When Arabel's father drives his taxi home late one night he comes across 'a large black bird, with a hairy fringe around its beak.' He takes it home and, from that moment on, life is never the same again for the Jones family. Arabel's raven is called Mortimer - and he's one in a million. 'Nevermore!' he cries when astonished or upset, 'Down the hatch' he thinks before gobbling bowler hats, stairs, telephones. He dislikes flying except in emergencies, and with disaster-prone Mortimer around there are plenty of those. There are 6 hilarious stories in this classic collection by Joan Aiken and illustrator Quentin Blake including- Arabel's Raven The Escaped Black Mamba The Bread Bin Mortimer and the Sword Excalibur and The Spiral Stair