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Mr Skillett, who was as thin as two pieces of paper stuck together and as tall as a bus, always had to fold in two to come out of his door, but on this occasion he had to fold into three because he was wearing a waste paper basket on top of his head.

Mrs Round spotted him through the little round window of her house, and giggled behind her hand. She was just putting the finishing touches to an upside down shopping basket. She threaded the last flower through the raffia and put the basket on her head, lodging the handle beneath her chin. Then she glanced at herself in the mirror and nodded with satisfaction.

She had some trouble emerging from her front door since she was completely round and could only just get through the doorway without a basket on her head. The basket made it much more difficult, but Mrs Round didn't care. She felt sure she would have the best basket in The Street.

Mr Skillett and Mrs Round walked down The Street together, and were soon joined by Dr Black who slipped silently from the shadows wearing a black dustbin liner on his head.

"Very nice, Dr Black," remarked Mrs Round, politely. Dr Black smiled at her, but since his teeth were black as well as his face and his hair and his clothes, it was difficult to see the smile. So Mrs Round continued, "I do love Carnival Day! I especially love all these wonderful hats made out of bags and baskets." Then she spotted Timid Tilly in the distance and added, "Just look at Timid Tilly's hat! Have you ever seen anything as pretty?"

Timid Tilly the school teacher was wearing a canvas shopping bag on her head, with the handles looped at the back underneath her hair. But she'd decorated the shopping bag with fruit. There were real apples and oranges and peaches and pears and bananas, and hanging down the back was a long bunch of grapes. It was very exotic.

The trio made their way over to Timid Tilly who was talking to Hopalong, one of her school boys. His basket headgear was a plastic carrier bag with feathers stuck all over it, and it looked really cool. Mrs Round was about to compliment him on his efforts when she gasped in amazement and horror. The others immediately followed her gaze, and echoed her horrified gasp. Across the market square, leaning on the fence of the schoolyard, were two strangers.

Mr Skillett drew himself up to his full height and glared at the strangers. He thought they were almost certainly from the next village, and he felt angry that they dared to show themselves on Carnival Day. But the worst thing was that they weren't wearing baskets on their heads.

Dr Black had already given an angry snarl and was striding across the market square towards the strangers. In one stride Mr Skillett caught up and overtook him. "How dare they appear without baskets!" he was muttering to himself. "Scum! Scum - that what they are! They'll ruin our village with their foreign ways. They'll drag us all down to their level if we don't do something about it."

Dr Black said, "Hmm! Hah! That's right!" and nodded furiously beside him.

Mr Skillett confronted the strangers. "What do you think you're doing?" he shouted at them.

By now, the rest of the party had caught up and were surrounding the strangers. "Yes," they all said, "what do you think you're doing?"

The strangers looked taken aback. "Aren't we allowed?" asked one.

"You're not wearing baskets on your heads!" spluttered Mrs Round.

The stranger said, "We thought you'd be glad to have us at your Carnival. In our village the tradition is different. We aren't allowed to wear anything on our heads at Carnival time."

Timid Tilly gasped in amazement. "What? No baskets? I've never heard of such a thing! We've always worn baskets on our heads, ever since the village started hundreds of years ago."

One of the strangers frowned. "Why?" he asked.

"Why? Because - because - What do you mean, why?" said Hopalong aggressively, since he couldn't think of an answer. Then he said, "Because it's the right thing to do, that's why!" And he bunched up his fists, ready for a fight.

But the other stranger said, "We've bought raffle tickets and ice creams and spent a lot of money on the side-shows. Does it really matter that we haven't any baskets for our heads?"

Dr Black scratched his head and looked at the stranger thoughtfully. "You know," he said, "I've never thought of that. I don't know why we wear baskets on our heads, it's just our tradition. But I don't suppose it really makes any difference. I don't see why you shouldn't join in our Carnival Day. In fact, it's nice to make new friends."

The two strangers smiled and nodded happily. "That's good, because we'd like to invite you to a special day in our village. You don't have to wear any hats at all, and you'll have a brilliant time. Do say you'll come."

The five friends looked at each other in delight and nodded. "We'll be there!" they said, and they meant it. And they never once wondered what strange customs they might encounter over at Custard Pie Village.