# III: Being Wanted explained — Five Children and It

> Chapter companion for Five Children and It by E. Nesbit.

## What happens

The children reflect on their disappointing wishes for beauty and wealth, then deal with a chaotic breakfast involving the Lamb and goldfish. Afterward, they discuss the Psammead and decide to wish the Lamb away, but the wish goes wrong when gipsies take the Lamb. At sunset, the wish reverses, the gipsies lose interest, and the children realize they truly want the Lamb. They bring him home safely, learning a moral about appreciating family.

## Themes in this chapter

### Wish Fulfillment and Its Consequences

The children's wish to make the Lamb unwanted backfires, teaching them that getting what you wish for can have unintended emotional costs.

### Family and Sibling Dynamics

The chapter explores sibling rivalry and the realization that family bonds are stronger than momentary frustrations.

## Character check-ins

### Cyril

Leads the discussion about the Psammead and later explains that the wish didn't affect their true feelings.

### Anthea

Takes charge in retrieving the Lamb from the gipsies and shows courage in offering him back.

### Robert

Initially piggish about wanting to get rid of the Lamb, but later admits his mistake.

### Jane

Mends her torn frock while the others discuss the Psammead; expresses affection for the gipsy woman.

### The Lamb

Causes chaos at breakfast, is wished away to the gipsies, and is safely retrieved; kisses the gipsy woman.

### The Psammead

Grants the wish to make the Lamb unwanted, which leads to the gipsy episode; the wish reverses at sunset.

## Key lines

> The morning after the children had been the possessors of boundless wealth, and had been unable to buy anything really useful or enjoyable with it, except two pairs of cotton gloves, twelve penny buns, an imitation crocodile-skin purse, and a ride in a pony-cart, they awoke without any of the enthusiastic happiness which they had felt on the previous day when they remembered how they had had the luck to find a Psammead, or Sand-fairy, and to receive its promise to grant them a new wish every day.

The day after their wealth wish, the children woke up disappointed because their riches hadn't brought real happiness, only trivial purchases.

_Highlights the theme of wealth's limitations._

> And that, my dear children, is the moral of this chapter. I did not mean it to have a moral, but morals are nasty forward beings, and will keep putting in their oars where they are not wanted.

The narrator humorously admits that a moral about appreciating family has crept into the story against their intentions.

_Directly states the chapter's lesson._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/five_children_and_it_se/chapters/iii-being-wanted
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/five_children_and_it_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/five_children_and_it_se/chapters