staircase; and what with HIS stone wings and the lions' stone wings
- well, it's not a pretty story! But I believe the boy enjoyed
himself very much till then.'

'Tell me,' said Anthea, 'why don't our wishes turn into stone now?
Why do they just vanish?'

'Autres temps, autres moeurs,' said the creature.

'Is that the Ninevite language?' asked Anthea, who had learned no
foreign language at school except French.

'What I mean is,' the Psammead went on, 'that in the old days
people wished for good solid everyday gifts - Mammoths and
Pterodactyls and things - and those could be turned into stone as
easy as not. But people wish such high-flying fanciful things
nowadays. How are you going to turn being beautiful as the day, or
being wanted by everybody, into stone? You see it can't be done.
And it would never do to have two rules, so they simply vanish. If
being beautiful as the day COULD be turned into stone it would last
an awfully long time, you know - much longer than you would. just
look at the Greek statues. It's just as well as it is. Good-bye.
I AM so sleepy.'

It jumped off her lap - dug frantically, and vanished.

Anthea was late for breakfast. It was Robert who quietly poured a
spoonful of treacle down the Lamb's frock, so that he had to be
taken away and washed thoroughly directly after breakfast. And it
was of course a very naughty thing to do; yet it served two