The Enid Blyton thread stirred a memory of another English children’s book I read as a child.
It was about a young boy who buys a miniature long boat in a junk shop from an old fellow with an eyepatch. The boy discovers that the boat will expand on command and can fly. Boy and his brother and sisters go on adventures, and eventually it turns out that the boat is Frey’s boat from Norse mythology, and the old man who sold it to him was Odin.
Any thoughts on author or title?