Raggedy Ann and Andy and the Camel with the Wrinkled Knees

***Raggedy Ann and Andy and the Camel with the Wrinkled Knees*** is an American children's novel written and illustrated by Johnny Gruelle and published in 1924, which has become public domain. The third major book in the *Raggedy Ann* series, it's the dolls' first full-length adventure. It was adapted for a 1957 issue of the Dell Junior Treasury and a 1988 episode of *CBS Storybreak*, plus it was very loosely adapted as the 1977 film *Raggedy Ann and Andy: A Musical Adventure*. Although Babette, the French doll, appeared in the previous books, this is the first story in which she was given a proper name.

## Plot

Marcella forgets Raggedy Ann and Andy in the playhouse. After dark, they see a mysterious man sneak up to the nursery and snatch something from the window. Upon investigation, they discover it was Babette, the French doll. They decide to follow his trail, which abruptly ends, so they conclude that he flew away. While trying to determine how to find him, a pretty little fairy happens upon them and leads them to Granny Balloonspider, who weaves a balloon that carries them into the heavens.

The balloon eventually gets stuck in a tree, and below they find the Camel with the Wrinkled Knees, who saw the stranger run by in the dark. Now that it's daylight, the Camel can't figure out which way the man went, so Raggedy Ann ties a handkerchief over his eyes. The dolls hop upon his back and he repeatedly runs in circles, so Raggedy Ann suggests he should run backward.

The trio eventually find Jenny, a young girl who's stuck in a patch of snapdragons. As the dolls attempt to help her out, they too are ensnared. Jenny explains that her parents left their home in the Deep Deep Woods to visit her grandmother, but they never returned. One day, a Loonie wandered into their cottage and kidnapped her brother, Jan.

The Tired Old Horse comes upon them, puts on his magic glasses, and envisions the snapdragons as violets which he proceeds to eat, freeing Jenny and the rag dolls. The Horse then reveals that he saw the Loonie drag Jan into a tree, which seems solid, but when the Camel puts on a blindfold, he's able to penetrate the surface and help everyone inside. They find what appears to be a trap door, but when they attempt to pull on it, it won't budge. The Tired Old Horse sits on it to nap, but it drops through the floor revealing a staircase to Loonie Land.

At the bottom of the stairs, they find a valley populated by strange creatures who take them captive and march them to the King. The Loonie King agrees to let them take Jan and go if Raggedy Ann can successfully answer three nonsensical riddles. She does this with ease, so he demands that she answer three more. After she refuses, Raggedy Andy tweaks the King's nose so hard that it brings tears to his eyes. The Looniest Knight is called to cut off Raggedy Andy's nose, but the rag doll stands his ground, which intimidates the knight so much that he throws their match. The King is so impressed that he lets everyone go.

Resuming their quest to find Babette, the Camel crashes into an invisible fortress that surrounds Winnie the Witch's house, which they pass through thanks to the horse's ingenuity. The witch offers them some magic, so the horse pays her a nickel and asks for something to provide some stamina. While checking to ensure that the coin is real, the witch reveals that a man stopped by the previous day seeking an elixir to bring a doll to life, but he paid with a counterfeit coin, which nullified the witch's potion. The witch proceeds to use work magic on the horse, who's suddenly wide awake.

Raggedy Ann asks the witch to help her find Babbette, so the old woman instructs everyone to enter a circle, close their eyes, and count to ten. When they open their eyes, they find themselves standing beside a tent full of pirates. Raggedy Ann peeps into the tent and sees the stolen doll. Jay spits pebbles at the pirates, who become confused and knock down the tent, providing an opportunity to rescue Babette. The group flees to the witch's cottage with the pirates in pursuit in their flying houseboat.

One of the pirates attempts to huff and puff and blow the house down, but when this proves unsuccessful, they decide to starve the group out. The witch has other plans and prepares a feast. The Tired Old Horse then tosses the leftovers out of the window, which upsets the pirates. He tries to comfort them by handing out lollipops, but they become so upset that they begin crying.

Leader Charlie expresses remorse for stealing Babette, and the rogues explain that they had grown up being so enthralled by tales of piracy that they bought a jumping houseboat and were only *pretending* to be pirates. Raggedy Ann and friends comfort them, and then the witch instructs all of the pirates to enter her circle. The witch places a red balloon in the center, which she inflates until it pops and knocks off the pirates' false facial hair and noses, revealing that the pirates are actually all young women.

After the pirates are unmasked, the old witch also removes her costume and reveals that she's a fairy princess. She uses her magic on the houseboat and they set sail to rescue Jenny and Jan's parents, Henry and Harriet. The fairy explains that their grandmother was a queen who had been ousted from her throne, but the knights eventually overthrew her successor. They arrived at her cottage to bring her back, but she'd been whisked away to fairyland and vacated the premises. When Henry and Harriet arrived, they were hailed as the new king and queen and brought to the castle, which they weren't allowed to leave.

The jumping houseboat arrives at the castle, where they find Henry and Harriet in the courtyard. Henry writes a note instructing his people to either crown a new king or to start a republic, and they return to their home in the Deep Deep Woods. After feasting upon pancakes, The Tired Old Horse and the Camel both decide to stay with the family. Henry soon realizes that the Camel was his own childhood toy, and they reminisce.

The others board the jumping houseboat to return Raggedy Ann, Andy, and Babette home, and the fairy princess rolls back time so that Marcella won't realize that they were gone.

## Characters

* Raggedy Ann
* Raggedy Andy
* Babette
* Henny
* Uncle Clem
* The Camel with the Wrinkled Knees
* King Koo-Koo
* Sir Leonard Loony
* The Tired Old Horse
* Jenny
* Jan
* Henry
* Harriet
* Winnie the Witch
* Captain Charlie
* Granny Balloonspider

## Adaptations

The 1957 Dell comic omits the Fairies, Jenny, Jan, their parents, and The Tired Old Horse.

Raggedy Ann and Andy: A Musical Adventure kept the plot with Babette being kidnapped by pirates, it retained the Camel and Loonies, but most other story elements were changed. The movie's script was re-worked into a children's stage play in 1981, which inspired another adaptation, this time returning to the original plot of the book.

In 1979 the book was adapted into a read-along cassette.

In 1988, the CBS Storybreak series featured a half-hour special based on the book.

## External Links

* Internet Archive - eBook
* Libravox - Audiobook
* Internet Archive - Dell Junior Treasury Comic Book