Howl's Moving Castle

HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE

&

CASTLE IN THE AIR

HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE

Contents

Chapter 1: In which Sophie talks to hats
Chapter 2: In which Sophie is compelled to seek her fortune
Chapter 3: In which Sophie enters into a castle and a bargain
Chapter 4: In which Sophie discovers several strange things
Chapter 5: Which is far too full of washing
Chapter 6: In which Howl expresses his feelings with green slime
Chapter 7: In which a scarecrow prevents Sophie from leaving the castle
Chapter 8: In which Sophie leaves the castle in several directions at once
Chapter 9: In which Michael has trouble with a spell
Chapter 10: In which Calcifer promises Sophie a hint
Chapter 11: In which Howl goes to a strange country in search of a spell
Chapter 12: In which Sophie becomes Howl’s old mother
Chapter 13: In which Sophie blackens Howl’s name
Chapter 14: In which a Royal Wizard catches a cold
Chapter 15: In which Howl goes to a funeral in disguise
Chapter 16: In which there is a great deal of witchcraft
Chapter 17: In which the moving castle moves house
Chapter 18: In which the scarecrow and Miss Angorian reappear
Chapter 19: In which Sophie expresses her feelings with weed-killer
Chapter 20: In which Sophie finds further difficulties in leaving the castle
Chapter 21: In which a contract is concluded before witnesses

CASTLE IN THE AIR

Contents

Chapter 1: In which Abdullah buys a carpet
Chapter 2: In which Abdullah is mistaken for a young lady
Chapter 3: In which Flower-in-the-Night discovers several important facts
Chapter 4: Which concerns marriage and prophecy
Chapter 5: Which tells how Flower-in-the-Night’s father wished to raise Abdullah above all others in the land
Chapter 6: Which shows how Abdullah went from the frying pan into the fire
Chapter 7: Which introduces the genie
Chapter 8: In which Abdullah’s dreams continue to come true
Chapter 9: In which Abdullah encounters an old soldier
Chapter 10: Which tells of violence and bloodshed
Chapter 11: In which a wild animal causes Abdullah to waste a wish
Chapter 12: In which the law catches up with Abdullah and the soldier
Chapter 13: In which Abdullah challenges Fate
Chapter 14: Which tells how the magic carpet reappeared
Chapter 15: In which the travelers arrive at Kingsbury
Chapter 16: In which strange things befall Midnight and Whippersnapper
Chapter 17: In which Abdullah at last reaches the castle in the air
Chapter 18: Which is rather full of princesses
Chapter 19: In which a soldier, a cook, and a carpet seller all state their price
Chapter 20: In which a djinn’s life is found and then hidden
Chapter 21: In which the castle comes down to earth

Books by Diana Wynne Jones

Archer’s Goon

Aunt Maria

Believing Is Seeing: Seven Stories

Changeover

The Chrestomanci Novels

Charmed Life

Witch Week

The Magicians
Of
Caprona

The Lives
Of
Christopher Chant

The Dalemark Quartet

Book 1: Cart and Cwidder

Book 2: Drowned Ammet

Book 3: The Spellcoats

Book 4: The Crown of Dalemark

Dark Lord of Derkholm

Deep Secret

Dogsbody

Eight Days of Luke

Everard’s Ride

Fire and Hemlock

Hexwood

Hidden Turnings

The Homeward Bounders

Minor Arcana

The Ogre Downstairs

Power of Three

Stopping for a Spell

A Sudden Wild Magic

A Tale of
Time
City

The Time of the Ghost

The Tough Guide to Fantasyland

Warlock at the Wheel and Other Stories

Witch’s Business

Year of the
Griffin

Yes, Dear

This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in these novels are either fictitious or are used fictitiously.

HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE Copyright © 1986 by Diana Wynne Jones Publishing History: originally published in 1986 by Greenwillow Books reissued in 2001 in hardcover by HarperCollins Children’s Books

CASTLE IN THE AIR Copyright © 1990 by Diana Wynne Jones Publishing History: originally published in 1991 by Greenwillow Books reissued in 2001 in hardcover by HarperCollins Children’s Books

First SFBC Fantasy Printing: February 2002

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Publisher.

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ISBN 0-7394-2385-1

Printed in the
United States of America

HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE

This one is for Stephen

The idea for this book was suggested by a boy in a school I was visiting, who asked me to write a book called
The Moving Castle
. I wrote down his name, and put it in such a safe place that I have been unable to find it ever since. I would like to thank him very much.

Chapter 1
:
In which Sophie talks to hats

In the land of Ingary
, where such things as seven-league boots and cloaks of invisibility really exist, it is quite a misfortune to be born the eldest of three. Everyone knows you are the one who will fail first, and worst, if the three of you set out to seek your fortunes.

Sophie Hatter was the eldest of three sisters. She was not even the child of a poor woodcutter, which might have given her some chance of success. Her parents were well to do and kept a ladies’ hat shop in the prosperous town of
Market Chipping. True, her own mother died when Sophie was two years old and her sister Lettie was one year old, and their father married his youngest shop assistant, a pretty blonde girl called Fanny. Fanny shortly gave birth to the third sister, Martha. This ought to have made Sophie and Lettie into Ugly Sisters, but in fact all three girls grew up very pretty indeed, though Lettie was the one everyone said was most beautiful. Fanny treated all three girls with the same kindness and did not favor Martha in the least.

Mr. Hatter was proud of his three daughters and sent them all to the best school in town. Sophie was the most studious. She read a great deal, and very soon realized how little chance she had of an interesting future. It was a disappointment to her, but she was still happy enough, looking after her sisters and grooming Martha to seek her fortune when the time came. Since Fanny was always busy in the shop, Sophie was the one who looked after the younger two. There was a certain amount of screaming and hair-pulling between those younger two. Lettie was by no means resigned to being the one who, next to Sophie, was bound to be the least successful.

“It’s not fair!” Lettie would shout. “Why should Martha have the best of it just because she was born the youngest? I shall marry a prince, so there!”

To which Martha always retorted that
she
would end up disgustingly rich without having to marry anybody.

Then Sophie would have to drag them apart and mend their clothes. She was very deft with her needle. As time went on, she made clothes for her sisters too. There was one deep rose outfit she made for Lettie, the May Day before this story really starts, which Fanny said looked as if it had come from the most expensive shop in Kingsbury.

About this time everyone began talking of the Witch of the Waste again. It was said the Witch had threatened the life of the King’s daughter and that the King had commanded his personal magician, Wizard Suliman, to go into the Waste and deal with the Witch. And it seemed that Wizard Suliman had not only failed to deal with the Witch: he had got himself killed by her.

So when, a few months after that, a tall black castle suddenly appeared on the hills above Market Chipping, blowing clouds of black smoke from its four tall, thin turrets, everybody was fairly sure that the Witch had moved out of the Waste again and was about to terrorize the country the way she used to fifty years ago. People got very scared indeed. Nobody went out alone, particularly at night. What made it all the scarier was that the castle did not stay in the same
place.
Sometimes it was a tall black smudge on the moors to the northwest, sometimes it reared above the rocks to the east, and sometimes it came right downhill to sit in the heather only just beyond the last farm to the north. You could see it actually moving sometimes, with smoke pouring out from the turrets in dirty gray gusts. For a while everyone was certain that the castle would come right down into the valley before long, and the Mayor talked of sending to the King for help.

But the castle stayed roving about the hills, and it was learned that it did not belong to the Witch but to Wizard Howl. Wizard Howl was bad enough. Though he did not seem to want to leave the hills, he was known to amuse himself by collecting young girls and sucking the souls from them. Or some people said he ate their hearts. He was an utterly cold-blooded and heartless wizard and no young girl was safe from him if he caught her on her own. Sophie, Lettie, and Martha, along with all the other girls in Market Chipping, were warned never to go out alone, which was a great annoyance to them. They wondered what use Wizard Howl found for all the souls he collected.

They had other things on their minds before long, however, for Mr. Hatter died suddenly just as Sophie was old enough to leave school for good. It then appeared that Mr. Hatter had been altogether too proud of his daughters. The school fees he had been paying had left the shop with quite heavy debts. When the funeral was over, Fanny sat down in the parlor in the house next door to the shop and explained the situation.

“You’ll all have to leave that school, I’m afraid,” she said. “I’ve been doing sums back and front and sideways, and the only way I can see to keep the business going
and
take care of the three of you is to see you all settled in a promising apprenticeship somewhere. It isn’t practical to have you all in the shop. I can’t afford it. So this is what I’ve decided. Lettie first—”

Lettie looked up, glowing with health and beauty which even sorrow and black clothes could not hide. “I want to go on learning,” she said.