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First edition (publ. Methuen)
Illustrated by Treyer Evans

The Mystery of the Vanished Prince, published 1951, is the ninth novel in the Five Find-Outers series written by Enid Blyton.

Plot summary

Fatty has returned to Peterswood village from a cruise holiday with Moroccan costumes for his friends Larry, Daisy, Pip and Bets. The four try on the exotic garb, at which point they receive an unannounced visit from Ern Goon, accompanied by his brothers, twins Sid and Perce. Fatty tricks Ern into believing the disguised children are actually relatives and friends of Prince Bongawah, a foreign royal who is purportedly at a summer camp alongside a caravan site where the three Goon brothers are camping. Notably, Bets claims to be the prince's sister, Princess Bongawee. The children take a walk, whereupon they encounter Ern's uncle, the village policeman Mr Goon, who is also duped into believing the disguised children are foreigners.

Later, Prince Bongawah is reported to have disappeared. Goon informs the district's senior police officer, Inspector Jenks, he has met with the prince's relatives, including Princess Bongawee. Realizing the children's deception could jeopardize the police investigation, Fatty tells Goon the foreign party was not real. He also advises Inspector Jenks of the ruse, earning a stern reprimand. Fatty then resolves to share information on the case with Goon.

Sid, whose verbal communication is hampered by a proclivity for toffees that stick hos teeth together, manages to tell Fatty he saw the vanished prince hiding in the base of a large double-pram, used by a woman for her twin babies at a caravan next to boys' campsite. The Find-Outers then try to track down the woman. Fatty, disguised as a peddler, befriends the woman's son, Rollo, who reveals the real prince was kidnapped before arriving at the camp. Rollo, who had been posing as the prince, also divulges the likely location of the captive as Raylingham Marshes. Fatty passes on this information to Mr Goon, who takes a late-night train to the area.

The following day, the Find-Outers and Ern also go the marshes, but they are captured and locked inside a farmhouse. As a helicopter arrives to take away the prince, Fatty manages to telephone Inspector Jenks and then locates the prince, but the children are unable to escape until the police arrive and arrest the crooks. Mr Goon is subsequently found, furious and disheveled, locked in a shed. Fatty releases him, sympathizes with his misfortune and kindly praises him in front of the inspector.

Characters

Fatty (Frederick) Trottevile - smart and intelligent leader of the Five
Larry (Laurence) - member of the five and former leader
Daisy (Margaret) - member of the five
Pip (Phillip) Hilton - member of the five
Bets (Elizabeth)- youngest member of the five
Mr Goon- the village policeman
Inspector Jenks- A great friend of the find-outers
Prince Bongahwah- an eastern prince who gets kidnapped
Ern- Mr Goon's nephew and a friend of the find outers
Sid- Ern's brother
Perce- Ern's second brother

External links

Enid Blyton Society page

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 ==Plot summary==
+Fatty has returned to Peterswood village from a cruise holiday with Moroccan costumes for his friends Larry, Daisy, Pip and Bets. The four try on the exotic garb, at which point they receive an unannounced visit from Ern Goon, accompanied by his brothers, twins Sid and Perce. Fatty tricks Ern into believing the disguised children are actually relatives and friends of Prince Bongawah, a foreign royal who is purportedly at a summer camp alongside a caravan site where the three Goon brothers are camping. Notably, Bets claims to be the prince's sister, Princess Bongawee. The children take a walk, whereupon they encounter Ern's uncle, the village policeman Mr Goon, who is also duped into believing the disguised children are foreigners.
-The book starts off when Larry, Daisy, Fatty, Pip and Bets are having fun with new disguises that Fatty brought back from Morocco. While all the Find-Outers, except for Fatty are dressed up, Ern and his two brothers, Sid and Perce, come to visit the Find-Outers. He is shocked when he sees four foreign-looking people with Fatty. Fatty tells the three brothers that they are visiting and are related to/friends of Prince Bongahwah, a Prince who is staying at the same camp as Sid, Perce and Ern for the summer, and that Bets is Princess Bongawee. The "foreigners" speak [[broken English]] and their own whimsical made-up "language" (especially Bets). Mr Goon, the village bobby (otherwise known as 'Clear Orf') happens to see all of them when they go for a walk (Larry, Daisy, Pip and Bets still in disguise) and believes the same story Fatty has told to Sid, Perce and Ern about the four 'foreigners'.
+Later, Prince Bongawah is reported to have disappeared. Goon informs the district's senior police officer, Inspector Jenks, he has met with the prince's relatives, including Princess Bongawee. Realizing the children's deception could jeopardize the police investigation, Fatty tells Goon the foreign party was not real. He also advises Inspector Jenks of the ruse, earning a stern reprimand. Fatty then resolves to share information on the case with Goon.
-Later in the story, Prince Bongahwah is kidnapped and Goon tells Inspector Jenks that he has met relatives of Prince Bongahwah to help with the case, in particular the prince's sister, 'Princess Bongawee' (Bets in disguise) but finds out he has been fooled by Fatty. Fatty gets into trouble; however, he is still allowed to look into the case.
+Sid, whose verbal communication is hampered by a proclivity for toffees that stick hos teeth together, manages to tell Fatty he saw the vanished prince hiding in the base of a large double-pram, used by a woman for her twin babies at a caravan next to boys' campsite. The Find-Outers then try to track down the woman. Fatty, disguised as a peddler, befriends the woman's son, Rollo, who reveals the real prince was kidnapped before arriving at the camp. Rollo, who had been posing as the prince, also divulges the likely location of the captive as Raylingham Marshes. Fatty passes on this information to Mr Goon, who takes a late-night train to the area.
-Soon Sid has an unusual discovery - as he is mad (or 'dippy' according to Ern) about babies, he pushes a pram with twins in it and finds the bottom of it false, below it a person with a dark face which Sid is very sure is the prince. After finding a button in the prince's sleeping bag, a few interviews and some false trails, the gang find themselves at another dead end.
+The following day, the Find-Outers and Ern also go the marshes, but they are captured and locked inside a farmhouse. As a helicopter arrives to take away the prince, Fatty manages to telephone Inspector Jenks and then locates the prince, but the children are unable to escape until the police arrive and arrest the crooks. Mr Goon is subsequently found, furious and disheveled, locked in a shed. Fatty releases him, sympathizes with his misfortune and kindly praises him in front of the inspector.
-After a few bits of luck, they find a baby show for twins at a fair, hoping to track down the twins in question. They also bump into Mr Goon who is also at the fair for the same reason. He and the gang look at all the twins in the show (Mr Goon however making all the babies cry) but can not find the right twins. After their disappointment, Fatty manages to bribe one of the fair people to wind up Mr Goon and manage to get him on an animal roundabout where he gets spun round and round, dizzy in front of the watching (and laughing) crowd.
-On the bicycle ride home Pip sees a shirt hanging to dry on a washing line of one of the parked caravans with buttons identical to the one they found in the prince's sleeping bag. They piece up that the people living in that caravan would know the whereabouts of the prince and Fatty (disguised as a peddler called Jack Smith) goes there later to find out that one of the people living in the caravan pretended to be the prince; in the first place and they switched him and the real prince before camp started so he was impersonating the prince the whole time through summer and sneaked out the night before it was reported that the prince had been 'kidnapped' while the prince had been gone the whole time taken hostage by the boys uncle. He also finds out where the real prince is and decides to go off to the place the next day. Fatty soon goes home, bumping into Mr Goon who suspects that Fatty (still in disguise) is a tramp with a stolen bike. He runs off, leaving his bike with Mr Goon who reports it. Fatty gets it back after calling Mr Goon who exaggerates the truth and leaves Goon giving the Princes whereabouts which Goon doesn't believe until he hears a report from the nearby police station confirming that Fatty's information wasn't made up. Hearing this, Mr Goon decides to go rescue the prince before Fatty and the others do and is reported the next day that he disappeared.
-Fatty hears the news from Inspector Jenks and decides to go find him along with the gang and Ern (as Perce has to go get rope for the tent and Sid switches from buying toffee to buying nougat). They soon get locked up in a room beyond the marshes and are therefore trapped but see a room with barred windows at the other side of the building. Fatty uses his 'how to get out of a locked room' trick and slips out to the other room and finds the real prince inside and drags him back to the room with the other five. The men soon find out that the prince has supposedly escaped and think that the find-outers helped him so they do a search of the room, finding the prince in a cupboard. Straight after the prince is found, a squad of police officers surround the building, including Inspector Jenks who arrests the men and rescues the Find-outers, Ern and the prince who tries and tells his story.
-When they think that the whole mystery is closed they realise that Goon is still missing and did not see him in the building. An officer comes up to them and says there have been weird noises coming from a shed not far off the building. Goon comes out of the building mad at the fact that he was locked up and beaten again by the gang. Fatty however sticks up for him and it is a rare moment when Goon thinks that Fatty is not so bad after all.
 ==Characters==