Five Children and It · Chapter
Golden Guineas explained
The children attempt to spend their fairy gold, only to discover that shopkeepers refuse to accept it as currency.
What happens
The children attempt to spend their fairy gold, only to discover that shopkeepers refuse to accept it as currency. They hire a pony-cart to Rochester, but their efforts to buy goods are repeatedly rebuffed. The chapter explores the gap between wealth and its practical use, as the children struggle with the limitations of their magical fortune.
Themes in this chapter
Wealth and Its Limitations
The children possess immense gold but cannot spend it, highlighting the gap between having money and being able to use it effectively.
Wish Fulfillment and Its Consequences
The wish for boundless wealth leads to practical difficulties and discomfort, showing that getting what you wish for may not bring happiness.
Characters to notice
- Anthea
Takes the lead in hiring the pony-cart and attempting to buy a hat; her dirty hands cause suspicion.
- Cyril
Skeptical of Anthea's methods; uses his own money to buy ginger-beer and sponge-cakes when the gold is refused.
- Robert
Suggests filling pockets with gold; later tries to bury Jane in the coins, causing her discomfort.
- Jane
Hides some gold in a hedge; experiences the weight of the coins as painful when buried.
- The Psammead
Grants the wish for boundless wealth, filling the gravel-pit with gold guineas, but warns it won't do much good.
Key passages
“Any grown-up person would tell you that money is hard to get and easy to spend. But the fairy money had been easy to get, and spending it was not only hard, it was almost impossible.”
Adults say earning money is difficult and spending it is easy, but for the children, the fairy gold was effortless to obtain yet nearly impossible to use.
Highlights the ironic reversal of normal economic rules due to the magical nature of the gold.
“It was a new sensation to be driven in a smart pony-trap along pretty country roads; it was very pleasant too (which is not always the case with new sensations), quite apart from the beautiful plans of spending the money which each child made as they went along.”
The ride in the pony-cart was enjoyable, unlike many new experiences, and the children silently dreamed of how to spend their wealth.
Captures the children's excitement and the contrast between the pleasant journey and the later frustrations.