten's are twenty, three ten's are thirty. He was already travelling fast, much
faster than when he'd used the five times.
"Four
ten's are forty, five ten's are fifty. Although the ten times is easy, he
concentrated hard, he didn't want to make any mistakes this time.
"Six
ten's are sixty, seven ten's are seventy. For an instant he saw Frolly's cottage
as he sped by. He thought he saw Frolly wave, but couldn't be sure.
"Eight
ten's are eighty, nine ten's are ninety, ten ten's a hundred!"
He
came to a stop right by the wall at the bottom of his grandfather's garden, and
scrambling over ran breathless into the kitchen.
"Danny.
I was just about to call you. The cakes are ready. I do hope you're
hungry."
Danny
could hardly believe he'd been away all that time and not been missed: Frolly
was right about time being different in Numberland. To his surprise he was
suddenly very hungry, and granddad’s cakes tasted much better than the horrid
scones Queen Beatrice had given him. He wondered if the mice had found them
under the cushion.
"What
did you do in the garden Danny?" Asked Grandpa.
"Just
Played."
"Is
that all, surely you can do better than that."
"Well
actually I saw five blue and red butterflies flying in formation so I followed
them into the enchanted woods where I met a dwarf with musical bells on his hat
who gave me cakes and lemonade and taught me the five times table. Then I went
to an ancient kingdom and had tea with the Queen in her dusty old castle then
she took me to her counting house and a man called Bliggins taught me the ten
times table, then I got a lift back on a horse."
Granddad
roared with laughter. "What a wonderful imagination you have. All that in
five minutes! You can certainly make up good stories Danny.
Now I must go and do a few jobs while you finish your cake." With
that Granddad left, still chuckling to himself.
Danny
suddenly felt exhausted. He'd never
imagined that learning tables could be such an adventure. He finished his cake,
and when granddad returned later he found Danny lying fast asleep on the sofa.
THE
END
Click
here for the next story: Blarts and Bogies
In
which Danny learns the Three Times Table.
Copyright
M. Rawlinson 1999
All
Rights Reserved
