Five Children and It E. Nesbit (uplifting books for women TXT) đ
- Author: E. Nesbit
Book online «Five Children and It E. Nesbit (uplifting books for women TXT) đ». Author E. Nesbit
âAnd now for the Sammyadd!â said Cyril, and off they went.
As they went they decided on the wish they would ask for. Although they were all in a great hurry they did not try to climb down the sides of the gravel-pit, but went round by the safe lower road, as if they had been carts. They had made a ring of stones round the place where the Sand-fairy had disappeared, so they easily found the spot. The sun was burning and bright, and the sky was deep blueâ âwithout a cloud. The sand was very hot to touch.
âOhâ âsuppose it was only a dream, after all,â Robert said as the boys uncovered their spades from the sand-heap where they had buried them and began to dig.
âSuppose you were a sensible chap,â said Cyril; âoneâs quite as likely as the other!â
âSuppose you kept a civil tongue in your head,â Robert snapped.
âSuppose we girls take a turn,â said Jane, laughing. âYou boys seem to be getting very warm.â
âSuppose you donât come shoving your silly oar in,â said Robert, who was now warm indeed.
âWe wonât,â said Anthea quickly. âRobert dear, donât be so grumpyâ âwe wonât say a word, you shall be the one to speak to the Fairy and tell him what weâve decided to wish for. Youâll say it much better than we shall.â
âSuppose you drop being a little humbug,â said Robert, but not crossly. âLook outâ âdig with your hands, now!â
So they did, and presently uncovered the spider-shaped brown hairy body, long arms and legs, batâs ears and snailâs eyes of the Sand-fairy himself. Everyone drew a deep breath of satisfaction, for now of course it couldnât have been a dream.
The Psammead sat up and shook the sand out of its fur.
âHowâs your left whisker this morning?â said Anthea politely.
âNothing to boast of,â said it; âit had rather a restless night. But thank you for asking.â
âI say,â said Robert, âdo you feel up to giving wishes today, because we very much want an extra besides the regular one? The extraâs a very little one,â he added reassuringly.
âHumph!â said the Sand-fairy. (If you read this story aloud, please pronounce âhumphâ exactly as it is spelt, for that is how he said it.) âHumph! Do you know, until I heard you being disagreeable to each other just over my head, and so loud too, I really quite thought I had dreamed you all. I do have very odd dreams sometimes.â
âDo you?â Jane hurried to say, so as to get away from the subject of disagreeableness. âI wish,â she added politely, âyouâd tell us about your dreamsâ âthey must be awfully interestingâ ââ
âIs that the dayâs wish?â said the Sand-fairy, yawning.
Cyril muttered something about âjust like a girl,â and the rest stood silent. If they said âYes,â then goodbye to the other wishes they had decided to ask for. If they said âNo,â it would be very rude, and they had all been taught manners, and had learned a little too, which is not at all the same thing. A sigh of relief broke from all lips when the Sand-fairy saidâ â
âIf I do I shanât have strength to give you a second wish; not even good tempers, or common sense, or manners, or little things like that.â
âWe donât want you to put yourself out at all about these things, we can manage them quite well ourselves,â said Cyril eagerly; while the others looked guiltily at each other, and wished the Fairy would not keep all on about good tempers, but give them one good rowing if it wanted to, and then have done with it.
âWell,â said the Psammead, putting out his long snailâs eyes so suddenly that one of them nearly went into the round boyâs eye of Robert, âletâs have the little wish first.â
âWe donât want the servants to notice the gifts you give us.â
âAre kind enough to give us,â said Anthea in a whisper.
âAre kind enough to give us, I mean,â said Robert.
The Fairy swelled himself out a bit, let his breath go, and saidâ â
âIâve done that for youâ âit was quite easy. People donât notice things much, anyway. Whatâs the next wish?â
âWe want,â said Robert slowly, âto be rich beyond the dreams of something or other.â
âAvarice,â said Jane.
âSo it is,â said the Fairy unexpectedly. âBut it wonât do you much good, thatâs one comfort,â it muttered to itself. âComeâ âI canât go beyond dreams, you know! How much do you want, and will you have it in gold or notes?â
âGold, pleaseâ âand millions of itâ ââ
âThis gravel-pit full be enough?â said the Fairy in an offhand manner.
âOh yesâ ââ
âThen get out before I begin, or youâll be buried alive in it.â
It made its skinny arms so long, and waved them so frighteningly, that the children ran as hard as they could towards the road by which carts used to come to the gravel-pits. Only Anthea had presence of mind enough to shout a timid âGood morning, I hope your whisker will be better tomorrow,â as she ran.
On the road they turned and looked back, and they had to shut their eyes, and open them very slowly, a little bit at a time, because the sight was too dazzling for their eyes to be able to bear it. It was something like trying to look at the sun at high noon on Midsummer Day. For the whole of the sandpit was full, right up to the very top, with new shining gold pieces, and all the little sand-martinsâ little front doors were covered out of sight. Where the road for carts wound into the gravel-pit the gold
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