what is it?" asked Jane. 'Shall we take it home?'
The thing turned its long eyes to look at her. 'Does she always say stupid things?' it said.
'She doesn't mean it, 'Anthea said. 'Don't be afraid. We won't hurt you.'
The little thing was angry. 'Hurt me!' it cried. 'I'm not afraid of you!'
'Oh, don't be angry; ' said Anthea kindly. 'Tell us who you are. We really don't know.'
You don't know? it said. Don't you know a Psamnead when you see one?
'A Sammyadd? What's that? Jane said.
A sand - fairy, of course. Don't you know a sand - fairy when you see one?
It looked very unhappy, and Jane said, 'Of course! I can see that you are something very wonderful. Please talk some more to us.
The Psammead looked a little happier when it heard that, and it said, 'Well, you can talk to me, if you want to. Perhaps I'll answer you and perhaps I won't. Now say something.
At first the children could not think of anything to say, bun than Robert asked, 'How long have you live here?
'Oh, thousands of years' the Psammead answer.
the children waited, but the Psammead was silent.
please tell us more, Robert said
well, all right, then,' the Psammead said. There were lots of us then, it went on. People sent their children out to look for Psammead , and when they found us , we gave them a wish.
What happened to all the Psammead, then? Robert ask.
Well, if they get wet, they get ill and they usually die, and that's what happened. Most of them got wet and died. And I'm not going to tell you another thing.
oh, just one more question, please, said Robert. Do you give wishes now?
You are had one, said the psammead. you wish to see me, and here I'm.
Oh, please. Just one more, Anthea cried.
well, all right, but be quick! I'm tired of you.
It is very difficult to think of a really good wish, in just a second or two. Then Anthea remembered a wish of hers and Jane's. She know that the boy wouldn't like it, but it was better than nothing.
I wish we were all very, very beautiful , she said.
The Psammead pushed out its long eyes and fatter, and the children waited. Than it said, I'm sorry. I haven't done this for lone time. I'll try again, but I can only one wish a day for you. Do you agree to that?
yes. the children cried.
But remember, the wish is only for a day, said the psammead. When the sun goes down, everything goes back to what it was.
The Psammead slowly got bigger, then suddenly went small again. That all right, it say. At one it turned and went back into the stand at the bottom of the hole.
The children stood there for a second, and then Anthea turned to speak to the others. But they were not there! She was looking at three strangers - a girl wish beautiful red hair and big blue eyes, and two very good looking boys. Suddenly she under stood. They had their wish. The strangers were Robert and Cyril and Jane but now they were beautiful. Cyril's hair was golden now, and Robert's was black.
I like you better before Robert cried angrily to his brother and sisters. Jane's hair look like carrots, and Cyril looks really stupid with long golden hair.
Perhaps it's because he's young. He can't have wishes. We'll have to remember that next time, Anthea said, and she held out her arms to him. But baby's mouth turned down at the corners and then he began to cry loudly. He did not know them! It took an hour to stop him crying and then, very tired and cross, they took him home. Martha, Baby's nursemaid, was waiting at the front door. She took Baby from them quickly.
Where are the others? she asked. And who are you?
We're us, of course, Robert said. You don't know us because we're beautiful.
And we are very hungry, said Cyril, and we want our lunch, please.
Go away. Martha screamed. Or I'll send for the police, and she closed the door in their faces.
The children were very hungry by then, and they tried three times to get into the house-but Matha would not let them in. After a while they went and sat at the bottom of the garden to wait for the sun to go down. The wish will finish than, won't it? Jane said.
But the others didn't answer because no one was really sure.
It was a terrible afternoon. They had no lunch, no tea, and they were tired, angry and afraid. It's true that they were all very beautiful, but that's not a lot of help when you're unhappy. In the end they fell asleep.
It was nearly dark when they woke up. Anthea was the first to wake up and she looked at the others. They were no longer very beautiful. Everything was all right again. Happily, they all went back to the house. Of course, Matha was angry. Where have you been all day? she cried
It is not easy to explain a Psammaed to an angry nursemaid, so the children didn't try.
We met some beautiful children and we couldn't get away from them unit it was nearly dark, Anthea said. They were terrible, and we never want to see them again.
And they never have.