# Wings explained — Five Children and It > Chapter companion for Five Children and It by E. Nesbit. ## What happens The children enjoy a day of gift-giving from Uncle Richard, then Anthea wakes early to consult the Psammead alone. She learns about the dangers of wishing for wings but decides to try anyway. The children wish for wings and fly over the countryside, stopping to eat plums from an orchard, where they pay the frightened farmer. They experience the joy and peril of flight. ## Themes in this chapter ### Wish Fulfillment and Its Consequences The children's wish for wings brings joy but also danger, as the Psammead warns of the risk of turning to stone at sunset. ### The Value of Imagination and Play The children's flight represents the power of imagination and the thrill of play, as they explore the world from above. ### Truth and Deception The children hide the Psammead from Uncle Richard, and later justify stealing plums by pretending to be birds. ## Character check-ins ### Anthea Anthea wakes at five, consults the Psammead alone, and leads the wish for wings. ### Cyril Cyril comments on the flying experience and questions the morality of stealing plums. ### Jane Jane argues that having wings makes them birds, so stealing plums is permissible. ### Robert Robert chooses a Nineveh puzzle at the shop, foreshadowing the Psammead's story. ### The Psammead The Psammead warns Anthea about the dangers of flying at sunset and tells a story of a Ninevite boy. ### Uncle Richard Uncle Richard takes the children shopping and on a boat ride, but they do not tell him about the Psammead. ## Key lines > It is very wise to let children choose exactly what they like, because they are very foolish and inexperienced, and sometimes they will choose a really instructive thing without meaning to. Allowing children to pick their own gifts is wise because their inexperience sometimes leads them to accidentally choose something educational. _The narrator comments on the irony of children's choices, as Robert picks a Nineveh puzzle._ > All the words in the English Dictionary, and in the Greek Lexicon as well, are, I find, of no use at all to tell you exactly what it feels like to be flying, so I will not try. No language can fully capture the sensation of flight, so the narrator declines to describe it. _The narrator emphasizes the ineffable joy of flying._ > If you've got wings you're a bird, and no one minds birds breaking the commandments. Having wings makes you a bird, and birds are not punished for stealing fruit. _Jane uses this logic to justify eating the plums._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/five_children_and_it_se/chapters/iv-wings - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/five_children_and_it_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/five_children_and_it_se/chapters