Five Children and It

y umbrella. The animals seemed desperately unhappy because of the rain, and were all growling gloomily. When she awoke, both the growling and

corner of a bath-towel which her brother Robert was gently sq

, though very ingenious in apple-pie beds, booby-traps, original methods of awaken

funny dream,

dreamed we found a Sand-fairy in the gravel-pits, and it said i

first wish directly it said so. And I dreamed you girls were donkeys enough to ask for

ed all that as well as about the Zoo and the rain; and Baby didn't know us in my dream, and the serva

st brother sounded fr

e for breakfast again - unless you mean to

dn't shirk it; I had it after brekker in father

n the doorway, p

all had such an odd dream. We've

o keen on being down early. We'll go up there directly after brekker, and have another wish. Only we'll make up our minds, solid, before we go, what i

t, but Anthea was not sure, till after they had seen Martha and heard her full and plain reminders about their naughty conduct the day before. Then Anthea was sure. 'Because,' said she, 'serv

s,' said Cyril, '

ake him to Rochester

She's dressing him no

nd hat. Bread-an

ing him too,' said Rob

ir relations,' Cyril said. 'I've noticed i

ukes of high degree, and they say the babies are the little dukes and duchesses,' Jane suggested dreamily, ta

ying our infant duke to Rochester,' said Rober

the Lamb on your back! Oh, crik

, then we shall have done a polite and kindly act, and w

hey

d white ribbon. She had a yellow-lace collar with a green bow. And the Lamb had indeed his very best cream-coloured silk coat and hat. It was a s

mmyadd!' said Cyril

vel-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 di

t said as the boys uncovered their spades from the s

one's quite as likely as the other!' 'Suppose you

said Jane, laughing. 'You boys

ng your silly oar in,' said R

on't say a word, you shall be the one to speak to the Fairy and tell him

bug,' said Robert, but not crossly.

ms and legs, bat's ears and snail's eyes of the Sand-fairy himself. Everyone dre

p and shook the sa

sker this morning?'

' said it, 'it had ra

k you fo

ay, because we very much want an extra besides the regular

for that is how he said it.) 'Humph! Do you know, until I heard you being disagreeable to each other just over

ect of disagreeableness. 'I wish,' she added politely, 'you'd

wish?' said the S

r wishes they had decided to ask for. If they said 'No,' it would be very rude, and they had all been taught manners, and h

second wish; not even good tempers, or common

s,' said Cyril eagerly; while the others looked guiltily at each other, and wished the Fairy would not k

es so suddenly that one of them nearly went into the round

ervants to notice th

o give us,' said A

to give us, I m

elf out a bit, let his

te easy. People don't notice things

y, 'to be rich beyond the dr

e,' sai

hat's one comfort,' it muttered to itself. 'Come - I can't go beyond dream

e - and mill

e enough?' said the Fai

YE

I begin, or you'll be

ey could towards the road by which carts used to come to the gravel-pits. Only Anthea had presence of

up to the very top, with new shining gold pieces, and all the little sand-martins' little front doors were covered out of sight. Where the road for the carts wound into the gravel-pit the gold lay in heaps like stones lie by the roadside, and a great bank of shining gold shelved down from where it lay flat and smooth be

h their mouths open, a

f the heap by the cart-road, and looked at it. He looked on both sides. The

fell was wonderful music. At first they quite forgot to think of spending the money, it was so nice to play with. Jane sat down between two heaps of gold and Robert began to bury her, as you bury your

d 'Bosh!'

d Jane, and was taken out, ver

ke,' said she; 'it's like st

ill our pockets and go and buy things. Don't you forget, it won't last after sunset. I wish we'd asked the Sammya

to buy that

ake as much as we can carry. But it's not sovereigns. They've got a man's head on one side and a thing like the ace o

and began to fi

or getting father to

aid he, 'but

and the space between himself and his shirt front with the gold coins, h

Robert. 'You'll sink the ship, old

yril

and the road was very dusty indeed, and the sun seemed to get hotte

s stump in the hedge. And directly we get to the village we'll buy some biscuits; I know it's long past dinner-time.' She took out a handful or two of gold and

and we're not,' sa

red guineas in their pockets. But in spite of this inside wealth they looked quite ordinary outside, and no one would have thought they could have more than a half-crown each at the outside. The haze of

said, 'It is not wrong for men to go into public houses, only for children. And Cyril is nearer t

put their tongues out when they're hot; I wond

quite stretched their throats, but it only seemed to make them thirstier than ever, besides annoying e

'They wouldn't change the gold. And when I pulled out a handful the man just laughed and said it was card-count

its were dry too, and yet soft, which biscuits ought

ng with the money,' Anthea said, 'I'm n

ause they all knew that little girls ought not to go into the bars of pu

one sovereign - or whatever it is - to drive us in to Rochester and back, beside

olly clever, I daresa

id you

d a pail. And I held out one sovereign, and I said, "Do you know what this is?" He said, "No," and he'd call his father. And the old man came, and he said it was a spade guinea; and he said was it my

quite apart from the beautiful plans of spending the money which each child made as they went along, silently of course and quite to itself, for they felt it woul

, where would you go?' asked Cyril, as if he we

t's a question of horses, no more than I'd take anybody else's recommending if I was a-buying one. But if your pa's thinkin

id Cyril. 'The

t, and spending it was not only hard, it was almost impossible. The tradespeople of Rochester seemed to shrink, to a trades-person, from the glittering fairy gold ('furrin money' they called it, for the most part). To begin with, Anthea

says guineas, it means guineas, and

loves before going to the gravel-pit, the black-silk young lady in the shop looked very hard at her, and went and whispered so

,' said Anthea,

ot the kind of money that's fashionable

hers in the street; 'if we had gloves they wouldn't think we were so

and fancy boxes of stationery, and photographs of objects of interest in the vicinity. But nobody cared to change a guinea that day in Rochester, and as they went from shop to shop they got dirtier and dirtier, and their hair got more and more untidy, and Jane slipped and fell down on a part of the road where a water-cart had just gone by. Also they got very hungry, but they found no one would give them anything to eat for their guineas. After trying two pastrycooks in vain, they became so hungry, perhaps from the smell of t

could, and holding out the guinea he got ready be

e coin, bit it, and

, brief and stern lik

said Anthea, who

goes; and you may think yourselves lucky I don't

ts of the party, yet even the stoutest heart quailed at the thought of venturing to sound Mr Billy Peasemarsh at the Saracen's Head on the subject of a horse a

en's Head. The yard-method of attack having been successful at The Chequers was tried a

reed that Robert should be spokesman, because in books it is always the gentl

asemarsh. He was a long lean man, with very

buy some, please,'

say you

m.' 'Who are you a-kiddin of?' inquired Mr Bil

and carriages, and a man told us you were straight and

stable out for your Honour's worship to see? Or shall I send r

it's not too much trouble. I

ts and laughed, and they did not like th

ler appeared i

to buy the whole stud, lock, stock, and bar'l. And ain't got

master's pointing thumb w

or sure?'

pulling at his jacket and begging him to 'come

andfuls of shining guineas, and held them out for Mr Peasemarsh to look at. He did look. He snatched one up in his finger and thumb. He bit it, and Jane expected

oors,' and Willum grinne

er you say, and I hope it'll be a lesson to you.' He had seen a little side gate ope

ff-scouring!' he said. 'W

tened sheep, and Mr Peasemarsh spoke to them till the pleec

you, coming tempting hon

guineas,' said

h no - course not! And dragging little gells into it, too. 'Ere -

said Jane heroically;

as much as theirs,

tening slightly, which was not at all what th

nt glance of ago

ough when it's for calling names with

avel-pit,' sai

icle,' sa

over brown fur - with ears like a bat's and eyes like a sna

oice, 'all the more shame to you boys dragging the

y. If I ever see him again I'll wish for something for yo

y Peasemarsh, 'if there

his face, and at his back a policeman, with whom M

es. And the magistrate will deal with the case. Send the afflicted ones to a home, as likely as not, and the boys to a reformatory.

em, so that when Robert ran right into a passer-by he did not recognize her till a well-known voice said, 'Well, if ever I did! Oh

into Martha

liceman's story, or of Mr Peasemarsh's either, even when they mad

There ain't any gold there - only the poor child's hands, all over crock

ry had promised that the servants should never notice any of the fairy gifts. So of course Martha couldn't

e to an inspector, who sat in a large bare room with a thing like a clumsy nursery-f

ns, officer,' sa

pockets,' sai

h - an odd sort of laugh that hurt, and that felt much more like crying. His pockets were empty.

s, and stop that nois

ne of the nine which enriched his Nor

aid the i

alked in front of me the 'ole way, so as for me to keep my eye

able,' said the i

out this again, young man! - I told you they hadn't got any gold, when you were pretending to see it in their poor helpless hands. It's early in the day for a constab

ey left the police-station he said, 'Now then!' to the policeman and Mr Pea

rapseing into Rochester by themselves', that none of them dared to mention the old man with the pony-cart from the village who was waiting for them in Rochester. And so, after one day of boundless wealth, the children found themselves

and he had bored a hole in it and hung it on his watch-chain. As for the guinea the baker took, the children felt they could not care whether it had vanished or not, which was not perhaps very honest, but on the other hand was not wholly unnatural. But afterwards this preyed on Anthea's mind