diff --git a/src/magic.c b/src/magic.c
index d59503def..8fc5072f6 100644
--- a/src/magic.c
+++ b/src/magic.c
@@ -2903,40 +2903,56 @@ const char *curse_name(const curse_type * ctype, const struct locale *lang)
     return LOC(lang, mkname("spell", ctype->cname));
 }
 
-spell *unit_getspell(struct unit *u, const char *name, const struct locale * lang)
-{
-    sc_mage * mage = get_mage(u);
-    if (mage) {
-        variant token;
-        void * tokens = 0;
-        spellbook *sb = unit_get_spellbook(u);
+static void select_spellbook(void **tokens, spellbook *sb, const struct locale * lang) {
+    quicklist * ql;
+    int qi;
 
-        if (sb) {
-            quicklist * ql;
-            int qi;
+    assert(sb);
+    assert(lang);
 
-            for (qi = 0, ql = sb->spells; ql; ql_advance(&ql, &qi, 1)) {
-                spellbook_entry *sbe = (spellbook_entry *)ql_get(ql, qi);
-                spell *sp = sbe->sp;
-                const char *n = spell_name(sp, lang);
-                if (!n) {
-                    log_error("no translation in locale %s for spell %s\n", locale_name(lang), sp->sname);
-                }
-                else {
-                    token.v = sp;
-                    addtoken(&tokens, n, token);
-                }
-            }
+    for (qi = 0, ql = sb->spells; ql; ql_advance(&ql, &qi, 1)) {
+        spellbook_entry *sbe = (spellbook_entry *)ql_get(ql, qi);
+        spell *sp = sbe->sp;
+
+        const char *n = spell_name(sp, lang);
+        if (!n) {
+            log_error("no translation in locale %s for spell %s\n", locale_name(lang), sp->sname);
         }
-
-        if (tokens) {
-            if (findtoken(tokens, name, &token) != E_TOK_NOMATCH) {
-                freetokens(tokens);
-                return (spell *)token.v;
-            }
-            freetokens(tokens);
+        else {
+            variant token;
+            token.v = sp;
+            addtoken(tokens, n, token);
         }
     }
+}
+
+spell *unit_getspell(struct unit *u, const char *name, const struct locale * lang)
+{
+    void * tokens = 0;
+    spellbook *sb;
+
+    sb = unit_get_spellbook(u);
+    if (sb) {
+        select_spellbook(&tokens, sb, lang);
+    }
+
+    u = get_familiar_mage(u);
+    if (u) {
+        sb = unit_get_spellbook(u);
+        if (sb) {
+            select_spellbook(&tokens, sb, lang);
+        }
+    }
+
+    if (tokens) {
+        variant token;
+        if (findtoken(tokens, name, &token) != E_TOK_NOMATCH) {
+            freetokens(tokens);
+            return (spell *)token.v;
+        }
+        freetokens(tokens);
+    }
+
     return 0;
 }