FIVE CHILDREN AND IT (Level 3)

When the children dug a hole in the gravel-pit, they were very surprised at what they found. “It” was a Psammead, and it was thousands of years old.

It was a strange little thing – it was furry and with eyes on long stalks. It was often very cold and unfriendly, but it could give wishes – one wish a day. ‘It’s wonderful!’ the children said.

But wishes are difficult things they can get you into trouble.

FIVE CHILDREN AND IT

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Vocabulary:

1. Baker: a person who makes and sell bread
2. Believe: to think that something is real or true
3. Diamond: a very expensive, bright stone, often put in rings, etc
4. Dig (past tense dug) to make a hole in the ground
5. Enormous: very, very big
6. Fair: a kind of travelling market, where you can buy things, play games, watch interesting things, etc.
7. Fairy: a person or things which is not real, but which in stories does wonderful, impossible things.
8. Fur: the soft hair on an animal’s body
9. Good Heavens!: words that show you are very surprised
10. Gravel: very small stones
11. Gravel-pit: a big hole in the ground or the side of a hill, where people have taken away gravel and sand
12. Jewel: a very valuable, expensive stone, e.g. a diamond
13. Kick: to hit someone or something with your foot
14. Lemonade: a sweet drink made from lemons and sugar
15. Nursemaid: a woman servant who helps a mother with her baby
16. Plum: a soft, dark-red or purple fruit
17. Psammead: Edith Nesbit’s word for said-fairy (from a Greek word)
18. Sand: very fine, light earth, usually white or yellow (often found on beaches)
19. Servant: somebody who works in another person’s house
20. Vicar: a priest, the man of the church
21. Wish: to say what you would like to have or do (usually something which is not possible)