The Water-Babies

iver! yet t

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we anythi

smile upon

before thee

e in thy foo

serve the sta

eavens, through Thee,

TH, Ode

ame of l

be first cousin to a great tree; and a little dog like Vick knows that Lioness is a dog too, though she is twenty times larger than herself. So Tom knew that Ellie was a little girl, and thought about her all that day, and longed to have had her to play with; but he had very soon to think of something el

ibble barnacles off the rocks, shells and all, when he saw a round cage of green withes; and inside it,

ty, and have they put you

notion, but he was too much depressed in spiri

d you g

melt very nice when he was outside, and so it did, for a lobster: but

did you

t round hole

't you get ou

widdled his horns more fiercely than

ys, at least four thousand times; and I can't get out: I

he lobster, he saw plainly enough what was the mat

to me, and I'll pull you through hindforemo

ny fox-hunters, he was very sharp as long as he was in his own country; but as soon as

he caught hold of him; and then, as was to be expec

take your great claws, and break the points off t

said the lobster; "and after all the

wit enough to make use of it. For a good many people, like old Polonius, ha

when they saw a great dark cloud over th

tle meddlesome wretch, I have you now! I will serve you out for telli

he top, and squeezed herself right down through it, all eyes and teeth. But no soon

e otter, and the otter tore at the lobster, and both squeezed and thumped poor Tom till he had no breath left in his body;

friend who had saved him; and the first time he saw his tail

ster would

you see she is dead?" And so

the end of th

ster would

, "or the fisherman will catch you!" And that was true,

ndous snap, that he snapped out of his hand, and out of the pot, and safe into the sea. But he left his knobbed claw behind him; for it never came into his stupid head to let go after all, so he

nt of honour among lobsters. And so it is, as the Mayor of Plymouth found out once to his cost-eight

d chain round his neck, hearing one policeman after another come in and sing, "What shall we

use till he gets sober,

he burst his buttons, and then had his luncheon, and burst some more buttons, and th

and who stuck upon one of the bastions a notice, "No one allowed to cut capers here but me," which greatly edified the midshipmen in port, and the Maltese on t

n crack in the rocks he was so excited that, instead of putting in his hook, he put

e dared: but the more he pulled, the more the

ok in with his other hand;

in; but he could n

but there was no one nearer him than

e pale; for the tide flowed,

r the tide was up to his knees

but he wanted two things to do it with-co

r the tide was up to his waist,

put in the sugar, and the sloe-leaves in the tea, and the water in the treacle, and the

the tide was up to his breast

ised to mend his life, as too many do when they think they have no life left to mend. Whereby, as t

up his eyes like a duck in thunder; for the water

er, and wanted to fire at it, which would not have been pleasant for the mayor: but just then such a yell came out of a great hole in the middle of it that the midshipman in charge guessed what it was, and bade pull up to it as fast as they cou

quite true; and second, that of having (as folks say all good stories ought to have) no mora

hing; for he had not left the lobster five

e point of rock. And when it saw Tom it looked up for a moment, and then c

issed each other for ever so long, they did not know why. B

n all this while? I have been looking for

us about the rocks. How was it you did not see us, or hear

he baby again,

u again and again, but I thought you were shells, or sea-

story nine times over, and then think for yourself, you will find out why. It is not good for little boys to be told everything, and never to be forced to use their own wits. They would learn, then, no more than they

I shall not have finished before my brothers

ll I help

ked all its head off, and rubbed off all its flowers. And now I must plant it again with seaweeds,

en Tom heard all the other babies coming, laughing and singing and shouting and romping; and the noise they made was just like the noise of the rip

white bathing dresses; and when they found that he was a new baby, they hugged him and kissed him, and then

l leave us dry. We have mended all the broken sea-weed, and put all the rock-pools in order, and pla

lean; because the water-babies come inshore after every storm to s

re the water-babies will not come, sometimes not for hundreds of years (for they cannot abide anything smelly or foul), but leave the sea-anemones and the crabs to clear away everything, till the good tidy sea has covered up all the dirt in soft mud and clean sand, where the wa

f the water-babies? In

h would not listen to them, or come to confession and to mass, but liked better to brew potheen, and dance the pater o'pee, and knock each other over the head with shillelaghs, and shoot each other

d wings as a dove!" And far away, before the setting sun, he saw a blue fairy sea, and golden fairy islands, and he said, "Those are the islands of the blest." Then he and his friends got i

preached to them; and the fishes told the water-babies, who live in the caves under the isle; and they came up by hundreds every Sunday, and St. Brandan got quite a neat little Sunday-school. And there he taught the water-babies for a great many hundred years, till his eyes grew too dim to see, and his

orse, till the coming of the Cocqcigrues. But, on still clear summer evenings, when the sun sinks down into the sea, among golden cloud-

ars they fought in the old times. And from off that island came strange flowers, which linger still about this land:- the Cornish heath, and Cornish moneywort, and the delicate Venus's hair, and the London-pride which covers the Kerry mountains, and the l

n which the water-babies sleep every night. But, to keep the place clean and sweet, the crabs picked up all the scraps off the floor and ate them like so many monkeys; while the rocks were covered with ten thousand sea-anemones, and corals and madrepores, who scavenged the water all day long, and kept it nice and pure. But, to make up to them for having to do such nasty work, they were not left black and dirty, as poor chimney-sweeps and dustmen are. No; the fairies are more c

ueen Amphitrite, and her car of cameo shell. They were dressed in green velvet, and black velvet, and purple velvet; and were all jointed in rings; and some of them had three hundred brains apiece, so that they must have been uncommonly shrewd detectives; and some had eyes in their tails; and some had eyes in every joint, so that they kept a very sh

s, Jav

oks, L

es, Ha

, Gis

ves, P

s, Fis

s, Br

ans, G

s, Cor

swords

, Nee

so f

hat they had to run for their lives, or else be chopped into small pieces and be eaten afterwards. And, if that

are overlaid, or given gin when they are young, or are let to drink out of hot kettles, or to fall into the fire; all the little children in alleys and courts, and tumble-down cottages, who die by fever, and cholera, and measles, and scarlatina, and nasty complaints which no one has any business to have, and which no one will have

ay, he would meddle with the creatures, all but the water-snakes, for they would stand no nonsense. So he tickled the madrepores, to make them shut up; and frightened the cr

syoudid is coming." But Tom never heeded them, being quite riotous with high spirit

a row, very upright indeed, and smoothed down their bathing dresses, and put the

ose, hooked so much that the bridge of it stood quite up above her eyebrows; and under her arm she carried a great birch-rod. Indeed,

out how they were behaving; and then began giving them all sorts of nice sea-things-sea-cakes, sea-apples, sea-oranges, sea-bu

, hanging in bunches; and, if you will go to Nice, you will find the fish-market full of sea-fruit, which they call "frutta di mare:" though I suppose they call them "fruits de mer" now, out of compliment to that most successful, and therefore most immaculate, potentate wh

owl's. For he hoped that his turn would come at last; and so it did. For the lady called him up, and held out her

l woman," said he, a

mones' mouths, to take them in, and make them fancy that they ha

you that?"

rself, this

s lips; so he was very

themselves. So there is no use trying to hide anything from me. Now go, and be a good

here was any harm

on that it should not burn you; and if you don't know that dirt breeds fever, that is no reason why the fevers should not

"she knows everything!

u should not be punished for them; though not as much, not as much, my lit

ittle hard on a po

o more than they do; I am often very, very sorry for them, poor things: but I cannot help it. If I tried not to do it, I should do it all the same.

low, "She will run down some day: or they may forget to wind her up, as old Grimes used to f

for all, so long ago, tha

, "you must have be

l go for ever and ever; for I am as old

ff; and as she did so, there came such a quiet, tender, patient, hopeful smile over her face that Tom thought for the moment that she did not look ugly at all. And no more she did; for she was like a great many people who have

ed so pleasant for the moment. And t

me very ugly just

head, and got very

loveliest fairy in the world; and her name is Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby. So she begins where I end, and I begin where she ends; and those who will not listen to her must listen to me

call up all who have ill-used little children

e two crabs who lived there very angry, and frightened their friend th

or the young ones have learnt better, all but a few army surgeons, who still fancy that a baby's inside is much lik

nd jalap, and salts and senna, and brimstone and treacle; and horrible faces they made; and then she gave them a gr

nds and feet swelled; and then she crammed their poor feet into the most dreadfully tight boots, and made them all dance, which they did most clumsily indeed; and then she asked them how they liked it; and when they sa

till they were quite sick and stupid, and would have had sun-strokes: but, being under the water, they could only have water-strokes; which, I assure you, are nearly as bad, as you will find if you try to sit un

was so tired, she h

e, amused themselves with beating little children instead; as you may see in the picture of old Pope Gregory (good man and true though he was, when he meddled with things which he did understand), teaching children to sing their fa-fa-mi-fa with a cat-o'-nine tails under his chair: but, because they never had any children of their own, they took into their heads (as some folks

red they were not, and that they were only telling lies; and at last she birched them all round soundly with her great birch-rod and set them each an imposition of three hundred thousand lines of Hebrew to learn by heart before she came back next Friday. And at that they all cried and howled so, that their

spiteful-and no wonder if she was, poor old soul; for if she has to wait to grow han

her, and had better have been born a washerwoman, and stood over a tub

she did not look cross at all; and now and then there was a funny smile in her face

may I ask yo

y, my lit

and the nailers that file off their lads' noses and hammer their fingers; and all the master sweeps, like my master Grimes

so bold. But she was not angry with him. She only answered, "I look after them all the week round

n her voice which made Tom tingle from head to fo

ier-boys, and nailer lads, my sister has set good people to stop all that sort of thing; and very much obliged to her I am; for if she could only stop the cruel masters from ill-using poor children, I should grow handsome at least a thousand years sooner. And now do

ermined to be a very good boy all Saturday; and he was; for he never frightened one crab, nor tickled any live corals, nor put stones into the sea anemones' mouths, to make them fancy they had got

and she understood babies thoroughly, for she had plenty of her own, whole rows and regiments of them, and has to this day. And all her delight was, whenever she had a spare moment, to play with babies, in which she showed herself a woman of sense; for babies are the best company, and the pleasantest playfellows, in the world; at least, so all the wise people in the world think. And therefore when the children saw her, they naturally all caught hold of her, and pulled her till she sat down on a stone, and cl

, you little dar

ut of their mouths; "and he never had any mother," and they all pu

shall have the very best place; s

But they minded it no more than the naughty boys in Struwelpeter minded when St. Nicholas dipped them in his inkstand; and did not even take their thumbs out of t

him, and talked to him, tenderly and low, such things as he had never heard before in his life; a

l for ever and ever; and, as she went on, the children took their thumbs out of their mouths and listened quite seriously; but not sadly at all; for she never told them any

m. "This is so nice. I never ha

l the children; "you hav

for only one. So

doll you lost!" cried

range fai

sweet littl

est doll i

e so red and s

was so char

y poor littl

in the hea

r her more tha

could find w

poor little

in the hea

is terribly

nt is all w

odden off by t

not the lea

kes' sake she i

est doll i

song for a

er-babies to be qu

he advantage of Aunt Agitate's Ar

u be a good boy for my sake, and torme

dle me again?" sa

like to take you with me and cuddle you all

nted no sea-beasts after that as long as he liv

uddle them and tell them stories; and how afraid they ought to be of