The Story of the Amulet

Once upon a time there were four children who spent their summer vacation at the White House, happily living among sand pits and chalk pits. One day, they were lucky enough to find a strange creature in the sand pit. Its eyes stare like a snail's into its long horns, and it can move them back and forth like a telescope. Its ears are like those of a bat, while its squat body is like that of a spider, covered with thick soft fur, and its hands and feet are like those of a monkey. It tells the children that its names are Cyril, Robert, Anthea and Jane, and that it is a saimeed or sand fairy. This novel and its characters are purely fictitious. Any similarity is purely coincidental and should not be imitated.