Its eyes were on long horns like a snail&s eyes… it had ears like a bat&s ears & its tubby body was shaped like a spider&s & covered with thick soft fur… & it had hands & feet like a monkey&s ‘ It’ was the Psammead the grumpy s&-fairy that could if in the mood grant a wish a day When the five children befriend him they find that each wish granted often has a sting in its tail Golden guineas are too difficult to spend wings let them down in a most inconvenient way & when they wish for Red Indians the children forget that they can sometimes be a little warlike Generations of children have come to love the fantasy & the whimsy of the stories in the classic book from the author of The Railway Children