Test Your Knowledge of "The Amulet" Quiz

Answer: Fitzroy Street

The old Nurse lives close to the British Museum in Bloomsbury, and handy for Regent's Park.

It is Anthea who drags the others from their gloom by pointing out that there are plenty of things to see and do in London which you don't have to pay for. They set off immediately to feed the ducks in the park. But on the way the pass a street full of pet shops, and a plaintive voice is heard calling: "Buy me - do please buy me."

Answer: Two pounds and ten shillings

They discover their old acquaintance caged in a pet shop near Tottenham Court Road and manage to pay the high price demanded with a little help from the Psammead itself. They are excited to meet the magic and grumpy creature again, but they promised at the end of the book "Five Children and It" never to ask for another wish, so how is the summer to hold any adventure? And how are they to get their heart's desire?

Then the Psammead tells them of a magic charm it has spotted in a nearby antique shop.

Answer: Red

It is made of a red, smooth, softly shiny stone.

But a shock is in store for the children when they get the Amulet home. The Psammead tells them what they have bought for seven shillings and sixpence from the antique shop is only half of the Amulet. Their disappointment turns to excitement when they learn that the half-Amulet has the power to take them into the past to search for the other half.

Answer: Ur Hekau Setcheh

The writing on the Amulet resembles hieroglyphics, so the children take it to the 'poor learned gentleman' upstairs, in the hope that he will be able to read the words of power. The learned gentleman, whose rooms are filled with antique objects including a huge mummy case, is fascinated by the sight of the Amulet. Being so learned, he is easily able to decipher the writing.

The poor learned gentleman is one of the main supporting characters in the book. He is a typical absent-minded scholar, often forgetting to eat because he is so absorbed in his studies. In some very funny chapters later on in the book, he accompanies the children on their adventures into the past.

Answer: Nisroch

Robert rashly asks for the other half of the Amulet while they are at a banquet at the palace in Babylon, and they are promptly thrown into the dungeon for sacrilege in daring to speak the holy name. On a sudden inspiration, they try calling on Nisroch to help them.

Nisroch turns out to be an alarming but obliging creature with an eagle's beak and the body of a man and it releases them from the dungeon and reunites them with their little sister Jane and the Psammead.

Answer: The British Museum

The chapter in which the Queen of Babylon visits London must be the funniest in the book. The children are dreading the Queen's visit for many reasons. Although a charming person in many ways, as Queen of Babylon she is naturally used to having her own way, and once she knows the Psammead can give her wishes there is no holding her. Among other inconvenient things, she wishes that the Londoners were dressed like Babylonians and that her guards were present in Throgmorton Street.

When she is taken to the British Museum she recognises all the Babylonian artefacts in the glass cases and orders them to come out to her, whereupon they float out of the doors of the Museum.

Answer: He discovers the secret location of the Tin Islands

The learned gentleman (who eventually invites the children to address him as Jimmy) isn't with them on their adventure in Tyre and their voyage to the Tin Islands. He accompanies them on some of their other adventures, and each time is convinced that he is having a wonderful dream.

When the children visit the learned gentleman in the future they find he has become rich and famous through writing celebrated historical books, using of course the knowledge he has picked up on his visits to the past. Later on the ancient Egyptian Rekh-Mara appears in London and then the learned Jimmy discovers all he ever wanted to know about the Temple of Amen.

Answer: Wells

His mother says she called him after 'the great reformer, who lived in the dark ages.' Presumably this is H.G. Wells, who was a friend of E. Nesbit's. Her husband, Hubert Bland, was one of the founders of the Fabian Society the aim of which was to improve social and political conditions. Wells and other well-known figures such as George Bernard Shaw soon joined the Fabians, and E. Nesbit attended most of the meetings.

The picture of the future (the children do not know exactly how far in the future they are) may be partly inspired by the ideals of the Fabians.

One of the things that has changed since the children's time is that school has become popular. The little boy Wells is crying when they first meet him because he has been expelled for the day. Other changes are that the Thames and the streets of London are completely free of dirt and pollution, class distinctions appear to have been abolished, and no one looks worried.

Answer: Because Nursie was upset they didn't appreciate her cooking

Nursie is offended when Cyril unfeelingly complains that 'it's always mealtimes when you come to anything interesting'. Nursie spends all her time cooking and looking after the children and her other lodger, the poor learned gentleman.

The children realise they have been selfish and, urged by Anthea, they decide they will make the 'sorry-present' for Nursie before they embark on another trip into the past.

Answer: Sand

When they rescue it from the pet shop, the Psammead (otherwise known as the Sand-Fairy) says 'Sand is all I care about - it's meat and drink to me, and fire and coals and wife and children.'

It loathes giving wishes, and is terrified of water. It explains in "Five Children and It" that "When a sand-fairy gets wet it catches cold and generally dies.' When Jane bursts into tears on one occasion, it begs her to stop - not out of sympathy or compassion but because, as it says: 'You know how it always upsets me if you cry. I can't feel safe a moment.'

The children get their heart's desire at the end of the story - their Father and Mother and the Lamb (their baby brother) come home. The desire of the Psammead's heart is very different: it wishes to be alone in the desert where there is no one to bother it and it can revel in sand.