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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Water-Babies + +Author: Charles Kingsley + +Illustrator: Jessie Willcox Smith + +Release Date: June 3, 2011 [EBook #36309] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WATER-BABIES *** + + + + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Emmy and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + +</pre> + +<h4>There are several editions of this ebook in the Project Gutenberg collection. Various characteristics of each ebook are listed to aid in selecting the preferred file.<br />Click on any of the filenumbers below to quickly view each ebook. +</h4> + + +<table summary="" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto" cellpadding="4" border="3"> + +<tr><td> + <b><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/36309/36309-h/36309-h.htm"> +36309</a> </b> </td><td>(Illustrated in Black and White and Color) +</td></tr> + +<tr><td> + <b><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/25564/25564-h/25564-h.htm"> +25564</a></b></td><td>(Illustrated in Color) +</td></tr> + +</table> + + +<p><br /></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 377px;"> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" width="377" height="600" alt="Cover" title="" /> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + + +<h1>THE WATER-BABIES</h1> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 239px;"> +<img src="images/gs01-tom-stanind-on-fish.png" width="239" height="400" alt="Tom standing on a fish" title="" /> +</div> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 441px;"><a name="frontis" id="frontis"></a> +<img src="images/col01.jpg" width="441" height="600" alt="Tom looking at the moon" title="" /> +<span class="caption">He looked up at the broad yellow moon . . . and thought that she looked at him + +<br /><a href="#Page_102"><i>Page 102</i></a></span> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 420px;"> +<img src="images/tp.png" width="420" height="600" alt="Title Page" title="" /> +</div> +<h1><br /><br /><br />The<br /> +Water-Babies</h1> + +<div class='center'>by<br /> +<span class='author'>Charles Kingsley</span><br /> +<br /><br /> + + +<br />Illustrated by<br /> +Jessie Willcox Smith<br /> + +<br /><br /><br /><br /> +<span class='small'>New York</span><br /> +Dodd, Mead & Company<br /> +<span class='small'>Publishers</span><br /> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class='copyright'> +Copyright, 1916,<br /> +By <span class="smcap">Dodd, Mead and Company, Inc.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Printed in U. S. A.</span><br /> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Dedication and illustration"> +<tr><td align='center'><div class='center'><br /><br /> +TO<br /> +<span class='small'>MY YOUNGEST SON</span><br /> +<span class='big'>GRENVILLE ARTHUR</span><br /> +<span class='small'>AND</span><br /> +TO ALL OTHER GOOD LITTLE BOYS<br /> +<br /> +<i>Come read me my riddle, each good little man;</i><br /> +<i>If you cannot read it, no grown up folk can.</i><br /> +</div></td><td align='left'><img src="images/dedication.png" width="188" height="559" alt="Babies dangling fishing net" title="" /> +</td></tr> +</table></div> + + + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/gs05-two-babies-looking-downcast.png" width="500" height="146" alt="Two babies looking downcast" title="" /> +</div> + +<h2>INTRODUCTION</h2> + + +<div class='unindent'>"<span class="smcap">It</span> was in 1863 that <i>The Water-Babies</i> was written, +showing the naturalist in the fulness of his +strength, fearlessly, yet tenderly, playing with the +tremendous results of advanced science in the nineteenth +century. . . .</div> + +<p>"The writing of the book was the outcome of a +gentle reminder, at breakfast one spring morning, of +an old promise, to the effect that as the three elder +children had their book—<i>The Heroes</i>—the baby, +my youngest brother, then four years old, 'must +have his.' My father made no answer, 'but got up +at once and went to his study, locking the door,' and +in an hour came back with the first chapter of <i>The +Water-Babies</i> in his hand. At this pace and with +the same ease the whole book was composed. . . .</p> + +<p>"A visit in 1858 to Mr. W. E. Forster in Wharfedale, +and to Mr. Morrison at Malham, gave him the +local setting of the beautiful opening chapters. For +the grandeur of the scenery of Godale Scar and Malham +Cove had made a profound impression on his +mind, as did the beauty of the Wharfe below Denton +Park.</p> + +<p>"Places he had seen, and many more he had read +and dreamed of in his father's fine library of voyages +and travels, fairies and men of science, fads and +foibles, education true and false, Pandora's box and +sanitary science—a matter always dear to his heart—the +ways of beasts and birds, fishes and insects, +of plant and tree and rock, of river and tide, are +all interwoven here with the deepest truths of life +and living, of morals and religion. So that while the +book enchants the child, it gives the wise man food +for thought. . . .</p> + +<p>"Happy are the children who get their first ideas +of the marvels of nature all around them from such +a lesson-book as this. . . .</p> + +<p>"And perchance, when they are grown men and +women, and like Tom have won their spurs in the +great battle, they may look back with thankful hearts +to certain pages in <i>The Water-Babies;</i> pages which +taught them, while as little children they read a fairy +tale, what a fine thing it is to love truth, mercy, +justice, courage, and all things noble and of good +report."</p> + +<p>Thus Rose G. Kingsley, in a preface to her +father's fairy tale, describes the impromptu manner +in which <i>The Water-Babies</i> was written. Dashed off +for the pleasure of his own little son, this book has +charmed and entertained thousands of children for +more than fifty years, and has undoubtedly in many +cases taught "what a fine thing it is to love truth, +mercy, justice, courage, and all things noble and of +good report."</p> + +<div class='sig'> +<span class="smcap">The Editor.</span><br /> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 369px;"> +<img src="images/int02-baby_holding_fish.png" width="369" height="400" alt="Baby holding a fish" title="" /> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/gs05-two-babies-looking-downcast.png" width="500" height="146" alt="Babies looking downcast" title="" /> +</div> + + + +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Contents"> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='left'><span class='small'>PAGE</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Chapter I</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Chapter II</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_37">37</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Chapter III</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_67">67</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Chapter IV</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_102">102</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Chapter V</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_129">129</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Chapter VI</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_165">165</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Chapter VII</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_194">194</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Chapter VIII </span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_229">229</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/ep06-three_fish_in_row.png" width="500" height="88" alt="Three fish in a row" title="" /> +</div> + +<h2>ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> + + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="List of Illustrations"> +<tr><td align='left'>He looked up at the broad yellow moon . . . and thought that she looked at him</td><td align='right'><i><a href="#frontis">Frontispiece</a></i></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'><span class='small'>PAGE</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>He felt how comfortable it was to have nothing on him but himself</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_68">68</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>"Oh, don't hurt me!" cried Tom. "I only want to look at you; you are so handsome"</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_98">98</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>And Tom sat upon the buoy long days</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_110">110</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>He felt the net very heavy; and lifted it out quickly, with Tom all entangled in the meshes</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_124">124</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Tom reached and clawed down the hole after him</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_132">132</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_172">172</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_258">258</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE WATER-BABIES</h2> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 369px;"> +<img src="images/int02-baby_holding_fish.png" width="369" height="400" alt="Baby holding fish" title="" /> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span></p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/ch01-babies_and_polliwog.jpg" width="500" height="253" alt="Babies and a polliwog" title="" /> +</div> + +<h2>THE WATER-BABIES</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER I</h2> + + +<div class='cap'>ONCE upon a time there was a little chimney-sweep, +and his name was Tom. That is a +short name, and you have heard it before, +so you will not have much trouble in remembering +it. He lived in a great town in the North country, +where there were plenty of chimneys to sweep, and +plenty of money for Tom to earn and his master to +spend. He could not read nor write, and did not +care to do either; and he never washed himself, for +there was no water up the court where he lived. He +had never been taught to say his prayers. He never +had heard of God, or of Christ, except in words +which you never have heard, and which it would<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span> +have been well if he had never heard. He cried +half his time, and laughed the other half. He cried +when he had to climb the dark flues, rubbing his poor +knees and elbows raw; and when the soot got into +his eyes, which it did every day in the week; and +when his master beat him, which he did every day +in the week; and when he had not enough to eat, +which happened every day in the week likewise. +And he laughed the other half of the day, when he +was tossing half pennies with the other boys, or +playing leap-frog over the posts, or bowling stones +at the horses' legs as they trotted by, which last was +excellent fun, when there was a wall at hand behind +which to hide. As for chimney-sweeping, and being +hungry, and being beaten, he took all that for the +way of the world, like the rain and snow and thunder, +and stood manfully with his back to it till it was +over, as his old donkey did to a hail-storm; and then +shook his ears and was as jolly as ever; and thought +of the fine times coming, when he would be a man, +and a master sweep, and sit in the public-house with +a quart of beer and a long pipe, and play cards for +silver money, and wear velveteens and ankle-jacks, +and keep a white bull-dog with one gray ear, and +carry her puppies in his pocket, just like a man. And +he would have apprentices, one, two, three, if he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span> +could. How he would bully them, and knock them +about, just as his master did to him; and make them +carry home the soot sacks, while he rode before them +on his donkey, with a pipe in his mouth and a flower +in his buttonhole, like a king at the head of his army. +Yes, there were good times coming.</div> + +<p>One day a smart little groom rode into the court +where Tom lived. Tom was just hiding behind a +wall, to heave half a brick at his horse's legs as is +the custom of that country when they welcome +strangers; but the groom saw him, and halloed to +him to know where Mr. Grimes, the chimney-sweep, +lived. Now, Mr. Grimes was Tom's own master, +and Tom was a good man of business, and always +civil to customers, so he put the half-brick down +quietly behind the wall, and proceeded to take +orders.</p> + +<p>Mr. Grimes was to come up next morning to Sir +John Harthover's, at the Place, for his old chimney-sweep +was gone to prison, and the chimneys wanted +sweeping. And so he rode away, not giving Tom +time to ask what the sweep had gone to prison for, +which was a matter of interest to Tom, as he had +been in prison once or twice himself. Moreover, the +groom looked so very neat and clean, with his drab +gaiters, drab breeches, drab jacket, snow-white tie<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span> +with a smart pin in it, and clean round ruddy face, +that Tom was offended and disgusted at his appearance, +and considered him a stuck-up fellow, who +gave himself airs because he wore smart clothes, and +other people paid for them; and went behind the +wall to fetch the half-brick after all; but did not, +remembering that he had come in the way of business, +and was, as it were, under a flag of truce.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/gs02-tom-looking-at-lobster.png" width="500" height="236" alt="Baby looking at lobster" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>His master was so delighted at his new customer +that he knocked Tom down out of hand, and drank +more beer that night than he usually did in two, in +order to be sure of getting up in time next morning; +for the more a man's head aches when he wakes, the +more glad he is to turn out, and have a breath of +fresh air. And, when he did get up at four the next +morning, he knocked Tom down again, in order to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span> +teach him (as young gentlemen used to be taught at +public schools) that he must be an extra good boy +that day, as they were going to a very great house, +and might make a very good thing of it, if they could +but give satisfaction.</p> + +<p>And Tom thought so likewise, and, indeed, would +have done and behaved his best, even without being +knocked down. For, of all places upon earth, +Harthover Place (which he had never seen) was the +most wonderful, and, of all men on earth, Sir John +(whom he had seen, having been sent to gaol by +him twice) was the most awful.</p> + +<p>Harthover Place was really a grand place, even +for the rich North country; with a park full of deer, +which Tom believed to be monsters who were in the +habit of eating children; with miles of game-preserves, +in which Mr. Grimes and the collier lads +poached at times, on which occasions Tom saw pheasants, +and wondered what they tasted like; with a +noble salmon-river, in which Mr. Grimes and his +friends would have liked to poach; but then they +must have got into cold water, and that they did +not like at all. In short, Harthover was a grand +place, and Sir John a grand old man, whom even +Mr. Grimes respected; for not only could he send +Mr. Grimes to prison when he deserved it, as he did<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span> +once or twice a week; not only did he own all the +land about for miles; not only was he a jolly, honest, +sensible squire, as ever kept a pack of hounds, who +would do what he thought right by his neighbours, +as well as get what he thought right for himself; +but, what was more, he weighed full fifteen stone, +was nobody knew how many inches round the chest, +and could have thrashed Mr. Grimes himself in fair +fight, which very few folk round there could do, and +which would not have been right for him to do, as +a great many things are not which one both can do, +and would like very much to do. So Mr. Grimes +touched his hat to him when he rode through the +town.</p> + +<p>Now, I dare say, you never got up at three o'clock +on a midsummer morning. Some people get up then +because they want to catch salmon; and some because +they want to climb Alps; and a great many more +because they must, like Tom. But, I assure you, that +three o'clock on a midsummer morning is the pleasantest +time of all the twenty-four hours, and all the +three hundred and sixty-five days; and why every one +does not get up then, I never could tell, save that +they are all determined to spoil their nerves and their +complexions by doing all night what they might just +as well do all day. But Tom, instead of going out<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span> +to dinner at half-past eight at night, and to a ball at +ten, and finishing off somewhere between twelve and +four, went to bed at seven, when his master went to +the public-house, and slept like a dead pig; for which +reason he was as piert as a game-cock (who always +gets up early to wake the maids), and just ready to +get up when the fine gentlemen and ladies were just +ready to go to bed.</p> + +<p>So he and his master set out; Grimes rode the +donkey in front, and Tom and the brushes walked +behind; out of the court, and up the street, past the +closed window-shutters, and the winking weary +policemen, and the roofs all shining gray in the gray +dawn.</p> + +<p>They passed through the pitmen's village, all shut +up and silent now, and through the turnpike; and +then they were out in the real country, and plodding +along the black dusty road, between black slag walls, +with no sound but the groaning and thumping of the +pit-engine in the next field. But soon the road grew +white, and the walls likewise; and at the wall's foot +grew long grass and gay flowers, all drenched with +dew; and instead of the groaning of the pit-engine, +they heard the skylark saying his matins high up in +the air, and the pit-bird warbling in the sedges, as he +had warbled all night long.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span></p> + +<p>All else was silent. For old Mrs. Earth was still +fast asleep; and, like many pretty people, she looked +still prettier asleep than awake. The great elm-trees +in the gold-green meadows were fast asleep above, +and the cows fast asleep beneath them; nay, the few +clouds which were about were fast asleep likewise, +and so tired that they had lain down on the earth to +rest, in long white flakes and bars, among the stems +of the elm-trees, and along the tops of the alders by +the stream, waiting for the sun to bid them rise and +go about their day's business in the clear blue overhead.</p> + +<p>On they went; and Tom looked, and looked, for +he never had been so far into the country before; and +longed to get over a gate, and pick buttercups, and +look for birds' nests in the hedge; but Mr. Grimes +was a man of business, and would not have heard of +that.</p> + +<p>Soon they came up with a poor Irishwoman, trudging +along with a bundle at her back. She had a gray +shawl over her head, and a crimson madder petticoat; +so you may be sure she came from Galway. +She had neither shoes nor stockings, and limped +along as if she were tired and footsore; but she was +a very tall handsome woman, with bright gray eyes, +and heavy black hair hanging about her cheeks. And<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span> +she took Mr. Grimes' fancy so much, that when he +came alongside he called out to her:</p> + +<p>"This is a hard road for a gradely foot like that. +Will ye up, lass, and ride behind me?"</p> + +<p>But, perhaps, she did not admire Mr. Grimes' +look and voice; for she answered quietly:</p> + +<p>"No, thank you: I'd sooner walk with your little +lad here."</p> + +<p>"You may please yourself," growled Grimes, and +went on smoking.</p> + +<p>So she walked beside Tom, and talked to him, and +asked him where he lived, and what he knew, and all +about himself, till Tom thought he had never met +such a pleasant-spoken woman. And she asked him, +at last, whether he said his prayers! and seemed +sad when he told her that he knew no prayers to +say.</p> + +<p>Then he asked her where she lived, and she said +far away by the sea. And Tom asked her about the +sea; and she told him how it rolled and roared over +the rocks in winter nights, and lay still in the bright +summer days, for the children to bathe and play in +it; and many a story more, till Tom longed to go and +see the sea, and bathe in it likewise.</p> + +<p>At last, at the bottom of a hill, they came to a +spring; not such a spring as you see here, which soaks<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span> +up out of a white gravel in the bog, among red fly-catchers, +and pink bottle-heath, and sweet white +orchis; nor such a one as you may see, too, here, +which bubbles up under the warm sandbank in the +hollow lane, by the great tuft of lady ferns, and +makes the sand dance reels at the bottom, day and +night, all the year round; not such a spring as either +of those; but a real North country limestone fountain, +like one of those in Sicily or Greece, where the +old heathen fancied the nymphs sat cooling themselves +the hot summer's day, while the shepherds +peeped at them from behind the bushes. Out of a +low cave of rock, at the foot of a limestone crag, +the great fountain rose, quelling, and bubbling, and +gurgling, so clear that you could not tell where the +water ended and the air began; and ran away under +the road, a stream large enough to turn a mill; +among blue geranium, and golden globe-flower, and +wild raspberry, and the bird-cherry with its tassels of +snow.</p> + +<p>And there Grimes stopped, and looked; and Tom +looked too. Tom was wondering whether anything +lived in that dark cave, and came out at night to fly +in the meadows. But Grimes was not wondering at +all. Without a word, he got off his donkey, and +clambered over the low road wall, and knelt down,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span> +and began dipping his ugly +head into the spring—and +very dirty he made it.</p> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 270px;"> +<img src="images/gs03-tom-sitting-holding-fish.png" width="270" height="300" alt="Tom holding different fish" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>Tom was picking the +flowers as fast as he could. +The Irishwoman helped +him, and showed him how +to tie them up; and a very +pretty nosegay they had +made between them. But when he saw Grimes actually +wash, he stopped, quite astonished; and when +Grimes had finished, and began shaking his ears to +dry them, he said:</p> + +<p>"Why, master, I never saw you do that before."</p> + +<p>"Nor will again, most likely. 'Twasn't for +cleanliness I did it, but for coolness. I'd be ashamed +to want washing every week or so, like any smutty +collier lad."</p> + +<p>"I wish I might go and dip my head in," said poor +little Tom. "It must be as good as putting it under +the town-pump; and there is no beadle here to drive +a chap away."</p> + +<p>"Thou come along," said Grimes; "what dost +want with washing thyself? Thou did not drink half +a gallon of beer last night, like me."</p> + +<p>"I don't care for you," said naughty Tom, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span> +ran down to the stream, and began washing his +face.</p> + +<p>Grimes was very sulky, because the woman preferred +Tom's company to his; so he dashed at him +with horrid words, and tore him up from his knees, +and began beating him. But Tom was accustomed +to that, and got his head safe between Mr. Grimes' +legs, and kicked his shins with all his might.</p> + +<p>"Are you not ashamed of yourself, Thomas +Grimes?" cried the Irishwoman over the wall.</p> + +<p>Grimes looked up, startled at her knowing his +name; but all he answered was, "No, nor never was +yet;" and went on beating Tom.</p> + +<p>"True for you. If you ever had been ashamed +of yourself, you would have gone over into Vendale +long ago."</p> + +<p>"What do you know about Vendale?" shouted +Grimes; but he left off beating Tom.</p> + +<p>"I know about Vendale, and about you, too. I +know, for instance, what happened in Aldermire +Copse, by night, two years ago come Martinmas."</p> + +<p>"You do?" shouted Grimes; and leaving Tom, +he climbed up over the wall, and faced the woman. +Tom thought he was going to strike her; but she +looked him too full and fierce in the face for that.</p> + +<p>"Yes; I was there," said the Irishwoman quietly.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You are no Irishwoman, by your speech," said +Grimes, after many bad words.</p> + +<p>"Never mind who I am. I saw what I saw; +and if you strike that boy again, I can tell what I +know."</p> + +<p>Grimes seemed quite cowed, and got on his donkey +without another word.</p> + +<p>"Stop!" said the Irishwoman. "I have one +more word for you both; for you will both see me +again before all is over. Those that wish to be +clean, clean they will be; and those that wish to be +foul, foul they will be. Remember."</p> + +<p>And she turned away, and through a gate into the +meadow. Grimes stood still a moment, like a man +who had been stunned. Then he rushed after her, +shouting, "You come back." But when he got into +the meadow, the woman was not there.</p> + +<p>Had she hidden away? There was no place to +hide in. But Grimes looked about, and Tom also, +for he was as puzzled as Grimes himself at her disappearing +so suddenly; but look where they would, +she was not there.</p> + +<p>Grimes came back again, as silent as a post, for +he was a little frightened; and, getting on his donkey, +filled a fresh pipe, and smoked away, leaving +Tom in peace.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span></p> + +<p>And now they had gone three miles and more, +and came to Sir John's lodge-gates.</p> + +<p>Very grand lodges they were, with very grand +iron gates and stone gate-posts, and on the top of +each a most dreadful bogy, all teeth, horns, and tail, +which was the crest which Sir John's ancestors wore +in the Wars of the Roses; and very prudent men +they were to wear it, for all their enemies must have +run for their lives at the very first sight of them.</p> + +<p>Grimes rang at the gate, and out came a keeper +on the spot, and opened.</p> + +<p>"I was told to expect thee," he said. "Now +thou'lt be so good as to keep to the main avenue, +and not let me find a hare or a rabbit on thee when +thou comest back. I shall look sharp for one, I tell +thee."</p> + +<p>"Not if it's in the bottom of the soot-bag," quoth +Grimes, and at that he laughed; and the keeper +laughed and said:</p> + +<p>"If that's thy sort, I may as well walk up with +thee to the hall."</p> + +<p>"I think thou best had. It's thy business to see +after thy game, man, and not mine."</p> + +<p>So the keeper went with them; and, to Tom's surprise, +he and Grimes chatted together all the way +quite pleasantly. He did not know that a keeper is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span> +only a poacher turned outside in, and a poacher a +keeper turned inside out.</p> + +<p>They walked up a great lime avenue, a full mile +long, and between their stems Tom peeped trembling +at the horns of the sleeping deer, which stood up +among the ferns. Tom had never seen such enormous +trees, and as he looked up he fancied that the +blue sky rested on their heads. But he was puzzled +very much by a strange murmuring noise, which followed +them all the way. So much puzzled, that at +last he took courage to ask the keeper what it was.</p> + +<p>He spoke very civilly, and called him Sir, for he +was horribly afraid of him, which pleased the +keeper, and he told him that they were the bees about +the lime flowers.</p> + +<p>"What are bees?" asked Tom.</p> + +<p>"What make honey."</p> + +<p>"What is honey?" asked Tom.</p> + +<p>"Thou hold thy noise," said Grimes.</p> + +<p>"Let the boy be," said the keeper. "He's a civil +young chap now, and that's more than he'll be long +if he bides with thee."</p> + +<p>Grimes laughed, for he took that for a compliment.</p> + +<p>"I wish I were a keeper," said Tom, "to live in +such a beautiful place, and wear green velveteens<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span> +and have a real dog-whistle at my button, like +you."</p> + +<p>The keeper laughed; he was a kind-hearted fellow +enough.</p> + +<p>"Let well alone, lad, and ill too at times. Thy +life's safer than mine at all events, eh, Mr. +Grimes?"</p> + +<p>And Grimes laughed again, and then the two men +began talking quite low. Tom could hear, though, +that it was about some poaching fight; and at last +Grimes said surlily, "Hast thou anything against +me?"</p> + +<p>"Not now."</p> + +<p>"Then don't ask me any questions till thou hast, +for I am a man of honour."</p> + +<p>And at that they both laughed again, and thought +it a very good joke.</p> + +<p>And by this time they were come up to the great +iron gates in front of the house; and Tom stared +through them at the rhododendrons and azaleas, +which were all in flower; and then at the house itself, +and wondered how many chimneys there were in +it, and how long ago it was built, and what was the +man's name that built it, and whether he got much +money for his job?</p> + +<p>But Tom and his master did not go in through the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span> +great iron gates, as if they had been Dukes or Bishops, +but round the back way, and a very long way +round it was; and into a little back-door, where the +ash-boy let them in, yawning horribly; and then in a +passage the housekeeper met them, in such a flowered +chintz dressing-gown, that Tom mistook her +for My Lady herself, and she gave Grimes solemn +orders about "You will take care of this, and take +care of that," as if he was going up the chimneys, +and not Tom. And Grimes listened, and said every +now and then, under his voice, "You'll mind that, +you little beggar?" and Tom did mind, all at least +that he could. And then the housekeeper turned +them into a grand room, all covered up in sheets +of brown paper, and bade them begin, in a lofty and +tremendous voice; and so after a whimper or two, +and a kick from his master, into the grate Tom +went, and up the chimney, while a housemaid stayed +in the room to watch the furniture; to whom Mr. +Grimes paid many playful and chivalrous compliments, +but met with very slight encouragement in +return.</p> + +<p>How many chimneys Tom swept I cannot say; but +he swept so many that he got quite tired, and puzzled +too, for they were not like the town flues to which he +was accustomed, but such as you would find—if you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span> +would only get up them and look, which perhaps you +would not like to do—in old country-houses, large +and crooked chimneys, which had been altered again +and again, till they ran one into another. So Tom +fairly lost his way in them; not that he cared much +for that, though he was in pitchy darkness, for he +was as much at home in a chimney as a mole is +underground; but at last, coming down as he thought +the right chimney, he came down the wrong one, and +found himself standing on the hearthrug in a room +the like of which he had never seen before.</p> + +<p>Tom had never seen the like. He had never been +in gentlefolks' rooms but when the carpets were all +up, and the curtains down, and the furniture huddled +together under a cloth, and the pictures covered with +aprons and dusters; and he had often enough wondered +what the rooms were like when they were all +ready for the quality to sit in. And now he saw, and +he thought the sight very pretty.</p> + +<p>The room was all dressed in white,—white window-curtains, +white bed-curtains, white furniture, +and white walls, with just a few lines of pink here +and there. The carpet was all over gay little flowers; +and the walls were hung with pictures in gilt +frames, which amused Tom very much. There were +pictures of ladies and gentlemen, and pictures of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span> +horses and dogs. The horses he liked; but the dogs +he did not care for much, for there were no bulldogs +among them, not even a terrier. But the two +pictures which took his fancy most were, one a man +in long garments, with little children and their +mothers round him, who was laying his hand upon +the children's heads. That was a very pretty picture, +Tom thought, to hang in a lady's room. For +he could see that it was a lady's room by the dresses +which lay about.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/gs04-frog-on-rock.png" width="500" height="210" alt="Frog on rock" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>The other picture was that of a man nailed to a +cross, which surprised Tom much. He fancied that +he had seen something like it in a shop-window. But +why was it there? "Poor man," thought Tom, +"and he looks so kind and quiet. But why should +the lady have such a sad picture as that in her room? +Perhaps it was some kinsman of hers, who had been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span> +murdered by the savages in foreign parts, and she +kept it there for a remembrance." And Tom felt +sad, and awed, and turned to look at something +else.</p> + +<p>The next thing he saw, and that too puzzled him, +was a washing-stand, with ewers and basins, and +soap and brushes, and towels, and a large bath full +of clean water—what a heap of things all for washing! +"She must be a very dirty lady," thought +Tom, "by my master's rule, to want as much scrubbing +as all that. But she must be very cunning to +put the dirt out of the way so well afterwards, for +I don't see a speck about the room, not even on the +very towels."</p> + +<p>And then, looking toward the bed, he saw that +dirty lady, and held his breath with astonishment.</p> + +<p>Under the snow-white coverlet, upon the snow-white +pillow, lay the most beautiful little girl that +Tom had ever seen. Her cheeks were almost as +white as the pillow, and her hair was like threads of +gold spread all about over the bed. She might have +been as old as Tom, or maybe a year or two older; +but Tom did not think of that. He thought only +of her delicate skin and golden hair, and wondered +whether she was a real live person, or one of the +wax dolls he had seen in the shops. But when he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span> +saw her breathe, he made up his mind that she was +alive, and stood staring at her, as if she had been +an angel out of heaven.</p> + +<p>No. She cannot be dirty. She never could have +been dirty, thought Tom to himself. And then he +thought, "And are all people like that when they are +washed?" And he looked at his own wrist, and +tried to rub the soot off, and wondered whether it +ever would come off. "Certainly I should look +much prettier then, if I grew at all like her."</p> + +<p>And looking round, he suddenly saw, standing +close to him, a little ugly, black, ragged figure, with +bleared eyes and grinning white teeth. He turned +on it angrily. What did such a little black ape want +in that sweet young lady's room? And behold, it +was himself, reflected in a great mirror the like of +which Tom had never seen before.</p> + +<p>And Tom, for the first time in his life, found out +that he was dirty; and burst into tears with shame +and anger; and turned to sneak up the chimney again +and hide; and upset the fender and threw the fire-irons +down, with a noise as of ten thousand tin kettles +tied to ten thousand mad dogs' tails.</p> + +<p>Up jumped the little white lady in her bed, and, +seeing Tom, screamed as shrill as any peacock. In +rushed a stout old nurse from the next room, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span> +seeing Tom likewise, made up her mind that he had +come to rob, plunder, destroy, and burn; and dashed +at him, as he lay over the fender, so fast that she +caught him by the jacket.</p> + +<p>But she did not hold him. Tom had been in a +policeman's hands many a time, and out of them too, +what is more; and he would have been ashamed to +face his friends for ever if he had been stupid +enough to be caught by an old woman; so he doubled +under the good lady's arm, across the room, and out +of the window in a moment.</p> + +<p>He did not need to drop out, though he would +have done so bravely enough. Nor even to let himself +down a spout, which would have been an old +game to him; for once he got up by a spout to the +church roof, he said to take jackdaws' eggs, but the +policeman said to steal lead; and, when he was seen +on high, sat there till the sun got too hot; and came +down by another spout, leaving the policemen to go +back to the stationhouse and eat their dinners.</p> + +<p>But all under the window spread a tree, with great +leaves and sweet white flowers, almost as big as his +head. It was magnolia, I suppose; but Tom knew +nothing about that, and cared less; for down the tree +he went, like a cat, and across the garden lawn, and +over the iron railings, and up the park towards the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span> +wood, leaving the old nurse to scream murder and +fire at the window.</p> + +<p>The under gardener, mowing, saw Tom, and +threw down his scythe; caught his leg in it, and cut +his shin open, whereby he kept his bed for a week; +but in his hurry he never knew it, and gave chase to +poor Tom. The dairymaid heard the noise, got the +churn between her knees, and tumbled over it, spilling +all the cream; and yet she jumped up, and gave +chase to Tom. A groom cleaning Sir John's hack +at the stables let him go loose, whereby he kicked +himself lame in five minutes; but he ran out and gave +chase to Tom. Grimes upset the soot-sack in the +new-gravelled yard, and spoilt it all utterly; but he +ran out and gave chase to Tom. The old steward +opened the park-gate in such a hurry, that he hung +up his pony's chin upon the spikes, and, for aught +I know, it hangs there still; but he jumped off, and +gave chase to Tom. The ploughman left his horses +at the headland, and one jumped over the fence, and +pulled the other into the ditch, plough and all; but +he ran on, and gave chase to Tom. The keeper, +who was taking a stoat out of a trap, let the stoat +go, and caught his own finger; but he jumped up, +and ran after Tom; and considering what he said, +and how he looked, I should have been sorry for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span> +Tom if he had caught him. Sir John looked out +of his study window (for he was an early old gentleman) +and up at the nurse, and a marten dropped +mud in his eye, so that he had at last to send for +the doctor; and yet he ran out, and gave chase to +Tom. The Irishwoman, too, was walking up to the +house to beg,—she must have got round by some byway,—but +she threw away her bundle, and gave +chase to Tom likewise. Only my Lady did not give +chase; for when she had put her head out of the +window, her night-wig fell into the garden, and she +had to ring up her lady's-maid, and send her down +for it privately, which quite put her out of the running, +so that she came in nowhere, and is consequently +not placed.</p> + +<p>In a word, never was there heard at Hall Place—not +even when the fox was killed in the conservatory, +among acres of broken glass, and tons of smashed +flower-pots—such a noise, row, hubbub, babel, +shindy, hullabaloo, stramash, charivari, and total +contempt of dignity, repose, and order, as that day, +when Grimes, the gardener, the groom, the dairymaid, +Sir John, the steward, the ploughman, the +keeper, and the Irishwoman, all ran up the park, +shouting "Stop thief," in the belief that Tom had at +least a thousand pounds' worth of jewels in his empty<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span> +pockets; and the very magpies and jays followed +Tom up, screaking and screaming, as if he were a +hunted fox, beginning to droop his brush.</p> + +<p>And all the while poor Tom paddled up the park +with his little bare feet, like a small black gorilla +fleeing to the forest. Alas for him! there was no +big father gorilla therein to take his part—to scratch +out the gardener's inside with one paw, toss the +dairymaid into a tree with another, and wrench off +Sir John's head with a third, while he cracked the +keeper's skull with his teeth as easily as if it had +been a cocoanut or a paving-stone.</p> + +<p>However, Tom did not remember ever having had +a father; so he did not look for one, and expected +to have to take care of himself; while as for running, +he could keep up for a couple of miles with +any stagecoach, if there was the chance of a copper +or a cigar-end, and turn coach-wheels on his hands +and feet ten times following, which is more than you +can do. Wherefore his pursuers found it very difficult +to catch him; and we will hope that they did +not catch him at all.</p> + +<p>Tom, of course, made for the woods. He had +never been in a wood in his life; but he was sharp +enough to know that he might hide in a bush, or +swarm up a tree, and, altogether, had more chance<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span> +there than in the open. If he had not known that, +he would have been foolisher than a mouse or a +minnow.</p> + +<p>But when he got into the wood, he found it a very +different sort of place from what he had fancied. +He pushed into a thick cover of rhododendrons, and +found himself at once caught in a trap. The boughs +laid hold of his legs and arms, poked him in his face +and his stomach, made him shut his eyes tight +(though that was no great loss, for he could not +see at best a yard before his nose); and when he got +through the rhododendrons, the hassock-grass and +sedges tumbled him over, and cut his poor little +fingers afterwards most spitefully; the birches +birched him soundly.</p> + +<p>"I must get out of this," thought Tom, "or I +shall stay here till somebody comes to help me—which +is just what I don't want."</p> + +<p>But how to get out was the difficult matter. And +indeed I don't think he would ever have got out at +all, but have stayed there till the cock-robins covered +him with leaves, if he had not suddenly run his head +against a wall.</p> + +<p>Now running your head against a wall is not +pleasant, especially if it is a loose wall, with the +stones all set on edge, and a sharp cornered one hits<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span> +you between the eyes and makes you see all manner +of beautiful stars. The stars are very beautiful, +certainly; but unfortunately they go in the twenty-thousandth +part of a split second, and the pain which +comes after them does not. And so Tom hurt his +head; but he was a brave boy, and did not mind that +a penny. He guessed that over the wall the cover +would end; and up it he went, and over like a +squirrel.</p> + +<p>And there he was, out on the great grouse-moors, +which the country folk called Harthover Fell—heather +and bog and rock, stretching away and up, +up to the very sky.</p> + +<p>Now, Tom was a cunning little fellow—as cunning +as an old Exmoor stag. Why not? Though he +was but ten years old, he had lived longer than most +stags, and had more wits to start with into the +bargain.</p> + +<p>He knew as well as a stag that if he backed he +might throw the hounds out. So the first thing he +did when he was over the wall was to make the +neatest double sharp to his right, and run along +under the wall for nearly half a mile.</p> + +<p>Whereby Sir John, and the keeper, and the steward, +and the gardener, and the ploughman, and the +dairymaid, and all the hue-and-cry together, went on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span> +ahead half a mile in the very opposite direction, and +inside the wall, leaving him a mile off on the outside; +while Tom heard their shouts die away in the woods +and chuckled to himself merrily.</p> + +<p>At last he came to a dip in the land, and went to +the bottom of it, and then he turned bravely away +from the wall and up the moor; for he knew that he +had put a hill between him and his enemies, and could +go on without their seeing him.</p> + +<p>But the Irishwoman, alone of them all, had seen +which way Tom went. She had kept ahead of every +one the whole time; and yet she neither walked nor +ran. She went along quite smoothly and gracefully, +while her feet twinkled past each other so fast that +you could not see which was foremost; till every one +asked the other who the strange woman was; and +all agreed, for want of anything better to say, that +she must be in league with Tom.</p> + +<p>But when she came to the plantation, they lost +sight of her; and they could do no less. For she went +quietly over the wall after Tom, and followed him +wherever he went. Sir John and the rest saw no +more of her; and out of sight was out of mind.</p> + +<p>And now Tom was right away into the heather. +There were rocks and stones lying about everywhere, +and instead of the moor growing flat as he went<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span> +upwards, it grew more and more broken and hilly, +but not so rough but that little Tom could jog along +well enough, and find time, too, to stare about at the +strange place, which was like a new world to him.</p> + +<p>He saw great spiders there, with crowns and +crosses marked on their backs, who sat in the middle +of their webs, and when they saw Tom coming, +shook them so fast <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'they they'">that they</ins> became invisible. Then +he saw lizards, brown and gray and green, and +thought they were snakes, and would sting him; but +they were as much frightened as he, and shot away +into the heath. And then, under a rock, he saw a +pretty sight—a great brown, sharp-nosed creature, +with a white tag to her brush, and round her four +or five smutty little cubs, the funniest fellows Tom +ever saw. She lay on her back, rolling about, and +stretching out her legs and head and tail in the +bright sunshine; and the cubs jumped over her, and +ran round her, and nibbled her paws, and lugged +her about by the tail; and she seemed to enjoy it +mightily. But one selfish little fellow stole away +from the rest to a dead crow close by, and dragged +it off to hide it, though it was nearly as big as he +was. Whereat all his little brothers set off after him +in full cry, and saw Tom; and then all ran back, and +up jumped Mrs. Vixen, and caught one up in her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span> +mouth, and the rest toddled after her, and into a +dark crack in the rocks; and there was an end of the +show.</p> + +<p>And next he had a fright; for, as he scrambled up +a sandy brow—whirr-poof-poof-cock-cock-kick—something +went off in his face, with a most horrid +noise. He thought the ground had blown up, and +the end of the world come.</p> + +<p>And when he opened his eyes (for he shut them +very tight) it was only an old cock-grouse, who had +been washing himself in sand, like an Arab, for want +of water; and who, when Tom had all but trodden +on him, jumped up with a noise like the express train, +leaving his wife and children to shift for themselves, +like an old coward, and went off, screaming "Cur-ru-u-uck, +cur-ru-u-uck—murder, thieves, fire—cur-u-uck-cock-kick—the +end of the world is come—kick-kick-cock-kick." +He was always fancying that the +end of the world was come, when anything happened +which was farther off than the end of his own nose. +But the end of the world was not come; though the +old grouse-cock was quite certain of it.</p> + +<p>So the old grouse came back to his wife and family +an hour afterwards, and said solemnly, "Cock-cock-kick; +my dears, the end of the world is not quite +come; but I assure you it is coming the day after<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span> +to-morrow—cock." But his wife had heard that so +often that she knew all about it, and a little more. +And, besides, she was the mother of a family, and +had seven little poults to wash and feed every day; +and that made her very practical, and a little sharp-tempered; +so all she answered was: "Kick-kick-kick—go +and catch spiders, go and catch spiders—kick."</p> + +<p>So Tom went on and on, he hardly knew why; but +he liked the great wide strange place, and the cool +fresh bracing air. But he went more and more +slowly as he got higher up the hill; for now the +ground grew very bad indeed. Instead of soft turf +and springy heather, he met great patches of flat +limestone rock, just like ill-made pavements, with +deep cracks between the stones and ledges, filled +with ferns; so he had to hop from stone to stone, +and now and then he slipped in between, and hurt +his little bare toes, though they were tolerably tough +ones; but still he would go on and up, he could not +tell why.</p> + +<p>What would Tom have said if he had seen, walking +over the moor behind him, the very same Irishwoman +who had taken his part upon the road? But +whether it was that he looked too little behind him, +or whether it was that she kept out of sight behind<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span> +the rocks and knolls, he never saw her, though she +saw him.</p> + +<p>And now he began to get a little hungry, and +very thirsty; for he had run a long way, and the +sun had risen high in heaven, and the rock was as +hot as an oven, and the air danced reels over it, as +it does over a limekiln, till everything round seemed +quivering and melting in the glare.</p> + +<p>But he could see nothing to eat anywhere, and +still less to drink.</p> + +<p>The heath was full of bilberries and whimberries; +but they were only in flower yet, for it was June. +And as for water, who can find that on the top of a +limestone rock? Now and then he passed by a +deep dark swallow-hole, going down into the earth, +as if it was the chimney of some dwarf's house underground; +and more than once, as he passed, he could +hear water falling, trickling, tinkling, many many +feet below. How he longed to get down to it, and +cool his poor baked lips! But, brave little chimney-sweep +as he was, he dared not climb down such +chimneys as those.</p> + +<p>So he went on and on, till his head spun round +with the heat, and he thought he heard church-bells +ringing, a long way off.</p> + +<p>"Ah!" he thought, "where there is a church<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span> +there will be houses and people; and, perhaps, some +one will give me a bit and a sup." So he set off +again, to look for the church; for he was sure that +he heard the bells quite plain.</p> + +<p>And in a minute more, when he looked round, he +stopped again, and said, "Why, what a big place the +world is!"</p> + +<p>And so it was; for, from the top of the mountain +he could see—what could he not see?</p> + +<p>Behind him, far below, was Harthover, and the +dark woods, and the shining salmon river; and on +his left, far below, was the town, and the smoking +chimneys of the collieries; and far, far away, the +river widened to the shining sea; and little white +specks, which were ships, lay on its bosom. Before +him lay, spread out like a map, great plains, and +farms, and villages, amid dark knots of trees. They +all seemed at his very feet; but he had sense to see +that they were long miles away.</p> + +<p>And to his right rose moor after moor, hill after +hill, till they faded away, blue into blue sky. But +between him and those moors, and really at his very +feet, lay something, to which, as soon as Tom saw it, +he determined to go, for that was the place for +him.</p> + +<p>A deep, deep green and rocky valley, very narrow,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span> +and filled with wood; but through the wood, hundreds +of feet below him, he could see a clear stream +glance. Oh, if he could but get down to that stream! +Then, by the stream, he saw the roof of a little +cottage, and a little garden set out in squares and +beds. And there was a tiny little red thing moving +in the garden, no bigger than a fly. As Tom looked +down, he saw that it was a woman in a red petticoat. +Ah! perhaps she would give him something to eat. +And there were the church-bells ringing again. +Surely there must be a village down there. Well, +nobody would know him, or what had happened at +the Place. The news could not have got there yet, +even if Sir John had set all the policemen in the +county after him; and he could get down there in +five minutes.</p> + +<p>Tom was quite right about the hue-and-cry not +having got thither; for he had come, without knowing +it, the best part of ten miles from Harthover; +but he was wrong about getting down in five minutes, +for the cottage was more than a mile off, and a good +thousand feet below.</p> + +<p>However, down he went, like a brave little man as +he was, though he was very footsore, and tired, and +hungry, and thirsty; while the church-bells rang so +loud, he began to think that they must be inside<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span> +his own head, and the river chimed and tinkled far +below; and this was the song which it sang:—</p> + +<div class='poem'> +<i>Clear and cool, clear and cool,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">By laughing shallow, and dreaming pool;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Cool and clear, cool and clear,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">By shining shingle, and foaming weir;</span><br /> +Under the crag where the ouzel sings,<br /> +And the ivied wall where the church-bell rings,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Undefiled, for the undefiled;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Play by me, bathe in me, mother and child.</span></i><br /> +<br /> +<i><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Dank and foul, dank and foul,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">By the smoky town in its murky cowl;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Foul and dank, foul and dank,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">By wharf and sewer and slimy bank;</span><br /> +Darker and darker the farther I go,<br /> +Baser and baser the richer I grow;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Who dare sport with the sin-defiled?</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Shrink from me, turn from me, mother and child.</span></i><br /> +<br /> +<i><span style="margin-left: 3em;">Strong and free, strong and free,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The floodgates are open, away to the sea,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Free and strong, free and strong,</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span>Cleansing my streams as I hurry along,<br /> +To the golden sands, and the leaping bar,<br /> +And the taintless tide that awaits me afar.<br /> +As I lose myself in the infinite main,<br /> +Like a soul that has sinned and is pardoned again.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Undefiled, for the undefiled;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Play by me, bathe in me, mother and child.</span><br /></i> +</div> + +<p>So Tom went down; and all the while he never +saw the Irishwoman going down behind him.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/ep01-fish_in_reeds.png" width="500" height="188" alt="Fish in reeds" title="" /> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span></p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/ch02-row_of_polliwogs.jpg" width="500" height="66" alt="Row of polliwogs" title="" /> +</div> + + + +<h2>CHAPTER II</h2> + + +<div class='cap'>A MILE off, and a thousand feet down.</div> + +<p>So Tom found it; though it seemed +as if he could have chucked a pebble on +to the back of the woman in the red petticoat who +was weeding in the garden, or even across the dale +to the rocks beyond. For the bottom of the valley +was just one field broad, and on the other side ran +the stream; and above it, gray crag, gray down, gray +stair, gray moor walled up to heaven.</p> + +<p>A quiet, silent, rich, happy place; a narrow crack +cut deep into the earth; so deep, and so out of the +way, that the bad bogies can hardly find it out. The +name of the place is Vendale.</p> + +<p>So Tom went to go down; and first he went down +three hundred feet of steep heather, mixed up with +loose brown gritstone, as rough as a file; which was +not pleasant to his poor little heels, as he came bump, +stump, jump, down the steep. And still he thought +he could throw a stone into the garden.</p> + +<p>Then he went down three hundred feet of limestone +terraces, one below the other, as straight as if a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span> +carpenter had ruled them with his ruler and then cut +them out with his chisel. There was no heath there, +but—</p> + +<p>First, a little grass slope, covered with the prettiest +flowers, rockrose and saxifrage, and thyme and +basil, and all sorts of sweet herbs.</p> + +<p>Then bump down a two-foot step of limestone.</p> + +<p>Then another bit of grass and flowers.</p> + +<p>Then bump down a one-foot step.</p> + +<p>Then another bit of grass and flowers for fifty +yards, as steep as the house-roof, where he had to +slide down on his dear little tail.</p> + +<p>Then another step of stone, ten feet high; and +there he had to stop himself, and crawl along the +edge to find a crack; for if he had rolled over, he +would have rolled right into the old woman's garden, +and frightened her out of her wits.</p> + +<p>Then, when he had found a dark narrow crack, +full of green-stalked fern, such as hangs in the +basket in the drawing-room, and had crawled down +through it, with knees and elbows, as he would +down a chimney, there was another grass slope, and +another step, and so on, till—oh, dear me! I wish +it was all over; and so did he. And yet he thought +he could throw a stone into the old woman's garden.</p> + +<p>At last he came to a bank of beautiful shrubs;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span> +white-beam with its great silver-backed leaves, and +mountain-ash, and oak; and below them cliff and +crag, cliff and crag, with great beds of crown-ferns +and wood-sedge; while through the shrubs he could +see the stream sparkling, and hear it murmur on the +white pebbles. He did not know that it was three +hundred feet below.</p> + +<p>You would have been giddy, perhaps, at looking +down: but Tom was not. He was a brave little +chimney-sweep; and when he found himself on the +top of a high cliff, instead of sitting down and +crying, he said, "Ah, this will just suit me!" though +he was very tired; and down he went, by stock and +stone, sedge and ledge, bush and rush, as if he had +been born a jolly little black ape, with four hands +instead of two.</p> + +<p>And all the while he never saw the Irishwoman +coming down behind him.</p> + +<p>But he was getting terribly tired now. The burning +sun on the fells had sucked him up; but the +damp heat of the woody crag sucked him up still +more; and the perspiration ran out of the ends of +his fingers and toes, and washed him cleaner than he +had been for a whole year. But, of course, he +dirtied everything terribly as he went. There has +been a great black smudge all down the crag ever<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span> +since. And there have been more black beetles in +Vendale since than ever were known before; all, of +course, owing to Tom's having blacked the original +papa of them all, just as he was setting off to be +married, with a sky-blue coat and scarlet leggings, +as smart as a gardener's dog with a polyanthus in +his mouth.</p> + +<p>At last he got to the bottom. But, behold, it was +not the bottom—as people usually find when they +are coming down a mountain. For at the foot of +the crag were heaps and heaps of fallen limestone +of every size from that of your head to that of a +stage-waggon, with holes between them full of sweet +heath-fern; and before Tom got through them, he +was out in the bright sunshine again; and then he felt, +once for all and suddenly, as people generally do, +that he was b-e-a-t, beat.</p> + +<p>You must expect to be beat a few times in your +life, little man, if you live such a life as a man +ought to live, let you be as strong and healthy as +you may: and when you are, you will find it a very +ugly feeling. I hope that that day you may have a +stout staunch friend by you who is not beat; for, if +you have not, you had best lie where you are, and +wait for better times, as poor Tom did.</p> + +<p>He could not get on. The sun was burning, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span> +yet he felt chill all over. He was quite empty, and +yet he felt quite sick. There was but two hundred +yards of smooth pasture between him and the cottage, +and yet he could not walk down it. He could +hear the stream murmuring only one field beyond it, +and yet it seemed to him as if it was a hundred +miles off.</p> + +<p>He lay down on the grass till the beetles ran +over him, and the flies settled on his nose. I don't +know when he would have got up again, if the gnats +and the midges had not taken compassion on him. +But the gnats blew their trumpets so loud in his ear, +and the midges nibbled so at his hands and face +wherever they could find a place free from soot, that +at last he woke up, and stumbled away, down over a +low wall, and into a narrow road, and up to the +cottage-door.</p> + +<p>And a neat pretty cottage it was, with clipped yew +hedges all round the garden, and yews inside too, +cut into peacocks and trumpets and teapots and all +kinds of queer shapes. And out of the open door +came a noise like that of the frogs when they know +that it is going to be scorching hot to-morrow—and +how they know that I don't know, and you don't +know, and nobody knows.</p> + +<p>He came slowly up to the open door, which was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span> +all hung round with clematis and roses; and then +peeped in, half afraid.</p> + +<p>And there sat by the empty fireplace, which was +filled with a pot of sweet herbs, the nicest old woman +that ever was seen, in her red petticoat, and short +dimity bedgown, and clean white cap, with a black +silk handkerchief over it, tied under her chin. At +her feet sat the grandfather of all the cats; and +opposite her sat, on two benches, twelve or fourteen +neat, rosy, chubby little children, learning their +Chris-cross-row; and gabble enough they made about +it.</p> + +<p>Such a pleasant cottage it was, with a shiny clean +stone floor, and curious old prints on the walls, and +an old black oak sideboard full of bright pewter and +brass dishes, and a cuckoo clock in the corner, which +began shouting as soon as Tom appeared: not that it +was frightened at Tom, but that it was just eleven +o'clock.</p> + +<p>All the children started at Tom's dirty black +figure,—the girls began to cry, and the boys began +to laugh, and all pointed at him rudely enough; but +Tom was too tired to care for that.</p> + +<p>"What art thou, and what dost want?" cried the +old dame. "A chimney-sweep! Away with thee! +I'll have no sweeps here."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Water," said poor little Tom, quite faint.</p> + +<p>"Water? There's plenty i' the beck," she said, +quite sharply.</p> + +<p>"But I can't get there; I'm most clemmed with +hunger and drought." And Tom sank down upon +the door-step, and laid his head against the post.</p> + +<p>And the old dame looked at him through her +spectacles one minute, and two, and three; and then +she said, "He's sick; and a bairn's a bairn, sweep +or none."</p> + +<p>"Water," said Tom.</p> + +<p>"God forgive me!" and she put by her spectacles, +and rose, and came to Tom. "Water's bad for +thee; I'll give thee milk." And she toddled off into +the next room, and brought a cup of milk and a bit +of bread.</p> + +<p>Tom drank the milk off at one draught, and then +looked up, revived.</p> + +<p>"Where didst come from?" said the dame.</p> + +<p>"Over Fell, there," said Tom, and pointed up +into the sky.</p> + +<p>"Over Harthover? and down Lewthwaite Crag? +Art sure thou art not lying?"</p> + +<p>"Why should I?" said Tom, and leant his head +against the post.</p> + +<p>"And how got ye up there?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I came over from the Place;" and Tom was so +tired and desperate he had no heart or time to think +of a story, so he told all the truth in a few words.</p> + +<p>"Bless thy little heart! And thou hast not been +stealing, then?"</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>"Bless thy little heart! and I'll warrant not. +Why, God's guided the bairn, because he was innocent! +Away from the Place, and over Harthover +Fell, and down Lewthwaite Crag! Who ever heard +the like, if God hadn't led him? Why dost not eat +thy bread?"</p> + +<p>"I can't."</p> + +<p>"It's good enough, for I made it myself."</p> + +<p>"I can't," said Tom, and he laid his head on his +knees, and then asked—</p> + +<p>"Is it Sunday?"</p> + +<p>"No, then; why should it be?"</p> + +<p>"Because I hear the church-bells ringing so."</p> + +<p>"Bless thy pretty heart! The bairn's sick. Come +wi' me, and I'll hap thee up somewhere. If thou +wert a bit cleaner I'd put thee in my own bed, for +the Lord's sake. But come along here."</p> + +<p>But when Tom tried to get up, he was so tired +and giddy that she had to help him and lead him.</p> + +<p>She put him in an outhouse upon soft sweet hay<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span> +and an old rug, and bade him sleep off his walk, and +she would come to him when school was over, in an +hour's time.</p> + +<p>And so she went in again, expecting Tom to fall +fast asleep at once.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/gs05-two-babies-looking-downcast.png" width="500" height="146" alt="Two babies looking downcast" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>But Tom did not fall asleep.</p> + +<p>Instead of it he turned and tossed and kicked +about in the strangest way, and felt so hot all over +that he longed to get into the river and cool himself; +and then he fell half asleep, and dreamt that he +heard the little white lady crying to him, "Oh, you're +so dirty; go and be washed;" and then that he +heard the Irishwoman saying, "Those that wish to +be clean, clean they will be." And then he heard +the church-bells ring so loud, close to him too, that +he was sure it must be Sunday, in spite of what the +old dame had said; and he would go to church, and +see what a church was like inside, for he had never +been in one, poor little fellow, in all his life. But +the people would never let him come in, all over soot<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span> +and dirt like that. He must go to the river and +wash first. And he said out loud again and again, +though being half asleep he did not know it, "I must +be clean, I must be clean."</p> + +<p>And all of a sudden he found himself not in the +outhouse on the hay, but in the middle of a meadow, +over the road, with the stream just before him, saying +continually, "I must be clean, I must be clean." +He had got there on his own legs, between sleep and +awake, as children will often get out of bed, and go +about the room, when they are not quite well. But +he was not a bit surprised, and went on to the bank +of the brook, and lay down on the grass, and looked +into the clear, clear limestone water, with every +pebble at the bottom bright and clean, while the +little silver trout dashed about in fright at the sight +of his black face; and he dipped his hand in and +found it so cool, cool, cool; and he said, "I will be a +fish; I will swim in the water; I must be clean, I +must be clean."</p> + +<p>So he pulled off all his clothes in such haste that +he tore some of them, which was easy enough with +such ragged old things. And he put his poor hot +sore feet into the water; and then his legs; and the +farther he went in, the more the church-bells rang in +his head.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Ah," said Tom, "I must be quick and wash +myself; the bells are ringing quite loud now; and +they will stop soon, and then the door will be shut, +and I shall never be able to get in at all."</p> + +<p>Tom was mistaken: for in England the church +doors are left open all service time, for everybody +who likes to come in, Churchman or Dissenter; ay, +even if he were a Turk or a Heathen; and if any +man dared to turn him out, as long as he behaved +quietly, the good old English law would punish that +man, as he deserved, for ordering any peaceable +person out of God's house, which belongs to all +alike. But Tom did not know that, any more than +he knew a great deal more which people ought to +know.</p> + +<p>And all the while he never saw the Irishwoman, +not behind him this time, but before.</p> + +<p>For just before he came to the river side, she had +stepped down into the cool clear water; and her +shawl and her petticoat floated off her, and +the green water-weeds floated round her sides, and +the white water-lilies floated round her head, and the +fairies of the stream came up from the bottom and +bore her away and down upon their arms; for she +was the Queen of them all; and perhaps of more +besides.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Where have you been?" they asked her.</p> + +<p>"I have been smoothing sick folks' pillows, and +whispering sweet dreams into their ears; opening +cottage casements, to let out the stifling air; coaxing +little children away from gutters, and foul pools +where fever breeds; turning women from the gin-shop +door, and staying men's hands as they were +going to strike their wives; doing all I can to help +those who will not help themselves: and little enough +that is, and weary work for me. But I have brought +you a new little brother, and watched him safe all +the way here."</p> + +<p>Then all the fairies laughed for joy at the thought +that they had a little brother coming.</p> + +<p>"But mind, maidens, he must not see you, or +know that you are here. He is but a savage now, +and like the beasts which perish; and from the beasts +which perish he must learn. So you must not play +with him, or speak to him, or let him see you: but +only keep him from being harmed."</p> + +<p>Then the fairies were sad, because they could not +play with their new brother, but they always did what +they were told.</p> + +<p>And their Queen floated away down the river; and +whither she went, thither she came. But all this +Tom, of course, never saw or heard: and perhaps<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span> +if he had it would have made little difference in the +story; for he was so hot and thirsty, and longed so +to be clean for once, that he tumbled himself as quick +as he could into the clear cool stream.</p> + +<p>And he had not been in it two minutes before he +fell fast asleep, into the quietest, sunniest, cosiest +sleep that ever he had in his life; and he dreamt +about the green meadows by which he had walked +that morning, and the tall elm-trees, and the sleeping +cows; and after that he dreamt of nothing at all.</p> + +<p>The reason of his falling into such a delightful +sleep is very simple; and yet hardly any one has +found it out. It was merely that the fairies took +him.</p> + +<p>Some people think that there are no fairies. But +it is a wide world, and plenty of room in it for fairies, +without people seeing them; unless, of course, they +look in the right place. The most wonderful and +the strongest things in the world, you know, are just +the things which no one can see. There is life in +you; and it is the life in you which makes you grow, +and move, and think: and yet you can't see it. And +there is steam in a steam-engine; and that is what +makes it move: and yet you can't see it; and so there +may be fairies in the world, and they may be just +what makes the world go round to the old tune of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span></p> + +<div class='poem'> +"<i>C'est l'amour, l'amour, l'amour<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Qui fait la monde à la ronde:"</span><br /></i> +</div> + +<div class='unindent'>and yet no one may be able to see them except those +whose hearts are going round to that same tune. At +all events, we will make believe that there are fairies +in the world. It will not be the last time by many a +one that we shall have to make believe. And yet, +after all, there is no need for that. There must be +fairies; for this is a fairy tale: and how can one +have a fairy tale if there are no fairies?</div> + +<p>The kind old dame came back at twelve, when +school was over, to look at Tom: but there was no +Tom there. She looked about for his footprints; +but the ground was so hard that there was none.</p> + +<p>So the old dame went in again quite sulky, thinking +that little Tom had tricked her with a false story, +and shammed ill, and then run away again.</p> + +<p>But she altered her mind the next day. For, when +Sir John and the rest of them had run themselves +out of breath, and lost Tom, they went back again, +looking very foolish.</p> + +<p>And they looked more foolish still when Sir John +heard more of the story from the nurse; and more +foolish still, again, when they heard the whole story +from Miss Ellie, the little lady in white. All she had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span> +seen was a poor little black chimney-sweep, crying +and sobbing, and going to get up the chimney again. +Of course, she was very much frightened: and no +wonder. But that was all. The boy had taken nothing +in the room; by the mark of his little sooty feet, +they could see that he had never been off the hearthrug +till the nurse caught hold of him. It was all a +mistake.</p> + +<p>So Sir John told Grimes to go home, and promised +him five shillings if he would bring the boy quietly +up to him, without beating him, that he might be sure +of the truth. For he took for granted, and Grimes +too, that Tom had made his way home.</p> + +<p>But no Tom came back to Mr. Grimes that evening; +and he went to the police-office, to tell them to +look out for the boy. But no Tom was heard of. +As for his having gone over those great fells to +Vendale, they no more dreamed of that than of his +having gone to the moon.</p> + +<p>So Mr. Grimes came up to Harthover next day +with a very sour face; but when he got there, Sir +John was over the hills and far away; and Mr. +Grimes had to sit in the outer servants' hall all day, +and drink strong ale to wash away his sorrows; and +they were washed away long before Sir John came +back.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span></p> + +<p>For good Sir John had slept very badly that night; +and he said to his lady, "My dear, the boy must +have got over into the grouse-moors, and lost himself; +and he lies very heavily on my conscience, poor +little lad. But I know what I will do."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/gs06-baby-sitting-on-reed-leaf.png" width="500" height="165" alt="Baby sitting on a reed" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>So, at five the next morning up he got, and into his +bath, and into his shooting-jacket and gaiters, and +into the stableyard, like a fine old English gentleman, +with a face as red as a rose, and a hand as hard as +a table, and a back as broad as a bullock's; and bade +them bring his shooting pony, and the keeper to come +on his pony, and the huntsman, and the first whip, +and the second whip, and the underkeeper with the +bloodhound in a leash—a great dog as tall as a calf, +of the colour of a gravel-walk, with mahogany ears +and nose, and a throat like a church-bell. They took +him up to the place where Tom had gone into the +wood; and there the hound lifted up his mighty voice, +and told them all he knew.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span></p> + +<p>Then he took them to the place where Tom had +climbed the wall; and they shoved it down, and all +got through.</p> + +<p>And then the wise dog took them over the moor, +and over the fells, step by step, very slowly; for the +scent was a day old, you know, and very light from +the heat and drought. But that was why cunning old +Sir John started at five in the morning.</p> + +<p>And at last he came to the top of Lewthwaite +Crag, and there he bayed, and looked up in their +faces, as much as to say, "I tell you he is gone down +here!"</p> + +<p>They could hardly believe that Tom would have +gone so far; and when they looked at that awful cliff, +they could never believe that he would have dared +to face it. But if the dog said so, it must be +true.</p> + +<p>"Heaven forgive us!" said Sir John. "If we +find him at all, we shall find him lying at the bottom." +And he slapped his great hand upon his +great thigh, and said—</p> + +<p>"Who will go down over Lewthwaite Crag, and +see if that boy is alive? Oh that I were twenty years +younger, and I would go down myself!" And so he +would have done, as well as any sweep in the county. +Then he said<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span>—</p> + +<p>"Twenty pounds to the man who brings me that +boy alive!" and as was his way, what he said he +meant.</p> + +<p>Now among the lot was a little groom-boy, a very +little groom indeed; and he was the same who had +ridden up the court, and told Tom to come to the +Hall; and he said—</p> + +<p>"Twenty pounds or none, I will go down over +Lewthwaite Crag, if it's only for the poor boy's +sake. For he was as civil a spoken little chap as ever +climbed a flue."</p> + +<p>So down over Lewthwaite Crag he went: a very +smart groom he was at the top, and a very shabby +one at the bottom; for he tore his gaiters, and he +tore his breeches, and he tore his jacket, and he burst +his braces, and he burst his boots, and he lost his hat, +and what was worst of all, he lost his shirt pin, which +he prized very much, for it was gold, and he had +won it in a raffle at Malton, so it was a really severe +loss: but he never saw anything of Tom.</p> + +<p>And all the while Sir John and the rest were +riding round, full three miles to the right, and back +again, to get into Vendale, and to the foot of the +crag.</p> + +<p>When they came to the old dame's school, all the +children came out to see. And the old dame came<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span> +out too; and when she saw Sir John, she curtsied +very low, for she was a tenant of his.</p> + +<p>"Well, dame, and how are you?" said Sir John.</p> + +<p>"Blessings on you as broad as your back, Harthover," +says she—she didn't call him Sir John, but +only Harthover, for that is the fashion in the North +country—"and welcome into Vendale: but you're +no hunting the fox this time of the year?"</p> + +<p>"I am hunting, and strange game too," said he.</p> + +<p>"Blessings on your heart, and what makes you +look so sad the morn?"</p> + +<p>"I'm looking for a lost child, a chimney-sweep, +that is run away."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Harthover, Harthover," says she, "ye were +always a just man and a merciful; and ye'll no harm +the poor little lad if I give you tidings of him?"</p> + +<p>"Not I, not I, dame. I'm afraid we hunted him +out of the house all on a miserable mistake, and the +hound has brought him to the top of Lewthwaite +Crag, and——"</p> + +<p>Whereat the old dame broke out crying, without +letting him finish his story.</p> + +<p>"So he told me the truth after all, poor little +dear! Ah, first thoughts are best, and a body's +heart'll guide them right, if they will but hearken to +it." And then she told Sir John all.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Bring the dog here, and lay him on," said Sir +John, without another word, and he set his teeth +very hard.</p> + +<p>And the dog opened at once; and went away at the +back of the cottage, over the road, and over the +meadow, and through a bit of alder copse; and there, +upon an alder stump, they saw Tom's clothes lying. +And then they knew as much about it all as there was +any need to know.</p> + +<p>And Tom?</p> + +<p>Ah, now comes the most wonderful part of this +wonderful story. Tom, when he woke, for of course +he woke—children always wake after they have slept +exactly as long as is good for them—found himself +swimming about in the stream, being about four +inches, or—that I may be accurate—3.87902 inches +long, and having round the parotid region of his +fauces a set of external gills (I hope you understand +all the big words) just like those of a sucking eft, +which he mistook for a lace frill, till he pulled at +them, found he hurt himself, and made up his mind +that they were part of himself, and best left alone.</p> + +<p>In fact, the fairies had turned him into a water-baby.</p> + +<p>A water-baby? You never heard of a water-baby. +Perhaps not. That is the very reason why this story<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span> +was written. There are a great many things in the +world which you never heard of; and a great many +more which nobody ever heard of; and a great many +things, too, which nobody will ever hear of, at least +until the coming of the Cocqcigrues, when man shall +be the measure of all things.</p> + +<p>"But there are no such things as water-babies."</p> + +<p>How do you know that? Have you been there +to see? And if you had been there to see, and had +seen none, that would not prove that there were +none. And no one has a right to say that no water-babies +exist, till they have seen no water-babies existing; +which is quite a different thing, mind, from not +seeing water-babies; and a thing nobody ever did, +or perhaps ever will do.</p> + +<p>"But surely if there were water-babies, somebody +would have caught one at least?"</p> + +<p>Well. How do you know that somebody has not?</p> + +<p>"But they would have put it into spirits, or into +the <i>Illustrated News</i>, or perhaps cut it into two +halves, poor dear little thing, and sent one to Professor +Owen, and one to Professor Huxley, to see +what they would each say about it."</p> + +<p>Ah, my dear little man! that does not follow at all, +as you will see before the end of the story.</p> + +<p>"But a water-baby is contrary to nature."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span></p> + +<p>Well, but, my dear little man, you must learn to +talk about such things, when you grow older, in a +very different way from that. You must not talk +about "ain't" and "can't" when you speak of this +great wonderful world round you, of which the +wisest man knows only the very smallest corner, and +is, as the great Sir Isaac Newton said, only a child +picking up pebbles on the shore of a boundless +ocean.</p> + +<p>You must not say that this cannot be, or that +that is contrary to nature. You do not know what +Nature is, or what she can do; and nobody knows. +Wise men are afraid to say that there is anything contrary +to nature, except what is contrary to mathematical +truth; for two and two cannot make five, and two +straight lines cannot join twice, and a part cannot +be as great as the whole, and so on (at least, so it +seems at present): but the wiser men are, the less +they talk about "cannot." That is a very rash, +dangerous word, that "cannot"; and if people use +it too often, the Queen of all the Fairies, who makes +the clouds thunder and the fleas bite, and takes just as +much trouble about one as about the other, is apt to +astonish them suddenly by showing them, that though +they say she cannot, yet she can, and what is more, +will, whether they approve or not.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span></p> + +<p>And therefore it is, that there are dozens and +hundreds of things in the world which we should +certainly have said were contrary to nature, if we did +not see them going on under our eyes all day long. +If people had never seen little seeds grow into great +plants and trees, of quite different shape from themselves, +and these trees again produce fresh seeds, to +grow into fresh trees, they would have said, "The +thing cannot be; it is contrary to nature." And they +would have been quite as right in saying so, as in +saying that most other things cannot be.</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 242px;"> +<img src="images/gs07-fish-facing-right.png" width="242" height="600" alt="Fish facing right" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>Or suppose again, that you had come a traveller +from unknown parts; and that no human being had +ever seen or heard of an elephant. And suppose that +you described him to people, and said, "This is the +shape, and plan, and anatomy of the beast, and of +his feet, and of his trunk, and of his grinders, and +of his tusks, though they are not tusks at all, but +two fore teeth run mad; and this is the section of his +skull, more like a mushroom than a reasonable skull +of a reasonable or unreasonable beast; and so forth, +and so forth; and though the beast (which I assure +you I have seen and shot) is first cousin to the little +hairy coney of Scripture, second cousin to a pig, and +(I suspect) thirteenth or fourteenth cousin to a rabbit, +yet he is the wisest of all beasts, and can do<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span> +everything save read, +write, and cast accounts." +People would surely have +said, "Nonsense; your +elephant is contrary to +nature," and have +thought you were telling +stories—as the +French thought of Le +Vaillant when he came +back to Paris and said +that he had shot a giraffe; +and as the king +of the Cannibal Islands +thought of the +English sailor, when +he said that in his +country water turned +to marble, and rain +fell as feathers. They +would tell you, the +more they knew of +science, "Your elephant +is an impossible +monster, contrary to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span> +the laws of comparative +anatomy, as far as +yet known." To which +you would answer the +less, the more you +thought.</p> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 236px;"> +<img src="images/gs07-fish-facing-left.png" width="236" height="600" alt="Fish facing left" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>Did not learned +men, too, hold, till +within the last twenty-five +years, that a flying +dragon was an impossible +monster? And +do we not now know +that there are hundreds +of them found +fossil up and down the +world? People call +them Pterodactyles: +but that is only because +they are ashamed to +call them flying dragons, +after denying so +long that flying dragons +could exist.</p> + +<p>The truth is, that +folks' fancy that such<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span> +and such things cannot be, simply because they have +not seen them is worth no more than a savage's +fancy that there cannot be such a thing as a locomotive, +because he never saw one running wild in +the forest. Wise men know that their business is +to examine what is, and not to settle what is not. +They know that there are elephants; they know that +there have been flying dragons; and the wiser they +are, the less inclined they will be to say positively +that there are no water-babies.</p> + +<p>No water-babies, indeed! Why, wise men of old +said that everything on earth had its double in the +water; and you may see that that is, if not quite true, +still quite as true as most other theories which you +are likely to hear for many a day. There are land-babies—then +why not water-babies? <i>Are there not +water-rats, water-flies, water-crickets, water-crabs, +water-tortoises, water-scorpions, water-tigers and +water-hogs, water-cats and water-dogs, sea-lions and +sea-bears, sea-horses and sea-elephants, sea-mice and +sea-urchins, sea-razors and sea-pens, sea-combs and +sea-fans; and of plants, are there not water-grass, +and water-crowfoot, water-milfoil, and so on, without +end?</i></p> + +<p>"But all these things are only nicknames; the +water things are not really akin to the land things."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span></p> + +<p>That's not always true. They are, in millions of +cases, not only of the same family, but actually the +same individual creatures. Do not even you know +that a green drake, and an alder-fly, and a dragon-fly, +live under water till they change their skins, just +as Tom changed his? And if a water animal can +continually change into a land animal, why should +not a land animal sometimes change into a water +animal?</p> + +<p>Am I in earnest? Oh dear no! Don't you know +that this is a fairy tale, and all fun and pretence; +and that you are not to believe one word of it, +even if it is true?</p> + +<p>But at all events, so it happened to Tom. And, +therefore, the keeper, and the groom, and Sir John +made a great mistake, and were very unhappy (Sir +John at least) without any reason, when they found +a black thing in the water, and said it was Tom's +body, and that he had been drowned. They were +utterly mistaken. Tom was quite alive; and cleaner, +and merrier, than he ever had been. The fairies had +washed him, you see, in the swift river, so thoroughly, +that not only his dirt, but his whole husk +and shell had been washed quite off him, and the +pretty little real Tom was washed out of the inside +of it, and swam away, as a caddis does when its<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span> +case of stones and silk is bored through, and away it +goes on its back, paddling to the shore, there to split +its skin, and fly away as a caperer, on four fawn-coloured +wings, with long legs and horns. They are +foolish fellows, the caperers, and fly into the candle +at night, if you leave the door open. We will hope +Tom will be wiser, now he has got safe out of his +sooty old shell.</p> + +<p>But good Sir John did not understand all this, +not being a fellow of the Linnæan Society; and he +took it into his head that Tom was drowned. When +they looked into the empty pockets of his shell, and +found no jewels there, nor money—nothing but three +marbles, and a brass button with a string to it—then +Sir John did something as like crying as ever he did +in his life, and blamed himself more bitterly than +he need have done. So he cried, and the groom-boy +cried, and the huntsman cried, and the dame cried, +and the little girl cried, and the dairymaid cried, and +the old nurse cried (for it was somewhat her fault), +and my lady cried, for though people have wigs, that +is no reason why they should not have hearts; but +the keeper did not cry, though he had been so good-natured +to Tom the morning before; for he was so +dried up with running after poachers, that you could +no more get tears out of him than milk out of leather:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span> +and Grimes did not cry, for Sir John gave him ten +pounds, and he drank it all in a week. Sir John +sent, far and wide, to find Tom's father and mother: +but he might have looked till Doomsday for them, +for one was dead, and the other was in Botany Bay. +And the little girl would not play with her dolls for +a whole week, and never forgot poor little Tom. +And soon my lady put a pretty little tombstone over +Tom's shell in the little churchyard in Vendale, +where the old dalesmen all sleep side by side between +the limestone crags. And the dame decked it with +garlands every Sunday, till she grew so old that she +could not stir abroad; then the little children decked +it for her. And always she sang an old old song, as +she sat spinning what she called her wedding-dress. +The children could not understand it, but they liked +it none the less for that; for it was very sweet, and +very sad; and that was enough for them. And these +are the words of it:—</p> + +<div class='poem'> +<i>When all the world is young, lad,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And all the trees are green;</span><br /> +And every goose a swan, lad,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And every lass a queen;</span><br /> +Then hey for boot and horse, lad,<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">And round the world away;</span><br /> +Young blood must have its course, lad,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And every dog his day.</span></i><br /> +<br /> +<i>When all the world is old, lad,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And all the trees are brown;</span><br /> +And all the sport is stale, lad,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And all the wheels run down;</span><br /> +Creep home, and take your place there,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The spent and maimed among:</span><br /> +God grant you find one face there,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">You loved when all was young.</span><br /></i> +</div> + +<p>Those are the words: but they are only the body +of it: the soul of the song was the dear old woman's +sweet face, and sweet voice, and the sweet old air to +which she sang; and that, alas! one cannot put on +paper. And at last she grew so stiff and lame, that +the angels were forced to carry her: and they helped +her on with her wedding-dress, and carried her up +over Harthover Fells, and a long way beyond that +too; and there was a new schoolmistress in Vendale.</p> + +<p>And all the while Tom was swimming about in the +river, with a <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'prety'">pretty</ins> little lace-collar of gills about his +neck, as lively as a grig, and as clean as a fresh-run +salmon.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span></p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/ch03-baby_and_toad.jpg" width="500" height="217" alt="Toad and baby" title="" /> +</div> + + + +<h2>CHAPTER III</h2> + + +<div class='cap'>TOM was now quite amphibious. You do not +know what that means?</div> + +<p>You had better, then, ask the nearest +Government pupil-teacher, who may possibly answer +you smartly enough, thus—</p> + +<p>"Amphibious. Adjective, derived from two +Greek words, <i>amphi</i>, a fish, and <i>bios</i>, a beast. An +animal supposed by our ignorant ancestors to be +compounded of a fish and a beast; which therefore, +like the hippopotamus, can't live on the land, and +dies in the water."</p> + +<p>However that may be, Tom was amphibious: +and what is better still, he was clean. For the first +time in his life, he felt how comfortable it was to +have nothing on him but himself. But he only<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span> +enjoyed it: he did not know it, or think about it; +just as you enjoy life and health, and yet never +think about being alive and healthy; and may it be +long before you have to think about it!</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 417px;"> +<img src="images/col02.jpg" width="417" height="600" alt="He felt how comfortable it was to have nothing on him but himself" title="" /> +<span class="caption">He felt how comfortable it was to have nothing on him but himself</span> +</div> + +<p>He did not remember having ever been dirty. Indeed, +he did not remember any of his old troubles, +being tired, or hungry, or beaten, or sent up dark +chimneys. Since that sweet sleep, he had forgotten +all about his master, and Harthover Place, and the +little white girl, and in a word, all that had happened +to him when he lived before; and what was best of +all, he had forgotten all the bad words which he had +learned from Grimes, and the rude boys with whom +he used to play.</p> + +<p>That is not strange: for you know, when you came +into this world, and became a land-baby, you remembered +nothing. So why should he, when he became +a water-baby?</p> + +<p>Then have you lived before?</p> + +<p>My dear child, who can tell? One can only tell +that, by remembering something which happened +where we lived before; and as we remember nothing, +we know nothing about it; and no book, and no +man, can never tell us certainly.</p> + +<p>There was a wise man once, a very wise man,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span> +and a very good man, who wrote a poem about the +feelings which some children have about having +lived before; and this is what he said—</p> + +<div class='poem'> +"<i>Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">The soul that rises with us, our life's star,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Hath elsewhere had its setting,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">And cometh from afar:</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Not in entire forgetfulness,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">And not in utter nakedness,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">But trailing clouds of glory, do we come</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">From God, who is our home."</span><br /></i> +</div> + +<p>There, you can know no more than that. But if I +was you, I would believe that. For then you will +believe the one true doctrine of this wonderful fairy +tale; which is, that your soul makes your body, just +as a snail makes his shell. For the rest, it is enough +for us to be sure that whether or not we lived before, +we shall live again; though not, I hope, as poor little +heathen Tom did. For he went downward into the +water: but we, I hope, shall go upward to a very +different place.</p> + +<p>But Tom was very happy in the water. He had +been sadly overworked in the land-world; and so +now, to make up for that, he had nothing but holidays<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span> +in the water-world for a long, long time to +come. He had nothing to do now but enjoy himself, +and look at all the pretty things which are to be seen +in the cool clear water-world, where the sun is never +too hot, and the frost is never too cold.</p> + +<p>And what did he live on? Water-cresses, perhaps; +or perhaps water-gruel, and water-milk; too +many land-babies do so likewise. But we do not +know what one-tenth of the water-things eat; so we +are not answerable for the water-babies.</p> + +<p>Sometimes he went along the smooth gravel water-ways, +looking at the crickets which ran in and out +among the stones, as rabbits do on land; or he +climbed over the ledges of rock, and saw the sand-pipes +hanging in thousands, with every one of them +a pretty little head and legs peeping out; or he went +into a still corner, and watched the caddises eating +dead sticks as greedily as you would eat plum-pudding, +and building their houses with silk and glue. +Very fanciful ladies they were; none of them would +keep to the same materials for a day. One would +begin with some pebbles; then she would stick on a +piece of green wood; then she found a shell, and +stuck it on too; and the poor shell was alive, and +did not like at all being taken to build houses with: +but the caddis did not let him have any voice in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span> +matter, being rude and selfish, as vain people are +apt to be; then she stuck on a piece of rotten wood, +then a very smart pink stone, and so on, till she was +patched all over like an Irishman's coat. Then she +found a long straw, five times as long as herself, and +said, "Hurrah! my sister has a tail, and I'll have +one too;" and she stuck it on her back, and marched +about with it quite proud, though it was very inconvenient +indeed. And, at that, tails became all the +fashion among the caddis-baits in that pool, as they +were at the end of the Long Pond last May, and +they all toddled about with long straws sticking out +behind, getting between each other's legs, and +tumbling over each other, and looking so ridiculous, +that Tom laughed at them till he cried, as we did. +But they were quite right, you know; for people +must always follow the fashion, even if it be spoon-bonnets.</p> + +<p>Then sometimes he came to a deep still reach; +and there he saw the water-forests. They would +have looked to you only little weeds: but Tom, you +must remember, was so little that everything looked +a hundred times as big to him as it does to you, just +as things do to a minnow, who sees and catches the +little water-creatures which you can only see in a +microscope.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span></p> + +<p>And in the water-forest he saw the water-monkeys +and water-squirrels (they had all six legs, though; +everything almost has six legs in the water, except +efts and water-babies); and nimbly enough they ran +among the branches. There were water-flowers there +too, in thousands; and Tom tried to pick them: but +as soon as he touched them, they drew themselves in +and turned into knots of jelly; and then Tom saw +that they were all alive—bells, and stars, and wheels, +and flowers, of all beautiful shapes and colours; and +all alive and busy, just as Tom was. So now he +found that there was a great deal more in the +world than he had fancied at first sight.</p> + +<p>There was one wonderful little fellow, too, who +peeped out of the top of a house built of round bricks. +He had two big wheels, and one little one, all over +teeth, spinning round and round like the wheels in a +thrashing-machine; and Tom stood and stared at +him, to see what he was going to make with his +machinery. And what do you think he was doing? +Brick-making. With his two big wheels he swept +together all the mud which floated in the water: +all that was nice in it he put into his stomach and ate; +and all the mud he put into the little wheel on his +breast, which really was a round hole set with teeth; +and there he spun it into a neat hard round brick;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span> +and then he took it and stuck it on the top of his +house-wall, and set to work to make another. Now +was not he a clever little fellow?</p> + +<p>Tom thought so: but when he wanted to talk to +him the brick-maker was much too busy and proud +of his work to take notice of him.</p> + +<p>Now you must know that all the things under the +water talk; only not such a language as ours; but +such as horses, and dogs, and cows, and birds talk +to each other; and Tom soon learned to understand +them and talk to them; so that he might have had +very pleasant company if he had only been a good +boy. But I am sorry to say, he was too like some +other little boys, very fond of hunting and tormenting +creatures for mere sport. Some people say that +boys cannot help it; that it is nature, and only a proof +that we are all originally descended from beasts +of prey. But whether it is nature or not, little boys +can help it, and must help it. For if they have +naughty, low, mischievous tricks in their nature, as +monkeys have, that is no reason why they should +give way to those tricks like monkeys, who know no +better. And therefore they must not torment dumb +creatures; for if they do, a certain old lady who is +coming will surely give them exactly what they +deserve.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/gs09-baby_on_turtle.png" width="400" height="346" alt="Riding a turtle" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>But Tom did +not know that; +and he pecked +and howked the +poor water-things +about sadly, till +they were all +afraid of him, +and got out of his +way, or crept into +their shells; so he had no one to speak to or play +with.</p> + +<p>The water-fairies, of course, were very sorry to +see him so unhappy, and longed to take him, and +tell him how naughty he was, and teach him to be +good, and to play and romp with him too: but they +had been forbidden to do that. Tom had to learn +his lesson for himself by sound and sharp experience, +as many another foolish person has to do, though +there may be many a kind heart yearning over them +all the while, and longing to teach them what they +can only teach themselves.</p> + +<p>At last one day he found a caddis, and wanted it +to peep out of its house: but its house-door was shut. +He had never seen a caddis with a house-door before: +so what must he do, the meddlesome little fellow, but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span> +pull it open, to see what the poor lady was doing +inside. What a shame! How should you like to +have any one breaking your bedroom-door in, to see +how you looked when you were in bed? So Tom +broke to pieces the door, which was the prettiest little +grating of silk, stuck all over with shining bits of +crystal; and when he looked in, the caddis poked out +her head, and it had turned into just the shape of a +bird's. But when Tom spoke to her she could not +answer; for her mouth and face were tight tied up in +a new night-cap of neat pink skin. However, if she +didn't answer, all the other caddises did; for they +held up their hands and shrieked like the cats in +Struwelpeter: "<i>Oh, you nasty horrid boy; there you +are at it again! And she had just laid herself up for +a fortnight's sleep, and then she would have come +out with such beautiful wings, and flown about, and +laid such lots of eggs: and now you have broken her +door, and she can't mend it because her mouth is +tied up for a fortnight, and she will die. Who sent +you here to worry us out of our lives?</i>"</p> + +<p>So Tom swam away. He was very much ashamed +of himself, and felt all the naughtier; as little boys +do when they have done wrong and won't say so.</p> + +<p>Then he came to a pool full of little trout, and +began tormenting them, and trying to catch them:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span> +but they slipped through his fingers, and jumped +clean out of the water in their fright. But as Tom +chased them, he came close to a great dark hover +under an alder root, and out floushed a huge old +brown trout ten times as big as he was, and ran right +against him, and knocked all the breath out of his +body; and I don't know which was the more frightened +of the two.</p> + +<p>Then he went on sulky and lonely, as he deserved +to be; and under a bank he saw a very ugly dirty +creature sitting, about half as big as himself, which +had six legs, and a big stomach, and a most ridiculous +head with two great eyes and a face just like a +donkey's.</p> + +<p>"Oh," said Tom, "you are an ugly fellow to be +sure!" and he began making faces at him; and put +his nose close to him, and halloed at him, like a very +rude boy.</p> + +<p>When, hey presto! all the thing's donkey-face +came off in a moment, and out popped a long arm +with a pair of pincers at the end of it, and caught +Tom by the nose. It did not hurt him much; but it +held him quite tight.</p> + +<p>"Yah, ah! Oh, let me go!" cried Tom.</p> + +<p>"Then let me go," said the creature. "I want to +be quiet. I want to split."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span></p> + +<p>Tom promised to let him alone, and he let go. +"Why do you want to split?" said Tom.</p> + +<p>"Because my brothers and sisters have all split, +and turned into beautiful creatures with wings; and +I want to split too. Don't speak to me. I am sure +I shall split. I will split!"</p> + +<p>Tom stood still, and watched him. And he +swelled himself, and puffed, and stretched himself +out stiff, and at last—crack, puff, bang—he opened +all down his back, and then up to the top of his +head.</p> + +<p>And out of his inside came the most slender, +elegant, soft creature, as soft and smooth as Tom: +but very pale and weak, like a little child who has +been ill a long time in a dark room. It moved its +legs very feebly; and looked about it half ashamed, +like a girl when she goes for the first time into a +ballroom; and then it began walking slowly up a +grass stem to the top of the water.</p> + +<p>Tom was so astonished that he never said a word: +but he stared with all his eyes. And he went up to +the top of the water too, and peeped out to see what +would happen.</p> + +<p>And as the creature sat in the warm bright sun, a +wonderful change came over it. It grew strong and +firm; the most lovely colours began to show on its<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span> +body, blue and yellow and black, spots and bars and +rings; out of its back rose four great wings of bright +brown gauze; and its eyes grew so large that they +filled all its head, and shone like ten thousand +diamonds.</p> + +<p>"Oh, you beautiful creature!" said Tom; and he +put out his hand to catch it.</p> + +<p>But the thing whirred up into the air, and hung +poised on its wings a moment, and then settled down +again by Tom quite fearless.</p> + +<p>"No!" it said, "you cannot catch me. I am a +dragon-fly now, the king of all the flies; and I shall +dance in the sunshine, and hawk over the river, and +catch gnats, and have a beautiful wife like myself. +I know what I shall do. Hurrah!" And he flew +away into the air, and began catching gnats.</p> + +<p>"Oh! come back, come back," cried Tom, "you +beautiful creature. I have no one to play with, and +I am so lonely here. If you will but come back I will +never try to catch you."</p> + +<p>"I don't care whether you do or not," said the +dragon-fly; "for you can't. But when I have had +my dinner, and looked a little about this pretty place, +I will come back, and have a little chat about all I +have seen in my travels. Why, what a huge tree this +is! and what huge leaves on it!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span></p> + +<p>It was only a big dock: but you know the dragon-fly +had never seen any but little water-trees; starwort, +and milfoil, and water-crowfoot, and such like; so it +did look very big to him. Besides, he was very short-sighted, +as all dragon-flies are; and never could see a +yard before his nose; any more than a great many +other folks, who are not half as handsome as he.</p> + +<p>The dragon-fly did come back, and chatted away +with Tom. He was a little conceited about his fine +colours and his large wings; but you know, he had +been a poor dirty ugly creature all his life before; so +there were great excuses for him. He was very fond +of talking about all the wonderful things he saw in +the trees and the meadows; and Tom liked to listen +to him, for he had forgotten all about them. So in +a little while they became great friends.</p> + +<p>And I am very glad to say, that Tom learned such +a lesson that day, that he did not torment creatures +for a long time after. And then the caddises grew +quite tame, and used to tell him strange stories about +the way they built their houses, and changed their +skins, and turned at last into winged flies; till Tom +began to long to change his skin, and have wings like +them some day.</p> + +<p>And the trout and he made it up (for trout very +soon forget if they have been frightened and hurt).<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span> +So Tom used to play with them at hare and hounds, +and great fun they had; and he used to try to leap out +of the water, head over heels, as they did before a +shower came on; but somehow he never could manage +it. He liked most, though, to see them rising +at the flies, as they sailed round and round under +the shadow of the great oak, where the beetles fell +flop into the water, and the green caterpillars let +themselves down from the boughs by silk ropes for +no reason at all; and then changed their foolish minds +for no reason at all either; and hauled themselves +up again into the tree, rolling up the rope in a ball +between their paws; which is a very clever rope +dancer's trick; but why they should take so much +trouble about it no one can tell.</p> + +<p>And very often Tom caught them just as they +touched the water; and caught the alder-flies, and the +caperers, and the cock-tailed duns and spinners, yellow, +and brown, and claret, and gray, and gave them +to his friends the trout. Perhaps he was not quite +kind to the flies; but one must do a good turn to +one's friends when one can.</p> + +<p>And at last he gave up catching even the flies; +for he made acquaintance with one by accident and +found him a very merry little fellow. And this was +the way it happened; and it is all quite true.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span></p> + +<p>He was basking at the top of the water one hot +day in July, catching duns and feeding the trout, +when he saw a new sort, a dark gray little fellow with +a brown head. He was a very little fellow indeed: +but he made the most of himself, as people ought +to do. He cocked up his head, and he cocked up his +wings, and he cocked up his tail, and he cocked up the +two whisks at his tail-end, and, in short, he looked +the cockiest little man of all little men. And so he +proved to be; for instead of getting away, he hopped +upon Tom's finger, and sat there as bold as nine +tailors; and he cried out in the tiniest, shrillest, +squeakiest little voice you ever heard,</p> + +<p>"Much obliged to you, indeed; but I don't want +it yet."</p> + +<p>"Want what?" said Tom, quite taken aback by +his impudence.</p> + +<p>"Your leg, which you are kind enough to hold +out for me to sit on. I must just go and see after my +wife for a few minutes. Dear me! what a troublesome +business a family is!" (though the idle little +rogue did nothing at all, but left his poor wife to lay +all the eggs by herself). "When I come back, I +shall be glad of it, if you'll be so good as to keep it +sticking out just so;" and off he flew.</p> + +<p>Tom thought him a very cool sort of personage;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span> +and still more so, when, in five minutes, he came back, +and said—"Ah, you were tired waiting? Well, +your other leg will do as well."</p> + +<p>And he popped himself down on Tom's knee, and +began chatting away in his squeaking voice.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/gs10-crossed_nets.png" width="500" height="108" alt="Crossed fishing nets" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>"So you live under the water? It's a low place. +I lived there for some time; and was very shabby +and dirty. But I didn't choose that that should last. +So I turned respectable, and came up to the top, and +put on this gray suit. It's a very business-like suit, +you think, don't you?"</p> + +<p>"Very neat and quiet indeed," said Tom.</p> + +<p>"Yes, one must be quiet and neat and respectable, +and all that sort of thing for a little, when one becomes +a family man. But I'm tired of it, that's the +truth. I've done quite enough business, I consider, +in the last week, to last me my life. So I shall put +on a ball dress, and go out and be a smart man, and +see the gay world, and have a dance or two. Why +shouldn't one be jolly if one can?"</p> + +<p>"And what will become of your wife?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh! she is a very plain stupid creature, and +that's the truth; and thinks about nothing but eggs. +If she chooses to come, why she may; and if not, +why I go without her;—and here I go."</p> + +<p>And, as he spoke, he turned quite pale, and then +quite white.</p> + +<p>"Why, you're ill!" said Tom. But he did not +answer.</p> + +<p>"You're dead," said Tom, looking at him as he +stood on his knee as white as a ghost.</p> + +<p>"No, I ain't!" answered a little squeaking voice +over his head. "This is me up here, in my ball-dress; +and that's my skin. Ha, ha! you could not +do such a trick as that!"</p> + +<p>And no more Tom could, nor all the conjurors in +the world. For the little rogue had jumped clean +out of his own skin, and left it standing on Tom's +knee, eyes, wings, legs, tail, exactly as if it had been +alive.</p> + +<p>"Ha, ha!" he said, and he jerked and skipped up +and down, never stopping an instant, just as if he +had St. Vitus's dance. "Ain't I a pretty fellow +now?"</p> + +<p>And so he was; for his body was white, and his +tail orange, and his eyes all the colours of a peacock's +tail. And what was the oddest of all, the whisks at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span> +the end of his tail had grown five times as long as +they were before.</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said he, "now I will see the gay world. +My living won't cost me much, for I have no mouth, +you see, and no inside; so I can never be hungry nor +have the stomach-ache neither."</p> + +<p>No more he had. He had grown as dry and hard +and empty as a quill, as such silly shallow-hearted +fellows deserve to grow.</p> + +<p>But, instead of being ashamed of his emptiness, he +was quite proud of it, as a good many fine gentlemen +are, and began flirting and flipping up and +down, and singing—</p> + +<div class='poem'> +"<i>My wife shall dance, and I shall sing,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">So merrily pass the day;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">For I hold it for quite the wisest thing,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">To drive dull care away."</span></i><br /> +</div> + +<p>And he danced up and down for three days and +three nights, till he grew so tired, that he tumbled +into the water, and floated down. But what became +of him Tom never knew, and he himself never +minded; for Tom heard him singing to the last, as +he floated down—</p> + +<div class='poem'> +"<i>To drive dull care away-ay-ay!</i>"<br /> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span></p> + +<p>And if he did not care, why nobody else cared +either.</p> + +<p>But one day Tom had a new adventure. He was +sitting on a water-lily leaf, he and his friend the +dragon-fly, watching the gnats dance. The dragon-fly +had eaten as many as he wanted, and was sitting +quite still and sleepy, for it was very hot and bright. +The gnats (who did not care the least for their poor +brothers' death) danced a foot over his head quite +happily, and a large black fly settled within an inch +of his nose, and began washing his own face and +combing his hair with his paws: but the dragon-fly +never stirred, and kept on chatting to Tom about +the times when he lived under the water.</p> + +<p>Suddenly, Tom heard the strangest noise up the +stream; cooing, and grunting, and whining, and +squeaking, as if you had put into a bag two stock-doves, +nine mice, three guinea-pigs, and a blind +puppy, and left them there to settle themselves and +make music.</p> + +<p>He looked up the water, and there he saw a sight +as strange as the noise; a great ball rolling over and +over down the stream, seeming one moment of soft +brown fur, and the next of shining glass: and yet it +was not a ball; for sometimes it broke up and +streamed away in pieces, and then it joined again;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span> +and all the while the noise came out of it louder and +louder.</p> + +<p>Tom asked the dragon-fly what it could be: but, +of course, with his short sight, he could not even see +it, though it was not ten yards away. So he took the +neatest little header into the water, and started off to +see for himself; and, when he came near, the ball +turned out to be four or five beautiful creatures, +many times larger than Tom, who were swimming +about, and rolling, and diving, and twisting, and +wrestling, and cuddling, and kissing, and biting, and +scratching, in the most charming fashion that ever +was seen. And if you don't believe me, you may go +to the Zoological Gardens (for I am afraid that +you won't see it nearer, unless, perhaps, you get up +at five in the morning, and go down to Cordery's +Moor, and watch by the great withy pollard which +hangs over the backwater, where the otters breed +sometimes), and then say, if otters at play in the +water are not the merriest, lithest, gracefullest creatures +you ever saw.</p> + +<p>But, when the biggest of them saw Tom, she +darted out from the rest, and cried in the water-language +sharply enough, "Quick, children, here is +something to eat, indeed!" and came at poor Tom, +showing such a wicked pair of eyes, and such a set of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span> +sharp teeth in a grinning mouth, that Tom, who had +thought her very handsome, said to himself, <i>Handsome +is that handsome does</i>, and slipped in between +the water-lily roots as fast as he could, and then +turned round and made faces at her.</p> + +<p>"Come out," said the wicked old otter, "or it will +be worse for you."</p> + +<p>But Tom looked at her from between two thick +roots, and shook them with all his might, making +horrible faces all the while, just as he used to grin +through the railings at the old women, when he lived +before. It was not quite well bred, no doubt; but you +know, Tom had not finished his education yet.</p> + +<p>"Come away, children," said the otter in disgust, +"it is not worth eating, after all. It is only a nasty +eft, which nothing eats, not even those vulgar pike in +the pond."</p> + +<p>"I am not an eft!" said Tom; "efts have tails."</p> + +<p>"You are an eft," said the otter, very positively; +"I see your two hands quite plain, and I know you +have a tail."</p> + +<p>"I tell you I have not," said Tom. "Look +here!" and he turned his pretty little self quite +round; and, sure enough, he had no more tail than +you.</p> + +<p>The otter might have got out of it by saying that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span> +Tom was a frog: but, like a great many other people, +when she had once said a thing, she stood to it, right +or wrong; so she answered:</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/gs11-baby_on_lilypad.png" width="500" height="273" alt="Baby on a lilypad" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>"I say you are an eft, and therefore you are, and +not fit food for gentlefolk like me and my children. +You may stay here till the salmon eat you (she knew +the salmon would not, but she wanted to frighten +poor Tom). Ha! ha! they will eat you, and we +will eat them;" and the otter laughed such a wicked +cruel laugh—as you may hear them do sometimes; +and the first time that you hear it you will probably +think it is bogies.</p> + +<p>"What are salmon?" asked Tom.</p> + +<p>"Fish, you eft, great fish, nice fish to eat. They +are the lords of the fish, and we are lords of the +salmon;" and she laughed again. "We hunt them<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span> +up and down the pools, and drive them up into a +corner, the silly things; they are so proud, and bully +the little trout, and the minnows, till they see us +coming, and then they are so meek all at once; and +we catch them, but we disdain to eat them all; we +just bite out their soft throats and suck their sweet +juice—Oh, so good!"—(and she licked her wicked +lips)—"and then throw them away, and go and +catch another. They are coming soon, children, +coming soon; I can smell the rain coming up off the +sea, and then hurrah for a freshet, and salmon, and +plenty of eating all day long."</p> + +<p>And the otter grew so proud that she turned head +over heels twice, and then stood upright half out of +the water, grinning like a Cheshire cat.</p> + +<p>"And where do they come from?" asked Tom, +who kept himself very close, for he was considerably +frightened.</p> + +<p>"Out of the sea, eft, the great wide sea, where +they might stay and be safe if they liked. But out +of the sea the silly things come, into the great river +down below, and we come up to watch for them; and +when they go down again we go down and follow +them. And there we fish for the bass and the pollock, +and have jolly days along the shore, and toss +and roll in the breakers, and sleep snug in the warm<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span> +dry crags. Ah, that is a merry life too, children, if +it were not for those horrid men."</p> + +<p>"What are men?" asked Tom; but somehow he +seemed to know before he asked.</p> + +<p>"Two-legged things, eft: and, now I come to look +at you, they are actually something like you, if you +had not a tail" (she was determined that Tom +should have a tail), "only a great deal bigger, worse +luck for us; and they catch the fish with hooks and +lines, which get into our feet sometimes, and set +pots along the rocks to catch lobsters. They speared +my poor dear husband as he went out to find something +for me to eat. I was laid up among the crags +then, and we were very low in the world, for the +sea was so rough that no fish would come in shore. +But they speared him, poor fellow, and I saw them +carrying him away upon a pole. Ah, he lost his life +for your sakes, my children, poor dear obedient creature +that he was."</p> + +<p>And the otter grew so sentimental (for otters can +be very sentimental when they choose, like a good +many people who are both cruel and greedy, and no +good to anybody at all) that she sailed solemnly +away down the burn, and Tom saw her no more for +that time. And lucky it was for her that she did so; +for no sooner was she gone, than down the bank came<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span> +seven little rough terrier dogs, snuffing and yapping, +and grubbing and splashing, in full cry after the +otter. Tom hid among the water-lilies till they were +gone; for he could not guess that they were the +water-fairies come to help him.</p> + +<p>But he could not help thinking of what the otter +had said about the great river and the broad sea. +And, as he thought, he longed to go and see them. +He could not tell why; but the more he thought, the +more he grew discontented with the narrow little +stream in which he lived, and all his companions +there; and wanted to get out into the wide wide +world, and enjoy all the wonderful sights of which +he was sure it was full.</p> + +<p>And once he set off to go down the stream. But +the stream was very low; and when he came to the +shallows he could not keep under water, for there +was no water left to keep under. So the sun burned +his back and made him sick; and he went back +again and lay quiet in the pool for a whole week +more.</p> + +<p>And then, on the evening of a very hot day, he +saw a sight.</p> + +<p>He had been very stupid all day, and so had the +trout; for they would not move an inch to take a fly, +though there were thousands on the water, but lay<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span> +dozing at the bottom under the shade of the stones; +and Tom lay dozing too, and was glad to cuddle +their smooth cool sides, for the water was quite +warm and unpleasant.</p> + +<p>But toward evening it grew suddenly dark, and +Tom looked up and saw a blanket of black clouds +lying right across the valley above his head, resting +on the crags right and left. He felt not quite frightened, +but very still; for everything was still. There +was not a whisper of wind, nor a chirp of a bird to be +heard; and next a few great drops of rain fell plop +into the water, and one hit Tom on the nose, and +made him pop his head down quickly enough.</p> + +<p>And then the thunder roared, and the lightning +flashed, and leapt across Vendale and back again, +from cloud to cloud, and cliff to cliff, till the very +rocks in the stream seemed to shake: and Tom looked +up at it through the water, and thought it the finest +thing he ever saw in his life.</p> + +<p>But out of the water he dared not put his head; +for the rain came down by bucketsful, and the hail +hammered like shot on the stream, and churned it +into foam; and soon the stream rose, and rushed +down, higher and higher, and fouler and fouler, full +of beetles, and sticks; and straws, and worms, and +addle-eggs, and wood-lice, and leeches, and odds<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span> +and ends, and omnium-gatherums, and this, that, and +the other, enough to fill nine museums.</p> + +<p>Tom could hardly stand against the stream, and +hid behind a rock. But the trout did not; for out +they rushed from among the stones, and began gobbling +the beetles and leeches in the most greedy and +quarrelsome way, and swimming about with great +worms hanging out of their mouths, tugging and +kicking to get them away from each other.</p> + +<p>And now, by the flashes of the lightning, Tom saw +a new sight—all the bottom of the stream alive with +great eels, turning and twisting along, all down +stream and away. They had been hiding for weeks +past in the cracks of the rocks, and in burrows in +the mud; and Tom had hardly ever seen them, except +now and then at night: but now they were all +out, and went hurrying past him so fiercely and +wildly that he was quite frightened. And as they +hurried past he could hear them say to each other, +"We must run, we must run. What a jolly thunderstorm! +Down to the sea, down to the sea!"</p> + +<p>And then the otter came by with all her brood, +twining and sweeping along as fast as the eels themselves; +and she spied Tom as she came by, and said:</p> + +<p>"Now is your time, eft, if you want to see the +world. Come along, children, never mind those<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span> +nasty eels: we shall breakfast on salmon to-morrow. +Down to the sea, down to the sea!"</p> + +<p>Then came a flash brighter than all the rest, and +by the light of it—in the thousandth part of a second +they were gone again—but he had seen them, he was +certain of it—three beautiful little white girls, with +their arms twined round each other's necks, floating +down the torrent, as they sang, "Down to the sea, +down to the sea!"</p> + +<p>"Oh stay! Wait for me!" cried Tom; but they +were gone: yet he could hear their voices clear and +sweet through the roar of thunder and water and +wind, singing as they died away, "Down to the +sea!"</p> + +<p>"Down to the sea?" said Tom; "everything is +going to the sea, and I will go too. Good-bye, +trout." But the trout were so busy gobbling worms +that they never turned to answer him; so that Tom +was spared the pain of bidding them farewell.</p> + +<p>And now, down the rushing stream, guided by the +bright flashes of the storm; past tall birch-fringed +rocks, which shone out one moment as clear as day, +and the next were dark as night; past dark hovers +under swirling banks, from which great trout rushed +out on Tom, thinking him to be good to eat, and +turned back sulkily, for the fairies sent them home<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span> +again with a tremendous scolding, for daring to +meddle with a water-baby; on through narrow strids +and roaring cataracts, where Tom was deafened and +blinded for a moment by the rushing waters; along +deep reaches, where the white water-lilies tossed and +flapped beneath the wind and hail; past sleeping +villages; under dark bridge-arches, and away and +away to the sea. And Tom could not stop, and did +not care to stop; he would see the great world below, +and the salmon, and the breakers, and the wide wide +sea.</p> + +<p>And when the daylight came, Tom found himself +out in the salmon river.</p> + +<p>And after a while he came to a place where the +river spread out into broad still shallow reaches, so +wide that little Tom, as he put his head out of the +water, could hardly see across.</p> + +<p>And there he stopped. He got a little frightened. +"This must be the sea," he thought. "What a wide +place it is! If I go on into it I shall surely lose my +way, or some strange thing will bite me. I will stop +here and look out for the otter, or the eels, or some +one to tell me where I shall go."</p> + +<p>So he went back a little way, and crept into a +crack of the rock, just where the river opened out +into the wide shallows, and watched for some one to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span> +tell him his way: but the otter and the eels were gone +on miles and miles down the stream.</p> + +<p>There he waited, and slept too, for he was quite +tired with his night's journey; and, when he woke, +the stream was clearing to a beautiful amber hue, +though it was still very high. And after a while he +saw a sight which made him jump up; for he knew +in a moment it was one of the things which he had +come to look for.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/gs12-baby_swimming_from_fish.png" width="500" height="117" alt="Chased by a fish" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>Such a fish! ten times as big as the biggest trout, +and a hundred times as big as Tom, sculling up the +stream past him, as easily as Tom had sculled +down.</p> + +<p>Such a fish! shining silver from head to tail, and +here and there a crimson dot; with a grand hooked +nose and grand curling lip, and a grand bright eye, +looking round him as proudly as a king, and surveying +the water right and left as if all belonged to +him. Surely he must be the salmon, the king of all +the fish.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span></p> + +<p>Tom was so frightened that he longed to creep +into a hole; but he need not have been; for salmon +are all true gentlemen, and, like true gentlemen, they +look noble and proud enough, and yet, like true +gentlemen, they never harm or quarrel with any one, +but go about their own business, and leave rude fellows +to themselves.</p> + +<p>The salmon looked at him full in the face, and +then went on without minding him, with a swish +or two of his tail which made the stream boil again. +And in a few minutes came another, and then four +or five, and so on; and all passed Tom, rushing and +plunging up the cataract with strong strokes of their +silver tails, now and then leaping clean out of water +and up over a rock, shining gloriously for a moment +in the bright sun, while Tom was so delighted that +he could have watched them all day long.</p> + +<p>And at last one came up bigger than all the rest; +but he came slowly, and stopped, and looked back, +and seemed very anxious and busy. And Tom saw +that he was helping another salmon, an especially +handsome one, who had not a single spot upon it, +but was clothed in pure silver from nose to tail.</p> + +<p>"My dear," said the great fish to his companion, +"you really look dreadfully tired, and you must not +over-exert yourself at first. Do rest yourself behind<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span> +this rock;" and he shoved her gently with his nose, +to the rock where Tom sat.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 439px;"> +<img src="images/col03.jpg" width="439" height="600" alt=""Oh, don't hurt me!" cried Tom. "I only want to look at you; you are so handsome"" title="" /> +<span class="caption">"Oh, don't hurt me!" cried Tom. "I only want to look at you; you are so handsome"</span> +</div> + +<p>You must know that this was the salmon's wife. +For salmon, like other true gentlemen, always choose +their lady, and love her, and are true to her, and take +care of her and work for her, and fight for her, as +every true gentleman ought; and are not like vulgar +chub and roach and pike, who have no high feelings, +and take no care of their wives.</p> + +<p>Then he saw Tom, and looked at him very fiercely +one moment, as if he was going to bite him.</p> + +<p>"What do you want here?" he said, very fiercely.</p> + +<p>"Oh, don't hurt me!" cried Tom. "I only want +to look at you; you are so handsome."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said the salmon, very stately but very +civilly. "I really beg your pardon; I see what you +are, my little dear. I have met one or two creatures +like you before, and found them very agreeable and +well-behaved. Indeed, one of them showed me a +great kindness lately, which I hope to be able to repay. +I hope we shall not be in your way here. As +soon as this lady is rested, we shall proceed on our +journey."</p> + +<p>What a well-bred old salmon he was!</p> + +<p>"So you have seen things like me before?" asked +Tom.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Several times, my dear. Indeed, it was only +last night that one at the river's mouth came and +warned me and my wife of some new stake-nets +which had got into the stream, I cannot tell how, +since last winter, and showed us the way round them, +in the most charmingly obliging way."</p> + +<p>"So there are babies in the sea?" cried Tom, and +clapped his little hands. "Then I shall have some +one to play with there? How delightful!"</p> + +<p>"Were there no babies up this stream?" asked +the lady salmon.</p> + +<p>"No! and I grew so lonely. I thought I saw +three last night; but they were gone in an instant, +down to the sea. So I went too; for I had nothing +to play with but caddises and dragon-flies and trout."</p> + +<p>"Ugh!" cried the lady, "what low company!"</p> + +<p>"My dear, if he has been in low company, he has +certainly not learnt their low manners," said the +salmon.</p> + +<p>"No, indeed, poor little dear: but how sad for +him to live among such people as caddises, who have +actually six legs, the nasty things; and dragon-flies, +too! why they are not even good to eat; for I tried +them once, and they are all hard and empty; and, as +for trout, every one knows what they are." Whereon +she curled up her lip, and looked dreadfully scornful,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span> +while her husband curled up his too, till he looked as +proud as Alcibiades.</p> + +<p>"Why do you dislike the trout so?" asked Tom.</p> + +<p>"My dear, we do not even mention them, if we +can help it; for I am sorry to say they are relations +of ours who do us no credit. A great many years +ago they were just like us: but they were so lazy, and +cowardly, and greedy, that instead of going down to +the sea every year to see the world and grow strong +and fat, they chose to stay and poke about in the little +streams and eat worms and grubs; and they are very +properly punished for it; for they have grown ugly +and brown and spotted and small; and are actually +so degraded in their tastes, that they will eat our +children."</p> + +<p>"And then they pretend to scrape acquaintance +with us again," said the lady. "Why, I have actually +known one of them propose to a lady salmon, +the impudent little creature."</p> + +<p>"I should hope," said the gentleman, "that there +are very few ladies of our race who would degrade +themselves by listening to such a creature for an +instant. If I saw such a thing happen, I should consider +it my duty to put them both to death upon the +spot." So the old salmon said, like an old blue-blooded +hidalgo of Spain; and what is more, he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span> +would have done it too. For you must know, no +enemies are so bitter against each other as those +who are of the same race; and a salmon looks on a +trout as some great folks look on some little folks, +as something just too much like himself to be +tolerated.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/ep03-crab.png" width="500" height="234" alt="Crab" title="" /> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span></p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/ch04-baby_following_bug.png" width="500" height="215" alt="Baby following a bug" title="" /> +</div> + + + +<h2>CHAPTER IV</h2> + + +<div class='cap'>SO the salmon went up, after Tom had warned +them of the wicked old otter; and Tom +went down, but slowly and cautiously, +coasting along the shore. He was many days about +it, for it was many miles down to the sea; and perhaps +he would never have found his way, if the +fairies had not guided him, without his seeing their +fair faces, or feeling their gentle hands.</div> + +<p>And, as he went, he had a very strange adventure. +It was a clear still September night, and the moon +shone so brightly down through the water, that he +could not sleep, though he shut his eyes as tight as +possible. So at last he came up to the top, and sat +upon a little point of rock, and looked up at the +broad yellow moon, and wondered what she was, +and thought that she looked at him. And he watched<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span> +the moonlight on the rippling river, and the black +heads of the firs, and the silver-frosted lawns, and +listened to the owl's hoot, and the snipe's bleat, and +the fox's bark, and the otter's laugh; and smelt the +soft perfume of the birches, and the wafts of heather +honey off the grouse moor far above; and felt very +happy, though he could not well tell why. You, of +course, would have been very cold sitting there on +a September night, without the least bit of clothes +on your wet back; but Tom was a water-baby, and +therefore felt cold no more than a fish.</p> + +<p>Suddenly, he saw a beautiful sight. A bright red +light moved along the river-side, and threw down +into the water a long tap-root of flame. Tom, curious +little rogue that he was, must needs go and see +what it was; so he swam to the shore, and met the +light as it stopped over a shallow run at the edge of +a low rock.</p> + +<p>And there, underneath the light, lay five or six +great salmon, looking up at the flame with their +great goggle eyes, and wagging their tails, as if they +were very much pleased at it.</p> + +<p>Tom came to the top, to look at this wonderful +light nearer, and made a splash.</p> + +<p>And he heard a voice say:</p> + +<p>"There was a fish rose."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span></p> + +<p>He did not know what the words meant: but he +seemed to know the sound of them, and to know the +voice which spoke them; and he saw on the bank +three great two-legged creatures, one of whom held +the light, flaring and sputtering, and another a long +pole. And he knew that they were men, and was +frightened, and crept into a hole in the rock, from +which he could see what went on.</p> + +<p>The man with the torch bent down over the water, +and looked earnestly in; and then he said:</p> + +<p>"Tak' that muckle fellow, lad; he's ower fifteen +punds; and haud your hand steady."</p> + +<p>Tom felt that there was some danger coming, and +longed to warn the foolish salmon, who kept staring +up at the light as if he was bewitched. But before +he could make up his mind, down came the pole +through the water; there was a fearful splash and +struggle, and Tom saw that the poor salmon was +speared right through, and was lifted out of the +water.</p> + +<p>And then, from behind, there sprang on these +three men three other men; and there were shouts, +and blows, and words which Tom recollected to have +heard before; and he shuddered and turned sick at +them now, for he felt somehow that they were +strange, and ugly, and wrong, and horrible. And<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span> +it all began to come back to him. They were men; +and they were fighting; savage, desperate, up-and-down +fighting, such as Tom had seen too many times +before.</p> + +<p>And he stopped his little ears, and longed to swim +away; and was very glad that he was a water-baby, +and had nothing to do any more with horrid dirty +men, with foul clothes on their backs, and foul words +on their lips; but he dared not stir out of his hole: +while the rock shook over his head with the trampling +and struggling of the keepers and the poachers.</p> + +<p>All of a sudden there was a tremendous splash, +and a frightful flash, and a hissing, and all was +still.</p> + +<p>For into the water, close to Tom, fell one of the +men; he who held the light in his hand. Into the +swift river he sank, and rolled over and over in the +current. Tom heard the men above run along, seemingly +looking for him; but he drifted down into the +deep hole below, and there lay quite still, and they +could not find him.</p> + +<p>Tom waited a long time, till all was quiet; and +then he peeped out, and saw the man lying. At last +he screwed up his courage and swam down to him. +"Perhaps," he thought, "the water has made him +fall asleep, as it did me."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span></p> + +<p>Then he went nearer. He grew more and more +curious, he could not tell why. He must go and look +at him. He would go very quietly, of course; so he +swam round and round him, closer and closer; and, +as he did not stir, at last he came quite close and +looked him in the face.</p> + +<p>The moon shone so bright that Tom could see +every feature; and, as he saw, he recollected, bit by +bit, it was his old master, Grimes.</p> + +<p>Tom turned tail, and swam away as fast as he +could.</p> + +<p>"Oh dear me!" he thought, "now he will turn +into a water-baby. What a nasty troublesome one +he will be! And perhaps he will find me out, and +beat me again."</p> + +<p>So he went up the river again a little way, and lay +there the rest of the night under an alder root; but, +when morning came, he longed to go down again to +the big pool, and see whether Mr. Grimes had turned +into a water-baby yet.</p> + +<p>So he went very carefully, peeping round all the +rocks, and hiding under all the roots. Mr. Grimes +lay there still; he had not turned into a water-baby. +In the afternoon Tom went back again. He could +not rest till he had found out what had become of +Mr. Grimes. But this time Mr. Grimes was gone;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span> +and Tom made up his mind that he was turned into +a water-baby.</p> + +<p>He might have made himself easy, poor little +man; Mr. Grimes did not turn into a water-baby, or +anything like one at all. But he did not make himself +easy; and a long time he was fearful lest he +should meet Grimes suddenly in some deep pool. +He could not know that the fairies had carried him +away, and put him, where they put everything which +falls into the water, exactly where it ought to be. +But, do you know, what had happened to Mr. Grimes +had such an effect on him that he never poached +salmon any more. And it is quite certain that, when +a man becomes a confirmed poacher, the only way to +cure him is to put him under water for twenty-four +hours like Grimes.</p> + +<p>Then Tom went on down, for he was afraid of +staying near Grimes: and as he went, all the vale +looked sad. The red and yellow leaves showered +down into the river; the flies and beetles were all +dead and gone; the chill autumn fog lay low upon +the hills, and sometimes spread itself so thickly on +the river that he could not see his way. But he felt +his way instead, following the flow of the stream, +day after day, past great bridges, past boats and +barges, past the great town, with its wharfs, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span> +mills, and tall smoking chimneys, and ships which +rode at anchor in the stream; and now and then he +ran against their hawsers, and wondered what they +were, and peeped out, and saw the sailors lounging +on board smoking their pipes; and ducked under +again, for he was terribly afraid of being caught by +man and turned into a chimney-sweep once more. +He did not know that the fairies were close to him +always, shutting the sailors' eyes lest they should +see him, and turning him aside from millraces, and +sewer-mouths, and all foul and dangerous things. +Poor little fellow, it was a dreary journey for him; +and more than once he longed to be back in Vendale, +playing with the trout in the bright summer sun. But +it could not be. What has been once can never come +over again. And people can be little babies, even +water-babies, only once in their lives.</p> + +<p>Besides, people who make up their minds to go +and see the world, as Tom did, must needs find it a +weary journey. Lucky for them if they do not lose +heart and stop half-way, instead of going on bravely +to the end as Tom did. For then they will remain +neither boys nor men, neither fish, flesh, nor good +red-herring: having learnt a great deal too much, +and yet not enough; and sown their wild oats, without +having the advantage of reaping them.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span></p> +<div class="figleft" style="width: 336px;"> +<img src="images/gs13-baby_using_fish_feelers_as_reins.png" width="336" height="400" alt="Riding a catfish" title="" /> +</div> +<p>But Tom was always a brave, determined, little +English bull-dog, who never knew when he was +beaten; and on and on he held, till he saw a long +way off the red buoy through the fog. And then he +found, to his surprise, the stream turned round, and +running up inland.</p> + +<p>It was the tide, of course: but Tom knew nothing +of the tide. He only knew that in a minute more the +water, which had been fresh, turned salt all round +him. And then there came a change over him. He +felt as strong, and light, and fresh, as if his veins had +run champagne; and gave, he did not know why, +three skips out of the water, a yard high, and head +over heels, just as the salmon do when they first +touch the noble rich salt water, which, as some wise +men tell us, is the mother of all living things.</p> + + + +<p>He did not care now for the tide being against +him. The red buoy was in sight, dancing in the open +sea; and to the buoy he would go, and to it he went. +He passed great shoals of bass and mullet, leaping +and rushing in after the shrimps, but he never heeded +them, or they him; and once he passed a great black +shining seal, who was coming in after the mullet. +The seal put his head and shoulders out of water, +and stared at him, looking exactly like a fat old +greasy negro with a gray pate. And Tom, instead of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span> +being frightened, said, +"How d'ye do, sir; what +a beautiful place the sea +is!" And the old seal, +instead of trying to bite +him, looked at him with +his soft sleepy winking +eyes, and said, "Good +tide to you, my little +man; are you looking for +your brothers and sisters? +I passed them all at play outside."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 444px;"> +<img src="images/col04.jpg" width="444" height="600" alt="And Tom sat upon the buoy long days" title="" /> +<span class="caption">And Tom sat upon the buoy long days</span> +</div> + +<p>"Oh, then," said Tom, "I shall have playfellows +at last," and he swam on to the buoy, and got upon +it (for he was quite out of breath) and sat there, +and looked round for water-babies: but there were +none to be seen.</p> + +<p>The sea-breeze came in freshly with the tide and +blew the fog away; and the little waves danced +for joy around the buoy, and the old buoy danced +with them. The shadows of the clouds ran races +over the bright blue bay, and yet never caught +each other up; and the breakers plunged merrily +upon the wide white sands, and jumped up over +the rocks, to see what the green fields inside were +like, and tumbled down and broke themselves all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span> +to pieces, and never minded it a bit, but mended +themselves and jumped up again. And the terns +hovered over Tom like huge white dragon-flies with +black heads, and the gulls laughed like girls at play, +and the sea-pies, with their red bills and legs, flew +to and fro from shore to shore, and whistled sweet +and wild. And Tom looked and looked, and listened; +and he would have been very happy, if he +could only have seen the water-babies. Then when +the tide turned, he left the buoy, and swam round +and round in search of them: but in vain. Sometimes +he thought he heard them laughing: but it was +only the laughter of the ripples. And sometimes he +thought he saw them at the bottom: but it was only +white and pink shells. And once he was sure he +had found one, for he saw two bright eyes peeping +out of the sand. So he dived down, and began +scraping the sand away, and cried, "Don't hide; I +do want some one to play with so much!" And out +jumped a great turbot with his ugly eyes and mouth +all awry, and flopped away along the bottom, knocking +poor Tom over. And he sat down at the bottom +of the sea, and cried salt tears from sheer disappointment.</p> + +<p>To have come all this way, and faced so many +dangers, and yet to find no water-babies! How<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span> +hard! Well, it did seem hard: but people, even +little babies, cannot have all they want without waiting +for it, and working for it too, my little man, as +you will find out some day.</p> + +<p>And Tom sat upon the buoy long days, long +weeks, looking out to sea, and wondering when the +water-babies would come back; and yet they never +came.</p> + +<p>Then he began to ask all the strange things which +came in out of the sea if they had seen any; and +some said "Yes," and some said nothing at all.</p> + +<p>He asked the bass and the pollock; but they were +so greedy after the shrimps that they did not care +to answer him a word.</p> + +<p>Then there came in a whole fleet of purple sea-snails, +floating along, each on a sponge full of foam, +and Tom said, "Where do you come from, you +pretty creatures? and have you seen the water-babies?"</p> + +<p>And the sea-snails answered, "Whence we come +we know not; and whither we are going, who can +tell? We float out our life in the mid-ocean, with +the warm sunshine above our heads, and the warm +gulf-stream below; and that is enough for us. Yes; +perhaps we have seen the water-babies. We have +seen many strange things as we sailed along." And<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span> +they floated away, the happy stupid things, and all +went ashore upon the sands.</p> + +<p>Then there came in a great lazy sunfish, as big as +a fat pig cut in half; and he seemed to have been cut +in half too, and squeezed in a clothes-press till he was +flat; but to all his big body and big fins he had only +a little rabbit's mouth, no bigger than Tom's; and, +when Tom questioned him, he answered in a little +squeaky feeble voice:</p> + +<p>"I'm sure I don't know; I've lost my way. I +meant to go to the Chesapeake, and I'm afraid I've +got wrong somehow. Dear me! it was all by following +that pleasant warm water. I'm sure I've lost +my way."</p> + +<p>And, when Tom asked him again, he could only +answer, "I've lost my way. Don't talk to me; I +want to think."</p> + +<p>But, like a good many other people, the more he +tried to think the less he could think; and Tom saw +him blundering about all day, till the coast-guardsmen +saw his big fin above the water, and rowed out, +and struck a boat-hook into him, and took him away. +They took him up to the town and showed him for +a penny a head, and made a good day's work of it. +But of course Tom did not know that.</p> + +<p>Then there came by a shoal of porpoises, rolling<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span> +as they went—papas, and mammas, and little children—and +all quite smooth and shiny, because the +fairies French-polish them every morning; and they +sighed so softly as they came by, that Tom took +courage to speak to them: but all they answered was, +"Hush, hush, hush;" for that was all they had +learned to say.</p> + +<p>And then there came a shoal of basking sharks, +some of them as long as a boat, and Tom was frightened +at them. But they were very lazy good-natured +fellows, not greedy tyrants, like white sharks and +blue sharks and ground sharks and hammer-heads, +who eat men, or saw-fish and threshers and ice-sharks, +who hunt the poor old whales. They came +and rubbed their great sides against the buoy, and +lay basking in the sun with their backfins out of +water; and winked at Tom: but he never could get +them to speak. They had eaten so many herrings +that they were quite stupid; and Tom was glad when +a collier brig came by and frightened them all away; +for they did smell most horribly, certainly, and he +had to hold his nose tight as long as they were +there.</p> + +<p>And then there came by a beautiful creature, like +a ribbon of pure silver with a sharp head and very +long teeth; but it seemed very sick and sad. Sometimes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span> +it rolled helpless on its side; and then it dashed +away glittering like white fire; and then it lay sick +again and motionless.</p> + +<p>"Where do you come from?" asked Tom. +"And why are <i>you</i> so sick and sad?"</p> + +<p>"I come from the warm Carolinas, and the sandbanks +fringed with pines; where the great owl-rays +leap and flap, like giant bats, upon the tide. But I +wandered north and north, upon the treacherous +warm gulf-stream, till I met with the cold icebergs, +afloat in the mid ocean. So I got tangled among the +icebergs, and chilled with their frozen breath. But +the water-babies helped me from among them, and +set me free again. And now I am mending every +day; but I am very sick and sad; and perhaps I +shall never get home again to play with the owl-rays +any more."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" cried Tom. "And you have seen water-babies? +Have you seen any near here?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; they helped me again last night, or I should +have been eaten by a great black porpoise."</p> + +<p>How vexatious! The water-babies close to him, +and yet he could not find one.</p> + +<p>And then he left the buoy, and used to go along +the sands and round the rocks, and come out in the +night—like the forsaken Merman in Mr. Arnold's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span> +beautiful, beautiful poem, which you must learn by +heart some day—and sit upon a point of rock, among +the shining seaweeds, in the low October tides, and +cry and call for the water-babies; but he never heard +a voice call in return. And at last, with his fretting +and crying, he grew quite lean and thin.</p> + +<p>But one day among the rocks he found a play-fellow. +It was not a water-baby, alas! but it was a +lobster; and a very distinguished lobster he was; for +he had live barnacles on his claws, which is a great +mark of distinction in lobsterdom, and no more to +be bought for money than a good conscience or the +Victoria Cross.</p> + +<p>Tom had never seen a lobster before; and he was +mightily taken with this one; for he thought him the +most curious, odd, ridiculous creature he had ever +seen; and there he was not far wrong; for all the +ingenious men, and all the scientific men, and all the +fanciful men, in the world, with all the old German +bogy-painters into the bargain, could never invent, +if all their wits were boiled into one, anything so +curious, and so ridiculous, as a lobster.</p> + +<p>He had one claw knobbed and the other jagged; +and Tom delighted in watching him hold on to the +seaweed with his knobbed claw, while he cut up +salads with his jagged one, and then put them into<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span> +his mouth, after smelling at them, like a monkey. +And always the little barnacles threw out their casting-nets +and swept the water, and came in for their +share of whatever there was for dinner.</p> + +<p>But Tom was most astonished to see how he fired +himself off—snap! like the leap-frogs which you +make out of a goose's breast-bone. Certainly he took +the most wonderful shots, and backwards, too. +For, if he wanted to go into a narrow crack ten +yards off, what do you think he did? If he had gone +in head foremost, of course he could not have turned +round. So he used to turn his tail to it, and lay his +long horns, which carry his sixth sense in their tips +(and nobody knows what that sixth sense is), +straight down his back to guide him, and twist his +eyes back till they almost came out of their sockets, +and then made ready, present, fire, snap!—and away +he went, pop into the hole; and peeped out and twiddled +his whiskers, as much as to say, "You couldn't +do that."</p> + +<p>Tom asked him about water-babies. "Yes," he +said. He had seen them often. But he did not think +much of them. They were meddlesome little creatures +that went about helping fish and shells which +got into scrapes. Well, for his part, he should be +ashamed to be helped by little soft creatures that had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span> +not even a shell on their backs. He had lived quite +long enough in the world to take care of himself.</p> + +<p>He was a conceited fellow, the old lobster, and not +very civil to Tom; and you will hear how he had to +alter his mind before he was done, as conceited +people generally have. But he was so funny, and +Tom so lonely, that he could not quarrel with him; +and they used to sit in holes in the rocks, and chat +for hours.</p> + +<p>And about this time there happened to Tom a +very strange and important adventure—so important, +indeed, that he was very near never finding the +water-babies at all; and I am sure you would have +been sorry for that.</p> + +<p>I hope that you have not forgotten the little white +lady all this while. At least, here she comes, looking +like a clean white good little darling, as she always +was, and always will be. For it befell in the pleasant +short December days, when the wind always +blows from the south-west, till Old Father Christmas +comes and spreads the great white table-cloth, +ready for little boys and girls to give the birds their +Christmas dinner of crumbs—it befell (to go on) in +the pleasant December days, that Sir John was so +busy hunting that nobody at home could get a word +out of him. Four days a week he hunted, and very<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span> +good sport he had; and the other two he went to +the bench and the board of guardians, and very good +justice he did.</p> + +<p>It befell (to go on a second time) that Sir John, +hunting all day, and dining at five, fell asleep every +evening, and snored so terribly that all the windows +in Harthover shook, and the soot fell down the chimneys. +Whereon My Lady, being no more able to get +conversation out of him than a song out of a dead +nightingale, determined to go off and leave him, and +the doctor, and Captain Swinger the agent, to snore +in concert every evening to their hearts' content. So +she started for the seaside with all the children, in +order to put herself and them into condition by mild +applications of iodine. She might as well have +stayed at home and used Parry's liquid horse-blister, +for there was plenty of it in the stables; and then +she would have saved her money, and saved the +chance, also, of making all the children ill instead of +well (as hundreds are made), by taking them to some +nasty smelling undrained lodging, and then wondering +how they caught scarlatina and diphtheria: but +people won't be wise enough to understand that till +they are dead of bad smells, and then it will be too +late; besides, you see, Sir John did certainly snore +very loud.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span></p> + +<p>But where she went to nobody must know, for fear +young ladies should begin to fancy that there are +water-babies there! and so hunt and howk after them +(besides raising the price of lodgings), and keep +them in aquariums, as the ladies at Pompeii (as you +may see by the paintings) used to keep Cupids in +cages. But nobody ever heard that they starved the +Cupids, or let them die of dirt and neglect, as English +young ladies do by the poor sea-beasts. So nobody +must know where My Lady went. Letting +water-babies die is as bad as taking singing birds' +eggs; for, though there are thousands, ay, millions, +of both of them in the world, yet there is not one +too many.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/ch08-angry_wet_cat.png" width="500" height="253" alt="Angry wet animal" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>Now it befell that, on the very shore, and over the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span> +very rocks, where Tom was sitting with his friend the +lobster, there walked one day the little white lady, +Ellie herself, and with her a very wise man indeed—Professor +Ptthmllnsprts.</p> + +<p>He was, as I said, a very great naturalist; a very +worthy, kind, good-natured little old gentleman; and +very fond of children; and very good to all the world +as long as it was good to him. Only one fault he +had, which cock-robins have likewise, as you may +see if you look out of the nursery window—that, +when any one else found a curious worm, he would +hop round them, and peck them, and set up his tail, +and bristle up his feathers, just as a cock-robin +would; and declare that he found the worm first; +and that it was his worm; and, if not, that then it was +not a worm at all.</p> + +<p>He had met Sir John at Scarborough, or Fleetwood, +or somewhere or other (if you don't care +where, nobody else does), and had made acquaintance +with him, and become very fond of his +children. Now, Sir John know nothing about sea-cockyolybirds, +and cared less, provided the fishmonger +sent him good fish for dinner; and My Lady +knew as little: but she thought it proper that the +children should know something. For in the stupid +old times, you must understand, children were taught<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span> +to know one thing, and to know it well; but in these +enlightened new times they are taught to know a +little about everything, and to know it all ill; which +is a great deal pleasanter and easier, and therefore +quite right.</p> + +<p>So Ellie and he were walking on the rocks, and +he was showing her about one in ten thousand of all +the beautiful and curious things which are to be seen +there. But little Ellie was not satisfied with them at +all. She liked much better to play with live children, +or even with dolls, which she could pretend were +alive; and at last she said honestly, "I don't care +about all these things, because they can't play with +me, or talk to me. If there were little children now +in the water, as there used to be, and I could see +them, I should like that."</p> + +<p>"Children in the water, you strange little duck?" +said the professor.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Ellie. "I know there used to be +children in the water, and mermaids too, and mermen. +I saw them all in a picture at home, of a +beautiful lady sailing in a car drawn by dolphins, and +babies flying round her, and one sitting in her lap; +and the mermaids swimming and playing, and the +mermen trumpeting on conch-shells; and it is called +'The Triumph of Galatea;' and there is a burning<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span> +mountain in the picture behind. It hangs on the +great staircase, and I have looked at it ever since I +was a baby, and dreamt about it a hundred times; +and it is so beautiful that it must be true."</p> + +<p>But the professor had not the least notion of allowing +that things were true, merely because people +thought them beautiful.</p> + +<p>Now little Ellie was, I suppose, a stupid little +girl; for she only asked the same question over again.</p> + +<p>"But why are there not water-babies?"</p> + +<p>I trust and hope that it was because the professor +trod at that moment on the edge of a very sharp +mussel, and hurt one of his corns sadly, that he answered +quite sharply, forgetting that he was a scientific +man, and therefore ought to have known that he +couldn't know; and that he was a logician, and therefore +ought to have known that he could not prove a +universal negative—I say, I trust and hope it was +because the mussel hurt his corn, that the professor +answered quite sharply:</p> + +<p>"Because there ain't."</p> + +<p>Which was not even good English, my dear little +boy; for, as you must know, the professor ought to +have said, if he was so angry as to say anything of +the kind—Because there are not: or are none: or are +none of them; or because they do not exist.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 435px;"> +<img src="images/col05.jpg" width="435" height="600" alt="He felt the net very heavy; and lifted it out quickly, with Tom all entangled in the meshes" title="" /> +<span class="caption">He felt the net very heavy; and lifted it out quickly, with Tom all entangled in the meshes</span> +</div> + +<p>And he groped with his net under the weeds so +violently, that, as it befell, he caught poor little Tom. +He felt the net very heavy; and lifted it out quickly, +with Tom all entangled in the meshes.</p> + +<p>"Dear me!" he cried. "What a large pink Holothurian; +with hands, too! It must be connected with +Synapta."</p> + +<p>And he took him out.</p> + +<p>"It has actually eyes!" he cried. "Why, it +must be a Cephalopod! This is most extraordinary!"</p> + +<p>"No, I ain't!" cried Tom, as loud as he could; +for he did not like to be called bad names.</p> + +<p>"It is a water-baby!" cried Ellie; and of course +it was.</p> + +<p>"Water-fiddlesticks, my dear!" said the professor; +and he turned away sharply.</p> + +<p>There was no denying it. It was a water-baby: +and he had said a moment ago that there were none. +What was he to do?</p> + +<p>He would have liked, of course, to have taken +Tom home in a bucket. He would not have put him +in spirits. Of course not. He would have kept him +alive, and petted him (for he was a very kind old +gentleman), and written a book about him, and given +him two long names, of which the first would have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span> +said a little about Tom, and the second all about +himself.</p> + +<p>There was a wise old heathen once, who said, +"Maxima debetur pueris reverentia"—The greatest +reverence is due to children; that is, that grown +people should never say or do anything wrong before +children, lest they should set them a bad example.—But +some people, and I am afraid the professor +was one of them, interpret that in a strange, +curious, one-sided, left-handed, topsy-turvy, inside-out-behind-before +fashion; for they make it mean, +that you must show your respect for children, by +never confessing yourself in the wrong to them, even +if you know that you are so, lest they should lose +confidence in their elders.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/ep01-fish_in_reeds.png" width="500" height="188" alt="Fish in reeds" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>Now, if the professor had said to Ellie, "Yes, my +darling, it is a water-baby, and a very wonderful +thing it is; and it shows how little I know of the +wonders of nature, in spite of forty years' honest +labour. I was just telling you that there could be no +such creatures; and, behold! here is one come to confound +my conceit and show me that Nature can do, +and has done, beyond all that man's poor fancy can +imagine. So, let us thank the Maker, and Inspirer, +and Lord of Nature for all His wonderful and +glorious works, and try and find out something about<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span> +this one;"—I think that, if the professor had said +that, little Ellie would have believed him more +firmly, and respected him more deeply, and loved +him better, than ever she had done before. But he +was of a different opinion. He hesitated a moment. +He longed to keep Tom, and yet he half wished he +never had caught him; and at last he quite longed to +get rid of him. So he turned away and poked Tom +with his finger, for want of anything better to do; +and said carelessly, "My dear little maid, you must +have dreamt of water-babies last night, your head +is so full of them." Now Tom had been in the most +horrible and unspeakable fright all the while; and +had kept as quiet as he could, though he was called +a Holothurian and a Cephalopod; for it was fixed +in his little head that if a man with clothes on caught +him, he might put clothes on him too, and make a +dirty black chimney-sweep of him again. But, when<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span> +the professor poked him, it was more than he could +bear; and, between fright and rage, he turned to +bay as valiantly as a mouse in a corner, and bit the +professor's finger till it bled.</p> + +<p>"Oh! ah! yah!" cried he; and glad of an excuse +to be rid of Tom, dropped him on to the seaweed, +and thence he dived into the water and was gone in +a moment.</p> + +<p>"But it was a water-baby, and I heard it speak!" +cried Ellie. "Ah, it is gone!" And she jumped +down off the rock to try and catch Tom before he +slipped into the sea.</p> + +<p>Too late! and what was worse, as she sprang +down, she slipped, and fell some six feet with her +head on a sharp rock, and lay quite still.</p> + +<p>The professor picked her up, and tried to waken +her, and called to her, and cried over her, for he +loved her very much: but she would not waken at all. +So he took her up in his arms and carried her to her +governess, and they all went home; and little Ellie +was put to bed, and lay there quite still; only now +and then she woke up and called out about the water-baby: +but no one knew what she meant, and the +professor did not tell, for he was ashamed to tell.</p> + +<p>And, after a week, one moonlight night, the fairies +came flying in at the window and brought her such a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span> +pretty pair of wings that she could not help putting +them on; and she flew with them out of the window, +and over the land, and over the sea, and up through +the clouds, and nobody heard or saw anything of her +for a very long while.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/ch06-basket_trap.png" width="500" height="204" alt="Basket trap" title="" /> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span></p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/ch05-turtle_in_reeds.png" width="500" height="209" alt="Turtle" title="" /> +</div> + + + +<h2>CHAPTER V</h2> + + +<div class='cap'>BUT what became of little Tom?</div> + +<p>He slipped away off the rocks into the +water, as I said before. But he could not +help thinking of little Ellie. He did not remember +who she was; but he knew that she was a little girl, +though she was a hundred times as big as he. That +is not surprising: size has nothing to do with kindred. +A tiny weed may 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 +else. And here is the account of what happened +to him, as it was published next morning in +the Waterproof Gazette, on the finest watered paper,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span> +for the use of the great fairy, Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid, +who reads the news very carefully every morning, +and especially the police cases, as you will hear +very soon.</p> + +<p>He was going along the rocks in three-fathom +water, watching the pollock catch prawns, and the +wrasses nibble barnacles off the rocks, shells and all, +when he saw a round cage of green withes; and inside +it, looking very much ashamed of himself, sat +his friend the lobster, twiddling his horns, instead of +thumbs.</p> + +<p>"What, have you been naughty, and have they +put you in the lock-up?" asked Tom.</p> + +<p>The lobster felt a little indignant at such a notion, +but he was too much depressed in spirits to argue; so +he only said, "I can't get out."</p> + +<p>"Why did you get in?"</p> + +<p>"After that nasty piece of dead fish." He had +thought it looked and smelt very nice when he was +outside, and so it did, for a lobster: but now he +turned round and abused it because he was angry +with himself.</p> + +<p>"Where did you get in?"</p> + +<p>"Through that round hole at the top."</p> + +<p>"Then why don't you get out through it?"</p> + +<p>"Because I can't:" and the lobster twiddled his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span> +horns more fiercely than ever, but he was forced to +confess.</p> + +<p>"I have jumped upwards, downwards, backwards, +and sideways, at least four thousand times; and I +can't get out: I always get up underneath there, and +can't find the hole."</p> + +<p>Tom looked at the trap, and having more wit than +the lobster, he saw plainly enough what was the +matter; as you may if you will look at a lobster-pot.</p> + +<p>"Stop a bit," said Tom. "Turn your tail up to +me, and I'll pull you through hind-foremost, and +then you won't stick in the spikes."</p> + +<p>But the lobster was so stupid and clumsy that he +couldn't hit the hole.</p> + +<p>Tom reached and clawed down the hole after +him, till he caught hold of him; and then, as was to +be expected, the clumsy lobster pulled him in head +foremost.</p> + +<p>"Hullo! here is a pretty business," said Tom. +"Now take your great claws, and break the points +off those spikes, and then we shall both get out +easily."</p> + +<p>"Dear me, I never thought of that," said the +lobster; "and after all the experience of life that I +have had!"</p> + +<p>You see, experience is of very little good unless a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span> +man, or a lobster, has wit enough to make use of it. +For a good many people, like old Polonius, have +seen all the world, and yet remain little better than +children after all.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;"> +<img src="images/col06.jpg" width="450" height="600" alt="Tom reached and clawed down the hole after him" title="" /> +<span class="caption">Tom reached and clawed down the hole after him</span> +</div> + +<p>But they had not got half the spikes away when +they saw a great dark cloud over them: and lo, and +behold, it was the otter.</p> + +<p>How she did grin and grin when she saw Tom. +"Yar!" said she, "you little meddlesome wretch, I +have you now! I will serve you out for telling the +salmon where I was!" And she crawled all over +the pot to get in.</p> + +<p>Tom was horribly frightened, and still more +frightened when she found the hole in the top, and +squeezed herself right down through it, all eyes and +teeth. But no sooner was her head inside than valiant +Mr. Lobster caught her by the nose and held on.</p> + +<p>And there they were all three in the pot, rolling +over and over, and very tight packing it was. And +the lobster tore at the otter, and the otter tore at the +lobster, and both squeezed and thumped poor Tom +till he had no breath left in his body; and I don't +know what would have happened to him if he had +not at last got on the otter's back, and safe out of +the hole.</p> + +<p>He was right glad when he got out: but he would<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span> +not desert his friend who had saved him; and the +first time he saw his tail uppermost he caught hold +of it, and pulled with all his might.</p> + +<p>But the lobster would not let go.</p> + +<p>"Come along," said Tom; "don't you see she is +dead?" And so she was, quite drowned and dead.</p> + +<p>And that was the end of the wicked otter.</p> + +<p>But the lobster would not let go.</p> + +<p>"Come along, you stupid old stick-in-the-mud," +cried Tom, "or the fisherman will catch you!" And +that was true, for Tom felt some one above beginning +to haul up the pot.</p> + +<p>But the lobster would not let go.</p> + +<p>Tom saw the fisherman haul him up to the boat-side, +and thought it was all up with him. But when +Mr. Lobster saw the fisherman, he gave such a furious +and tremendous 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 +just shook his claw off as the easier method.</p> + +<p>Tom asked the lobster why he never thought of +letting go. He said very determinedly that it was a +point of honour among lobsters. And so it is, as the +Mayor of Plymouth found out once to his cost—eight +or nine hundred years ago, of course; for if<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span> +it had happened lately it would be personal to mention +it.</p> + +<p>For one day he was so tired with sitting on a hard +chair, in a grand furred gown, with a gold chain +round his neck, hearing one policeman after another +come in and sing, "What shall we do with the +drunken sailor, so early in the morning?" and answering +them each exactly alike:</p> + +<p>"Put him in the round house till he gets sober, +so early in the morning"—</p> + +<p>That, when it was over, he jumped up, and played +leap-frog with the town-clerk till he burst his buttons, +and then had his luncheon, and burst some +more buttons, and then said: "It is a low spring-tide; +I shall go out this afternoon and cut my capers."</p> + +<p>Now he did not mean to cut such capers as you +eat with boiled mutton. It was the commandant of +artillery at Valetta who used to amuse himself with +cutting them, 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 the Nix Mangiare stairs. +But all that the mayor meant was that he would go +and have an afternoon's fun, like any schoolboy, and +catch lobsters with an iron hook.</p> + +<p>So to the Mewstone he went, and for lobsters he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span> +looked. And when he came to a certain crack in the +rocks he was so excited that, instead of putting in his +hook, he put in his hand; and Mr. Lobster was at +home, and caught him by the finger, and held on.</p> + +<p>"Yah!" said the mayor, and pulled as hard as +he dared: but the more he pulled, the more the lobster +pinched, till he was forced to be quiet.</p> + +<p>Then he tried to get his hook in with his other +hand; but the hole was too narrow.</p> + +<p>Then he pulled again; but he could not stand the +pain.</p> + +<p>Then he shouted and bawled for help: but there +was no one nearer him than the men-of-war inside +the breakwater.</p> + +<p>Then he began to turn a little pale; for the tide +flowed, and still the lobster held on.</p> + +<p>Then he turned quite white; for the tide was up to +his knees, and still the lobster held on.</p> + +<p>Then he thought of cutting off his finger; but he +wanted two things to do it with—courage and a +knife; and he had got neither.</p> + +<p>Then he turned quite yellow; for the tide was up +to his waist, and still the lobster held on.</p> + +<p>Then he thought over all the naughty things he +ever had done; all the sand which he had put in the +sugar, and the sloe-leaves in the tea, and the water in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span> +the treacle, and the salt in the tobacco (because his +brother was a brewer, and a man must help his own +kin).</p> + +<p>Then he turned quite blue; for the tide was up to +his breast, and still the lobster held on.</p> + +<p>Then, I have no doubt, he repented fully of all the +said naughty things which he had done, and promised +to mend his life, as too many do when they think +they have no life left to mend. Whereby, as they +fancy, they make a very cheap bargain. But the old +fairy with the birch rod soon undeceives them.</p> + +<p>And then he grew all colours at once, and turned +up his eyes like a duck in thunder; for the water was +up to his chin, and still the lobster held on.</p> + +<p>And then came a man-of-war's boat round the +Mewstone, and saw his head sticking up out of the +water. One said it was a keg of brandy, and another +that it was a cocoanut, and another that it was a +buoy loose, and another that it was a black diver, +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 could. So somehow or +other the Jacktars got the lobster out, and set the +mayor free, and put him ashore at the Barbican.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span> +He never went lobster-catching again; and we will +hope he put no more salt in the tobacco, not even to +sell his brother's beer.</p> + +<p>And that is the story of the Mayor of Plymouth, +which has two advantages—first, that of being quite +true; and second, that of having (as folks say all +good stories ought to have) no moral whatsoever: +no more, indeed, has any part of this book, because +it is a fairy tale, you know.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/ep03-crab.png" width="500" height="234" alt="Crab" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>And now happened to Tom a most wonderful +thing; for he had not left the lobster five minutes +before he came upon a water-baby.</p> + +<p>A real live water-baby, sitting on the white sand, +very busy about a little point of rock. And when it +saw Tom it looked up for a moment, and then cried, +"Why, you are not one of us. You are a new baby! +Oh, how delightful!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span></p> + +<p>And it ran to Tom, and Tom ran to it, and they +hugged and kissed each other for ever so long, they +did not know why. But they did not want any introductions +there under the water.</p> + +<p>At last Tom said, "Oh, where have you been all +this while? I have been looking for you so long, and +I have been so lonely."</p> + +<p>"We have been here for days and days. There +are hundreds of us about the rocks. How was it you +did not see us, or hear us when we sing and romp +every evening before we go home?"</p> + +<p>Tom looked at the baby again, and then he +said:</p> + +<p>"Well, this is wonderful! I have seen things +just like you again and again, but I thought you were +shells, or sea-creatures. I never took you for water-babies +like myself."</p> + +<p>Now, was not that very odd? So odd, indeed, +that you will, no doubt, want to know how it happened, +and why Tom could never find a water-baby +till after he had got the lobster out of the pot. And, +if you will read this 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.</p> + +<p>"Now," said the baby, "come and help me, or I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span> +shall not have finished before my brothers and sisters +come, and it is time to go home."</p> + +<p>"What shall I help you at?"</p> + +<p>"At this poor dear little rock; a great clumsy +boulder came rolling by in the last storm, and +knocked all its head off, and rubbed off all its flowers. +And now I must plant it again with seaweeds, +and coralline, and anemones, and I will make it the +prettiest little rock-garden on all the shore."</p> + +<p>So they worked away at the rock, and planted it, +and smoothed the sand down round it, and capital +fun they had till the tide began to turn. And then +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 ripple. So +he knew that he had been hearing and seeing the +water-babies all along; only he did not know them, +because his eyes and ears were not opened.</p> + +<p>And in they came, dozens and dozens of them, +some bigger than Tom and some smaller, all in the +neatest little white bathing dresses; and when they +found that he was a new baby, they hugged him and +kissed him, and then put him in the middle and +danced round him on the sand, and there was no one +ever so happy as poor little Tom.</p> + +<p>"Now then," they cried all at once, "we must<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span> +come away home, we must come away home, or the +tide will leave us dry. We have mended all the +broken seaweed, and put all the rock-pools in order, +and planted all the shells again in the sand, and nobody +will see where the ugly storm swept in last +week."</p> + +<p>And this is the reason why the rock-pools are +always so neat and clean; because the water-babies +come inshore after every storm to sweep them out, +and comb them down, and put them all to rights +again.</p> + +<p>Only where men are wasteful and dirty, and let +sewers run into the sea instead of putting the stuff +upon the fields like thrifty reasonable souls; or throw +herrings' heads and dead dog-fish, or any other refuse, +into the water; or in any way make a mess +upon the clean shore—there 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 water-babies +can plant live cockles and whelks and razor-shells +and sea-cucumbers and golden-combs, and +make a pretty live garden again, after man's dirt is +cleared away. And that, I suppose, is the reason<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span> +why there are no water-babies at any watering-place +which I have ever seen.</p> + +<p>And where is the home of the water-babies? In +St. Brandan's fairy isle.</p> + +<p>Did you never hear of the blessed St. Brandan, +how he preached to the wild Irish on the wild, wild +Kerry coast, he and five other hermits, till they were +weary and longed to rest? For the wild Irish 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 from behind turf-dykes, +and steal each other's cattle, and burn each +other's homes; till St. Brandan and his friends were +weary of them, for they would not learn to be peaceable +Christians at all.</p> + +<p>So St. Brandan went out to the point of Old Dunmore, +and looked over the tide-way roaring round +the Blasquets, at the end of all the world, and away +into the ocean, and sighed—"Ah that I had 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 into a hooker, and sailed away +and away to the westward, and were never heard of +more. But the people who would not hear him were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span> +changed into gorillas, +and gorillas they are +until this day.</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 320px;"> +<img src="images/gs17-baby_on_mushroom.png" width="320" height="400" alt="Sitting on a mushroom" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>And when St. Brandan +and the hermits came to +that fairy isle they found +it overgrown with cedars +and full of beautiful +birds; and he sat down +under the cedars and +preached to all the birds +in the air. And they +liked his sermons so well that they told the fishes +in the sea; and they came, and St. Brandan 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 beard +grew so long that he dared not walk for fear of +treading on it, and then he might have tumbled +down. And at last he and the five hermits fell +fast asleep under the cedar-shades, and there they +sleep unto this day. But the fairies took to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span> +water-babies, and taught them their lessons themselves.</p> + +<p>And some say that St. Brandan will awake and +begin to teach the babies once more: but some think +that he will sleep on, for better for worse, till the +coming of the Cocqcigrues. But, on still clear summer +evenings, when the sun sinks down into the sea, +among golden cloud-capes and cloud-islands, and +locks and friths of azure sky, the sailors fancy that +they see, away to westward, St. Brandan's fairy +isle.</p> + +<p>But whether men can see it or not, St. Brandan's +Isle once actually stood there; a great land out in +the ocean, which has sunk and sunk beneath the +waves. Old Plato called it Atlantis, and told strange +tales of the wise men who lived therein, and of the +wars 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 little pink butterwort of Devon, and the +great blue butterwort of Ireland, and the Connemara +heath, and the bristle-fern of the Turk waterfall, +and many a strange plant more; all fairy tokens<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span> +left for wise men and good children from off St. +Brandan's Isle.</p> + +<p>Now when Tom got there, he found that the isle +stood all on pillars, and that its roots were full of +caves. There were pillars of black basalt, like +Staffa; and pillars of green and crimson serpentine, +like Kynance; and pillars ribboned with red and +white and yellow sandstone, like Livermead; and +there were blue grottoes like Capri, and white grottoes +like Adelsberg; all curtained and draped with +seaweeds, purple and crimson, green and brown; and +strewn with soft white sand, on 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 considerate and just than that, and +have dressed them all in the most beautiful colours +and patterns, till they look like vast flower-beds of +gay blossoms. If you think I am talking nonsense, +I can only say that it is true; and that an old gentleman<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span> +named Fourier used to say that we ought to +do the same by chimney-sweeps and dustmen, and +honour them instead of despising them; and he was +a very clever old gentleman: but, unfortunately for +him and the world, as mad as a March hare.</p> + +<p>And, instead of watchmen and policemen to keep +out nasty things at night, there were thousands and +thousands of water-snakes, and most wonderful creatures +they were. They were all named after the +Nereids, the sea-fairies who took care of them, Eunice +and Polynoe, Phyllodoce and Psamathe, and all +the rest of the pretty darlings who swim round their +Queen 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 +sharp look-out; and when they wanted a baby-snake, +they just grew one at the end of their own tails, and +when it was able to take care of itself it dropped +off; so that they brought up their families very +cheaply. But if any nasty thing came by, out they +rushed upon it; and then out of each of their hundreds +of feet there sprang a whole cutler's shop of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span></p> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="List of weapons"> +<tr><td align='left'><i>Scythes</i>,</td><td align='left'><i>Javelins</i>,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><i>Billhooks</i>,</td><td align='left'><i>Lances</i>,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><i>Pickaxes</i>,</td><td align='left'><i>Halberts</i>,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><i>Forks</i>,</td><td align='left'><i>Gisarines</i>,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><i>Penknives</i>,</td><td align='left'><i>Poleaxes</i>,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><i>Rapiers</i>,</td><td align='left'><i>Fishhooks</i>,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><i>Sabres</i>,</td><td align='left'><i>Bradawls</i>,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><i>Yataghans</i>,</td><td align='left'><i>Gimlets</i>,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><i>Creeses</i>,</td><td align='left'><i>Corkscrews</i>,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><i>Ghoorka swords</i>, </td><td align='left'><i>Pins</i>,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><i>Tucks</i>,</td><td align='left'><i>Needles</i>,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><i>And so forth</i></td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<div class='unindent'>which stabbed, shot, poked, pricked, scratched, +ripped, pinked, and crimped those naughty beasts +so terribly that they had to run for their lives, or +else be chopped into small pieces and be eaten afterwards. +And, if that is not all, every word, true, +then there is no faith in microscopes, and all is over +with the Linnæan Society.</div> + +<p>And there were the water-babies in thousands, +more than Tom, or you either, could count.—All the +little children whom the good fairies take to, because +their cruel mothers and fathers will not; all who are +untaught and brought up heathens, and all who come +to grief by ill-usage or ignorance or neglect; all the +little children who are overlaid, or given gin when<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span> +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 some day, when +folks have common sense; and all the little children +who have been killed by cruel masters and wicked soldiers; +they were all there, except, of course, the babes +of Bethlehem who were killed by wicked King +Herod; for they were taken straight to heaven long +ago, as everybody knows, and we call them the Holy +Innocents.</p> + +<p>But I wish Tom had given up all his naughty +tricks, and left off tormenting dumb animals now +that he had plenty of playfellows to amuse him. Instead +of that, I am sorry to say, 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 +crabs, to make them hide in the sand and peep out +at him with the tips of their eyes; and put stones +into the anemones' mouths, to make them fancy that +their dinner was coming.</p> + +<p>The other children warned him, and said, "Take +care what you are at. Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid is coming."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span> +But Tom never heeded them, being quite riotous +with high spirits and good luck, till, one Friday +morning early, Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid came indeed.</p> + +<p>A very tremendous lady she was; and when the +children saw her they all stood in a row, very upright +indeed, and smoothed down their bathing dresses, +and put their hands behind them, just as if they were +going to be examined by the inspector.</p> + +<p>And she had on a black bonnet, and a black shawl, +and no crinoline at all; and a pair of large green +spectacles, and a great hooked nose, 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, she was so ugly that Tom was tempted +to make faces at her: but did not; for he did not admire +the look of the birch-rod under her arm.</p> + +<p>And she looked at the children one by one, and +seemed very much pleased with them, though she +never asked them one question about how they were +behaving; and then began giving them all sorts of +nice sea-things—sea-cakes, sea-apples, sea-oranges, +sea-bullseyes, sea-toffee; and to the very best of all +she gave sea-ices, made out of sea-cows' cream, which +never melt under water.</p> + +<p>And, if you don't quite believe me, then just think—What +is more cheap and plentiful than sea-rock?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span> +Then why should there not be sea-toffee as well? +And every one can find sea-lemons (ready quartered +too) if they will look for them at low tide: and +sea-grapes too sometimes, 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." +And, perhaps, that is the very reason why the place +is called Nice, because there are so many nice things +in the sea there: at least, if it is not, it ought to be.</p> + +<p>Now little Tom watched all these sweet things +given away, till his mouth watered, and his eyes +grew as round as an 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 fingers with something +in them, and popped it into his mouth; and, +lo and behold, it was a nasty cold hard pebble.</p> + +<p>"You are a very cruel woman," said he, and +began to whimper.</p> + +<p>"And you are a very cruel boy; who puts pebbles +into the sea-anemones' mouths, to take them in, and +make them fancy that they had caught a good dinner! +As you did to them, so I must do to you."</p> + +<p>"Who told you that?" said Tom.</p> + +<p>"You did yourself, this very minute."</p> + +<p>Tom had never opened his lips; so he was very +much taken aback indeed.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes; every one tells me exactly what they have +done wrong; and that without knowing it themselves. +So there is no use trying to hide anything +from me. Now go, and be a good boy, and I will +put no more pebbles in your mouth, if you put none +in other creatures'."</p> + +<p>"I did not know there was any harm in it," said +Tom.</p> + +<p>"Then you know now. People continually say +that to me: but I tell them, if you don't know that +fire burns, that is no reason 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 kill you. +The lobster did not know that there was any harm +in getting into the lobster-pot; but it caught him all +the same."</p> + +<p>"Dear me," thought Tom, "she knows everything!" +And so she did, indeed.</p> + +<p>"And so, if you do not know that things are +wrong, that is no reason why you should not be +punished for them; though not as much, not as much, +my little man" (and the lady looked very kindly, +after all), "as if you did know."</p> + +<p>"Well, you are a little hard on a poor lad," said +Tom.</p> + +<p>"Not at all; I am the best friend you ever had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span> +in all your life. But I will tell you; I cannot help +punishing people when they do wrong. I like it no +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. For I work +by machinery, just like an engine; and am full of +wheels and springs inside; and am wound up very +carefully, so that I cannot help going."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/gs18-tadpole-with-legs.png" width="500" height="286" alt="Tadpole getting legs" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>"Was it long ago since they wound you up?" +asked Tom. For he thought, the cunning little +fellow, "She will run down some day: or they may +forget to wind her up, as old Grimes used to forget +to wind up his watch when he came in from the +public-house; and then I shall be safe."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I was wound up once and for all, so long ago, +that I forget all about it."</p> + +<p>"Dear me," said Tom, "you must have been +made a long time!"</p> + +<p>"I never was made, my child; and I shall go for +ever and ever; for I am as old as Eternity, and yet +as young as Time."</p> + +<p>And there came over the lady's face a very curious +expression—very solemn, and very sad; and yet +very, very sweet. And she looked up and away, as +if she were gazing through the sea, and through the +sky, at something far, far off; 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 not a pretty feature in their faces, and yet +are lovely to behold, and draw little children's hearts +to them at once; because though the house is plain +enough, yet from the windows a beautiful and good +spirit is looking forth.</p> + +<p>And Tom smiled in her face, she looked so pleasant +for the moment. And the strange fairy smiled +too and said:</p> + +<p>"Yes. You thought me very ugly just now, did +you not?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span></p> + +<p>Tom hung down his head, and got very red about +the ears.</p> + +<p>"And I am very ugly. I am the ugliest fairy in +the world; and I shall be, till people behave themselves +as they ought to do. And then I shall grow as +handsome as my sister, who is the 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, as you will see. Now, all of you +run away, except Tom; and he may stay and see +what I am going to do. It will be a very good warning +for him to begin with, before he goes to school.</p> + +<p>"Now, Tom, every Friday I come down here and +call up all who have ill-used little children and serve +them as they served the children."</p> + +<p>And at that Tom was frightened, and crept under +a stone; which made the two crabs who lived there +very angry, and frightened their friend the butter-fish +into flapping hysterics: but he would not move +for them.</p> + +<p>And first she called up all the doctors who give +little children so much physic (they were most of +them old ones; for the young ones have learnt better, +all but a few army surgeons, who still fancy +that a baby's inside is much like a Scotch grenadier's),<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span> +and she set them all in a row; and very rueful +they looked; for they knew what was coming.</p> + +<p>And first she pulled all their teeth out; and then +she bled them all round: and then she dosed them +with calomel, and jalap, and salts and senna, and +brimstone and treacle; and horrible faces they made; +and then she gave them a great emetic of mustard +and water, and no basons; and began all over again; +and that was the way she spent the morning.</p> + +<p>And then she called up a whole troop of foolish +ladies, who pinch up their children's waists and toes; +and she laced them all up in tight stays, so that they +were choked and sick, and their noses grew red, and +their hands 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 said not at all, she let them go: +because they had only done it out of foolish fashion, +fancying it was for their children's good, as if wasps' +waists and pigs' toes could be pretty, or wholesome, +or of any use to anybody.</p> + +<p>Then she called up all the careless nurserymaids, +and stuck pins into them all over, and wheeled them +about in perambulators with tight straps across their +stomachs and their heads and arms hanging over the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span> +side, 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 under a mill-wheel. And mind—when you hear +a rumbling at the bottom of the sea, sailors will tell +you that it is a ground-swell: but now you know +better. It is the old lady wheeling the maids about +in perambulators.</p> + +<p>And by that time she was so tired, she had to go +to luncheon.</p> + +<p>And after luncheon she set to work again, and +called up all the cruel schoolmasters—whole regiments +and brigades of them; and when she saw them, +she frowned most terribly, and set to work in earnest, +as if the best part of the day's work was to come. +More than half of them were nasty, dirty, frowzy, +grubby, smelly old monks, who, because they dare +not hit a man of their own size, 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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span> +do still) that they were the only people in the world +who knew how to manage children: and they first +brought into England, in the old Anglo-Saxon times, +the fashion of treating free boys, and girls too, +worse than you would treat a dog or a horse: but +Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid has caught them all long +ago; and given them many a taste of their own rods; +and much good may it do them.</p> + +<p>And she boxed their ears, and thumped them over +the head with rulers, and pandied their hands with +canes, and told them that they told stories, and were +this and that bad sort of people; and the more they +were very indignant, and stood upon their honour, +and declared they told the truth, the more she declared +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 +breaths came all up through the sea like bubbles out +of soda-water; and that is one reason of the bubbles +in the sea. There are others: but that is the one +which principally concerns little boys. And by that +time she was so tired that she was glad to stop; and, +indeed, she had done a very good day's work.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span></p> +<div class="figright" style="width: 311px;"> +<img src="images/gs19-baby-and-eel.png" width="311" height="350" alt="Baby and eel" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>Tom did not quite +dislike the old lady: +but he could not help +thinking her a little +spiteful—and no wonder +if she was, poor +old soul; for if she has +to wait to grow handsome +till people do as +they would be done +by, she will have to +wait a very long time.</p> + + +<p>Poor old Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid! she has a great +deal of hard work before her, and had better have +been born a washerwoman, and stood over a tub +all day: but, you see, people cannot always choose +their own profession.</p> + +<p>But Tom longed to ask her one question; and +after all, whenever she looked at him, she did not +look cross at all; and now and then there was a +funny smile in her face, and she chuckled to herself +in a way which gave Tom courage, and at last he +said: "Pray, ma'am, may I ask you a question?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly, my little dear."</p> + +<p>"Why don't you bring all the bad masters here +and serve them out too? The butties that knock<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span> +about the poor collier-boys; and the nailers that file +off their lads' noses and hammer their fingers; and +all the master sweeps, like my master Grimes? I +saw him fall into the water long ago; so I surely +expected he would have been here. I'm sure he +was bad enough to me."</p> + +<p>Then the old lady looked so very stern that Tom +was quite frightened, and sorry that he had been so +bold. But she was not angry with him. She only +answered, "I look after them all the week round; +and they are in a very different place from this, because +they knew that they were doing wrong."</p> + +<p>She spoke very quietly; but there was something +in her voice which made Tom tingle from head to +foot, as if he had got into a shoal of sea-nettles.</p> + +<p>"But these people," she went on, "did not know +that they were doing wrong: they were only stupid +and impatient; and therefore I only punish them till +they become patient, and learn to use their common +sense like reasonable beings. But as for chimney-sweeps, +and collier-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 you be a good boy, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span> +do as you would be done by, which they did not; +and then, when my sister, Madame Doasyouwouldbedoneby, +comes on Sunday, perhaps she will take +notice of you, and teach you how to behave. She +understands that better than I do." And so she +went.</p> + +<p>Tom was very glad to hear that there was no +chance of meeting Grimes again, though he was a +little sorry for him, considering that he used sometimes +to give him the leavings of the beer: but he +determined 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 +a dinner; and when Sunday morning came, sure +enough, Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby came too. +Whereat all the little children began dancing and +clapping their hands, and Tom danced too with all +his might.</p> + +<p>And as for the pretty lady, I cannot tell you what +the colour of her hair was, or of her eyes: no more +could Tom; for, when any one looks at her, all they +can think of is, that she has the sweetest, kindest, +tenderest, funniest, merriest face they ever saw, or +want to see. But Tom saw that she was a very tall +woman, as tall as her sister: but instead of being<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span> +gnarly and horny, and scaly, and prickly, like her, she +was the most nice, soft, fat, smooth, pussy, cuddly, +delicious creature who ever nursed a baby; 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 climbed into +her lap, and clung round her neck, and caught hold +of her hands; and then they all put their thumbs into +their mouths, and began cuddling and purring like so +many kittens, as they ought to have done. While +those who could get nowhere else sat down on the +sand, and cuddled her feet—for no one, you know, +wears shoes in the water, except horrid old bathing-women, +who are afraid of the water-babies pinching +their horny toes. And Tom stood staring at them; +for he could not understand what it was all +about.</p> + +<p>"And who are you, you little darling?" she +said.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh, that is the new baby!" they all cried, pulling +their thumbs out of their mouths; "and he +never had any mother," and they all put their thumbs +back again, for they did not wish to lose any time.</p> + +<p>"Then I will be his mother, and he shall have the +very best place; so get out, all of you, this moment."</p> + +<p>And she took up two great armfuls of babies—nine +hundred under one arm, and thirteen hundred +under the other—and threw them away, right and +left, into the water. 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 their mouths, but +came paddling and wriggling back to her like so +many tadpoles, till you could see nothing of her from +head to foot for the swarm of little babies.</p> + +<p>But she took Tom in her arms, and laid him in +the softest place of all, and kissed him, and patted +him, and talked to him, tenderly and low, such things +as he had never heard before in his life; and Tom +looked up into her eyes, and loved her, and loved, till +he fell fast asleep from pure love.</p> + +<p>And when he woke she was telling the children +a story. And what story did she tell them? One +story she told them, which begins every Christmas<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span> +Eve, and yet never ends at all 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 anything +sad; and Tom listened too, and never grew tired of +listening. And he listened so long that he fell fast +asleep again, and, when he woke, the lady was +nursing him still.</p> + +<p>"Don't go away," said little Tom. "This is so +nice. I never had any one to cuddle me before."</p> + +<p>"Don't go away," said all the children; "you +have not sung us one song."</p> + +<p>"Well, I have time for only one. So what shall +it be?"</p> + +<p>"The doll you lost! The doll you lost!" cried +all the babies at once.</p> + +<p>So the strange fairy sang:—</p> + +<div class='poem'> +<i>I once had a sweet little doll, dears,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The prettiest doll in the world;</span><br /> +Her cheeks were so red and so white, dears,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And her hair was so charmingly curled.</span><br /> +But I lost my poor little doll, dears,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">As I played in the heath one day:</span><br /> +And I cried for her more than a week, dears.<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">But I never could find where she lay.</span><br /> +I found my poor little doll, dears,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">As I played in the heath one day:</span><br /> +Folks say she is terribly changed, dears,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For her paint is all washed away,</span><br /> +And her arm trodden off by the cows, dears,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And her hair not the least bit curled:</span><br /> +Yet for old sakes' sake she is still, dears,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The prettiest doll in the world.</span></i><br /> +</div> + +<p>What a silly song for a fairy to sing!</p> + +<p>And what silly water-babies to be quite delighted +at it!</p> + +<p>Well, but you see they have not the advantage of +Aunt Agitate's Arguments in the sea-land down below.</p> + +<p>"Now," said the fairy to Tom, "will you be a +good boy for my sake, and torment no more sea-beasts +till I come back?"</p> + +<p>"And you will cuddle me again?" said poor little +Tom.</p> + +<p>"Of course I will, you little duck. I should like +to take you with me and cuddle you all the way, +only I must not;" and away she went.</p> + +<p>So Tom really tried to be a good boy, and tormented +no sea-beasts after that as long as he lived; +and he is quite alive, I assure you, still.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span></p> + +<p>Oh, how good little boys ought to be who have +kind pussy mammas to cuddle them and tell them +stories; and how afraid they ought to be of growing +naughty, and bringing tears into their mammas' +pretty eyes!</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/ch05-turtle_in_reeds.png" width="500" height="209" alt="Turtle" title="" /> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span></p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/ch06-basket_trap.png" width="500" height="204" alt="Basket trap" title="" /> +</div> + + + +<h2>CHAPTER VI</h2> + + +<div class='cap'>HERE I come to the very saddest part of all +my story. I know some people will only +laugh at it, and call it much ado about nothing. +But I know one man who would not; and he +was an officer with a pair of gray moustaches as +long as your arm, who said once in company +that two of the most heartrending sights in the +world, which moved him most to tears, which he +would do anything to prevent or remedy, were +a child over a broken toy and a child stealing +sweets.</div> + +<p>The company did not laugh at him; his moustaches +were too long and too gray for that: but, after +he was gone, they called him sentimental and so +forth, all but one dear little old Quaker lady with a +soul as white as her cap, who was not, of course,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span> +generally partial to soldiers; and she said very +quietly, like a Quaker:</p> + +<p>"Friends, it is borne upon my mind that that is a +truly brave man."</p> + +<p>Now you may fancy that Tom was quite good, +when he had everything that he could want or wish: +but you would be very much mistaken. Being quite +comfortable is a very good thing; but it does not +make people good. Indeed, it sometimes makes +them naughty, as it made the people in the Bible, +who waxed fat and kicked, like horses overfed and +underworked. And I am very sorry to say that this +happened to little Tom. For he grew so fond of +the sea-bullseyes and sea-lollipops that his foolish +little head could think of nothing else: and he was +always longing for more, and wondering when the +strange lady would come again and give him some, +and what she would give him, and how much, and +whether she would give him more than the others. +And he thought of nothing but lollipops by day, and +dreamt of nothing else by night—and what happened +then?</p> + +<p>That he began to watch the lady to see where +she kept the sweet things: and began hiding, and +sneaking, and following her about, and pretending to +be looking the other way, or going after something<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span> +else, till he found out that she kept them in a beautiful +mother-of-pearl cabinet away in a deep crack of +the rocks.</p> + +<p>And he longed to go to the cabinet, and yet he +was afraid; and then he longed again, and was less +afraid; and at last, by continual thinking about it, +he longed so violently that he was not afraid at all. +And one night, when all the other children were +asleep, and he could not sleep for thinking of lollipops, +he crept away among the rocks, and got to the +cabinet, and behold! it was open.</p> + +<p>But, when he saw all the nice things inside, instead +of being delighted, he was quite frightened, and +wished he had never come there. And then he +would only touch them, and he did; and then he +would only taste one, and he did; and then he would +only eat one, and he did; and then he would only eat +two, and then three, and so on; and then he was +terrified lest she should come and catch him, and +began gobbling them down so fast that he did not +taste them, or have any pleasure in them; and then +he felt sick, and would have only one more; and +then only one more again; and so on till he had eaten +them all up.</p> + +<p>And all the while, close behind him, stood Mrs. +Bedonebyasyoudid.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span></p> + +<p>Some people may say, But why did she not keep +her cupboard locked? Well, I know.—It may +seem a very strange thing, but she never does +keep her cupboard locked; every one may go and +taste for themselves, and fare accordingly. It is +very odd, but so it is; and I am quite sure that +she knows best. Perhaps she wishes people to keep +their fingers out of the fire, by having them burned.</p> + +<p>She took off her spectacles, because she did not +like to see too much; and in her pity she arched up +her eyebrows into her very hair, and her eyes grew +so wide that they would have taken in all the sorrows +of the world, and filled with great big tears, as +they too often did.</p> + +<p>But all she said was:</p> + +<p>"Ah, you poor little dear! you are just like all +the rest."</p> + +<p>But she said it to herself, and Tom neither heard +nor saw her. Now, you must not fancy that she was +sentimental at all. If you do, and think that she is +going to let off you, or me, or any human being when +we do wrong, because she is too tender-hearted to +punish us, then you will find yourself very much mistaken, +as many a man does every year and every day.</p> + +<p>But what did the strange fairy do when she saw +all her lollipops eaten?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span></p> + +<p>Did she fly at Tom, catch him by the scruff of the +neck, hold him, howk him, hump him, hurry him, +hit him, poke him, pull him, pinch him, pound him, +put him in the corner, shake him, slap him, set him +on a cold stone to reconsider himself, and so forth?</p> + +<p>Not a bit. You may watch her at work if you +know where to find her. But you will never see her +do that. For, if she had, she knew quite well Tom +would have fought, and kicked, and bit, and said bad +words, and turned again that moment into a naughty +little heathen chimney-sweep, with his hand, like +Ishmael's of old, against every man, and every +man's hand against him.</p> + +<p>Did she question him, hurry him, frighten him, +threaten him, to make him confess? Not a bit. You +may see her, as I said, at her work often enough if +you know where to look for her: but you will never +see her do that. For, if she had, she would have +tempted him to tell lies in his fright; and that would +have been worse for him, if possible, than even becoming +a heathen chimney-sweep again.</p> + +<p>No. She leaves that for anxious parents and +teachers (lazy ones, some call them), who, instead +of giving children a fair trial, such as they would +expect and demand for themselves, force them by +fright to confess their own faults—which is so cruel<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span> +and unfair that no judge on the bench dare do it to +the wickedest thief or murderer, for the good British +law forbids it—ay, and even punish them to make +them confess, which is so detestable a crime that it is +never committed now, save by Inquisitors, and Kings +of Naples, and a few other wretched people of +whom the world is weary. And then they say, "We +have trained up the child in the way he should go, +and when he grew up he has departed from it. Why +then did Solomon say that he would not depart from +it?" But perhaps the way of beating, and hurrying, +and frightening, and questioning, was not the +way that the child should go; for it is not even the +way in which a colt should go if you want to break +it in and make it a quiet serviceable horse.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/gs11-baby_on_lilypad.png" width="500" height="273" alt="on a lily pad" title="" /> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span></p> + +<p>Some folks may say, "Ah! but the Fairy does not +need to do that if she knows everything already." +True. But, if she did not know, she would not surely +behave worse than a British judge and jury; and no +more should parents and teachers either.</p> + +<p>So she just said nothing at all about the matter, +not even when Tom came next day with the rest for +sweet things. He was horribly afraid of coming: +but he was still more afraid of staying away, lest any +one should suspect him. He was dreadfully afraid, +too, lest there should be no sweets—as was to be +expected, he having eaten them all—and lest then +the fairy should inquire who had taken them. But, +behold! she pulled out just as many as ever, which +astonished Tom, and frightened him still more.</p> + +<p>And, when the fairy looked him full in the face, he +shook from head to foot: however she gave him his +share like the rest, and he thought within himself +that she could not have found him out.</p> + +<p>But, when he put the sweets into his mouth, he +hated the taste of them; and they made him so sick +that he had to get away as fast as he could; and +terribly sick he was, and very cross and unhappy, all +the week after.</p> + +<p>Then, when next week came, he had his share +again; and again the fairy looked him full in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span> +face; but more sadly than she had ever looked. And +he could not bear the sweets: but took them again in +spite of himself.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 440px;"> +<img src="images/col07.jpg" width="440" height="600" alt="Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid" title="" /> +<span class="caption">Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid</span> +</div> + +<p>And when Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby came, he +wanted to be cuddled like the rest; but she said very +seriously:</p> + +<p>"I should like to cuddle you; but I cannot, you +are so horny and prickly."</p> + +<p>And Tom looked at himself: and he was all over +prickles, just like a sea-egg.</p> + +<p>Which was quite natural; for you must know and +believe that people's souls make their bodies just as +a snail makes its shell (I am not joking, my little +man; I am in serious, solemn earnest). And therefore, +when Tom's soul grew all prickly with naughty +tempers, his body could not help growing prickly +too, so that nobody would cuddle him, or play with +him, or even like to look at him.</p> + +<p>What could Tom do now but go away and hide in +a corner and cry? For nobody would play with him, +and he knew full well why.</p> + +<p>And he was so miserable all that week that when +the ugly fairy came and looked at him once more +full in the face, more seriously and sadly than ever, +he could stand it no longer, and thrust the sweetmeats +away, saying, "No, I don't want any: I can't<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span> +bear them now," and then burst out crying, poor +little man, and told Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid every +word as it happened.</p> + +<p>He was horribly frightened when he had done so; +for he expected her to punish him very severely. +But, instead, she only took him up and kissed him, +which was not quite pleasant, for her chin was very +bristly indeed; but he was so lonely-hearted, he +thought that rough kissing was better than none.</p> + +<p>"I will forgive you, little man," she said. "I +always forgive every one the moment they tell me +the truth of their own accord."</p> + +<p>"Then you will take away all these nasty +prickles?"</p> + +<p>"That is a very different matter. You put them +there yourself, and only you can take them away."</p> + +<p>"But how can I do that?" asked Tom, crying +afresh.</p> + +<p>"Well, I think it is time for you to go to school; +so I shall fetch you a schoolmistress, who will teach +you how to get rid of your prickles." And so she +went away. Tom was frightened at the notion of a +schoolmistress; for he thought she would certainly +come with a birch-rod or a cane; but he comforted +himself, at last, that she might be something like the +old woman in Vendale—which she was not in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span> +least; for, when the fairy brought her, she was the +most beautiful little girl that ever was seen, with long +curls floating behind her like a golden cloud, and +long robes floating all round her like a silver one.</p> + +<p>"There he is," said the fairy; "and you must +teach him to be good, whether you like or not."</p> + +<p>"I know," said the little girl; but she did not +seem quite to like, for she put her finger in her +mouth, and looked at Tom under her brows; and +Tom put his finger in his mouth, and looked at her +under his brows, for he was horribly ashamed of +himself.</p> + +<p>The little girl seemed hardly to know how to +begin; and perhaps she would never have begun at all +if poor Tom had not burst out crying, and begged +her to teach him to be good and help him to cure +his prickles; and at that she grew so tender-hearted +that she began teaching him as prettily as ever child +was taught in the world.</p> + +<p>And what did the little girl teach Tom? She +taught him, first, what you have been taught ever +since you said your first prayers at your mother's +knees; but she taught him much more simply. For +the lessons in that world, my child, have no such +hard words in them as the lessons in this, and therefore +the water-babies like them better than you like<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span> +your lessons, and long to learn them more and more; +and grown men cannot puzzle nor quarrel over their +meaning, as they do here on land; for those lessons +all rise clear and pure out of the everlasting ground +of all life and truth.</p> + +<p>So she taught Tom every day in the week; only +on Sundays she always went away home, and the +kind fairy took her place. And before she had +taught Tom many Sundays, his prickles had vanished +quite away, and his skin was smooth and clean again.</p> + +<p>"Dear me!" said the little girl; "why, I know +you now. You are the very same little chimney-sweep +who came into my bedroom."</p> + +<p>"Dear me!" cried Tom. "And I know you, +too, now. You are the very little white lady whom +I saw in bed." And he jumped at her, and longed +to hug and kiss her; but did not, remembering that +she was a lady born; so he only jumped round and +round her till he was quite tired.</p> + +<p>And then they began telling each other all their +story—how he had got into the water, and she had +fallen over the rock; and how he had swum down to +the sea, and how she had flown out of the window; +and how this, that, and the other, till it was all talked +out: and then they both began over again, and I +can't say which of the two talked fastest.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span></p> + +<p>And then they set to work at their lessons again, +and both liked them so well that they went on well +till seven full years were past and gone.</p> + +<p>You may fancy that Tom was quite content and +happy all those seven years; but the truth is, he was +not. He had always one thing on his mind, and that +was—where little Ellie went, when she went home on +Sundays.</p> + +<p>To a very beautiful place, she said.</p> + +<p>But what was the beautiful place like, and where +was it?</p> + +<p>Ah! that is just what she could not say. And it +is strange, but true, that no one can say; and that +those who have been oftenest in it, or even nearest to +it, can say least about it, and make people understand +least what it is like. There are a good many folks +about the Other-end-of-Nowhere (where Tom went +afterwards), who pretend to know it from north to +south as well as if they had been penny postmen +there; but, as they are safe at the Other-end-of-Nowhere, +nine hundred and ninety-nine million miles +away, what they say cannot concern us.</p> + +<p>But the dear, sweet, loving, wise, good, self-sacrificing +people, who really go there, can never tell +you anything about it, save that it is the most beautiful +place in all the world; and, if you ask them more,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span> +they grow modest, and hold their peace, for fear of +being laughed at; and quite right they are.</p> + +<p>So all that good little Ellie could say was, that it +was worth all the rest of the world put together. +And of course that only made Tom the more anxious +to go likewise.</p> + +<p>"Miss Ellie," he said at last, "I will know why +I cannot go with you when you go home on Sundays, +or I shall have no peace, and give you none +either."</p> + +<p>"You must ask the fairies that."</p> + +<p>So when the fairy, Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid, came +next, Tom asked her.</p> + +<p>"Little boys who are only fit to play with sea-beasts +cannot go there," she said. "Those who go +there must go first where they do not like, and do +what they do not like, and help somebody they do +not like."</p> + +<p>"Why, did Ellie do that?"</p> + +<p>"Ask her."</p> + +<p>And Ellie blushed, and said, "Yes, Tom, I did +not like coming here at first; I was so much happier +at home, where it is always Sunday. And I was +afraid of you, Tom, at first, because—because——"</p> + +<p>"Because I was all over prickles? But I am not +prickly now, am I, Miss Ellie?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span></p> + +<p>"No," said Ellie. "I like you very much now; +and I like coming here, too."</p> + +<p>"And perhaps," said the fairy, "you will learn +to like going where you don't like, and helping some +one that you don't like, as Ellie has."</p> + +<p>But Tom put his finger in his mouth, and hung +his head down; for he did not see that at all.</p> + +<p>So when Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby came, Tom +asked her; for he thought in his little head, She is +not so strict as her sister, and perhaps she may let +me off more easily.</p> + +<p>Ah, Tom, Tom, silly fellow! and yet I don't know +why I should blame you, while so many grown +people have got the very same notion in their heads.</p> + +<p>But, when they try it, they get just the same +answer as Tom did. For, when he asked the second +fairy, she told him just what the first did, and in the +very same words.</p> +<div class="figright" style="width: 239px;"> +<img src="images/gs01-tom-stanind-on-fish.png" width="239" height="400" alt="Standing on a fish" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>Tom was very unhappy at that. And, when Ellie +went home on Sunday, he fretted and cried all day, +and did not care to listen to the fairy's stories about +good children, though they were prettier than ever. +Indeed, the more he overheard of them, the less he +liked to listen, because they were all about children +who did what they did not like, and took trouble for +other people, and worked to feed their little brothers<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span> +and sisters instead of caring only +for their play. And, when she +began to tell a story about a holy +child in old times, who was martyred +by the heathen because it +would not worship idols, Tom +could bear no more, and ran +away and hid among the rocks.</p> + + +<p>And, when Ellie came back, +he was shy with her, because he +fancied she looked down on him, +and thought him a coward. And +then he grew quite cross with her, because she was +superior to him, and did what he could not do. And +poor Ellie was quite surprised and sad; and at last +Tom burst out crying; but he would not tell her +what was really in his mind.</p> + +<p>And all the while he was eaten up with curiosity +to know where Ellie went to; so that he began not to +care for his playmates, or for the sea-palace or anything +else. But perhaps that made matters all the +easier for him; for he grew so discontented with +everything round him that he did not care to stay, +and did not care where he went.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said, at last, "I am so miserable here, +I'll go; if only you will go with me?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Ah!" said Ellie, "I wish I might; but the worst +of it is, that the fairy says that you must go alone if +you go at all. Now don't poke that poor crab about, +Tom" (for he was feeling very naughty and mischievous), +"or the fairy will have to punish you."</p> + +<p>Tom was very nearly saying, "I don't care if she +does;" but he stopped himself in time.</p> + +<p>"I know what she wants me to do," he said, +whining most dolefully. "She wants me to go after +that horrid old Grimes. I don't like him, that's +certain. And if I find him, he will turn me into a +chimney-sweep again, I know. That's what I have +been afraid of all along."</p> + +<p>"No, he won't—I know as much as that. Nobody +can turn water-babies into sweeps, or hurt them +at all, as long as they are good."</p> + +<p>"Ah," said naughty Tom, "I see what you want; +you are persuading me all along to go, because you +are tired of me, and want to get rid of me."</p> + +<p>Little Ellie opened her eyes very wide at that, and +they were all brimming over with tears.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Tom, Tom!" she said, very mournfully—and +then she cried, "Oh, Tom! where are you?"</p> + +<p>And Tom cried, "Oh, Ellie, where are you?"</p> + +<p>For neither of them could see each other—not +the least. Little Ellie vanished quite away, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span> +Tom heard her voice calling him, and growing +smaller and smaller, and fainter and fainter, till all +was silent.</p> + +<p>Who was frightened then but Tom? He swam +up and down among the rocks, into all the halls and +chambers, faster than ever he swam before, but could +not find her. He shouted after her, but she did not +answer; he asked all the other children, but they had +not seen her; and at last he went up to the top of the +water and began crying and screaming for Mrs. +Bedonebyasyoudid—which perhaps was the best +thing to do—for she came in a moment.</p> + +<p>"Oh!" said Tom. "Oh, dear, oh dear! I have +been naughty to Ellie, and I have killed her—I know +I have killed her."</p> + +<p>"Not quite that," said the fairy; "but I have sent +her away home, and she will not come back again +for I do not know how long."</p> + +<p>And at that Tom cried so bitterly that the salt +sea was swelled with his tears, and the tide was +3,954,620,819 of an inch higher than it had been +the day before: but perhaps that was owing to the +waxing of the moon.</p> + +<p>"How cruel of you to send Ellie away!" sobbed +Tom. "However, I will find her again, if I go to +the world's end to look for her."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span></p> + +<p>The fairy did not slap Tom, and tell him to hold +his tongue: but she took him on her lap very kindly, +just as her sister would have done; and put him in +mind how it was not her fault, because she was +wound up inside, like watches, and could not help +doing things whether she liked or not. And then she +told him how he had been in the nursery long enough, +and must go out now and see the world, if he intended +ever to be a man; and how he must go all +alone by himself, as every one else that ever was +born has to go, and see with his own eyes, and smell +with his own nose, and make his own bed and lie on +it, and burn his own fingers if he put them into the +fire. And then she told him how many fine things +there were to be seen in the world, and what an odd, +curious, pleasant, orderly, respectable, well-managed, +and, on the whole, successful (as, indeed, might have +been expected) sort of a place it was, if people would +only be tolerably brave and honest and good in it; +and then she told him not to be afraid of anything he +met, for nothing would harm him if he remembered +all his lessons, and did what he knew was right. +And at last she comforted poor little Tom so much +that he was quite eager to go, and wanted to set out +that minute. "Only," he said, "if I might see Ellie +once before I went!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Why do you want that?"</p> + +<p>"Because—because I should be so much happier +if I thought she had forgiven me."</p> + +<p>And in the twinkling of an eye there stood Ellie, +smiling, and looking so happy that Tom longed to +kiss her; but was still afraid it would not be respectful, +because she was a lady born.</p> + +<p>"I am going, Ellie!" said Tom. "I am going, if +it is to the world's end. But I don't like going at all, +and that's the truth."</p> + +<p>"Pooh! pooh! pooh!" said the fairy. "You will +like it very well indeed, you little rogue, and you know +that at the bottom of your heart. But if you don't, +I will make you like it. Come here, and see what +happens to people who do only what is pleasant."</p> + +<p>And she took out of one of her cupboards (she +had all sorts of mysterious cupboards in the cracks +of the rocks) the most wonderful waterproof book, +full of such photographs as never were seen. For +she had found out photography (and this is a fact) +more than 13,598,000 years before anybody was +born; and, what is more, her photographs did not +merely represent light and shade, as ours do, but +color also, and all colors, as you may see if you look +at a blackcock's tail, or a butterfly's wing, or indeed +most things that are or can be, so to speak. And<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span> +therefore her photographs were very curious and +famous, and the children looked with great delight +for the opening of the book.</p> + +<p>And on the title-page was written, "The History +of the great and famous nation of the Doasyoulikes, +who came away from the country of Hardwork, because +they wanted to play on the Jews' harp all day +long."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/ch03-baby_and_toad.jpg" width="500" height="217" alt="Toad and baby" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>In the first picture they saw these Doasyoulikes +living in the land of Readymade, at the foot of the +Happy-go-lucky Mountains, where flapdoodle grows +wild; and if you want to know what that is, you must +read Peter Simple.</p> + +<p>They lived very much such a life as those jolly old +Greeks in Sicily, whom you may see painted on the +ancient vases, and really there seemed to be great +excuses for them, for they had no need to work.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span></p> + +<p>Instead of houses they lived in the beautiful caves +of tufa, and bathed in the warm springs three times +a day; and, as for clothes, it was so warm there that +the gentlemen walked about in little beside a cocked +hat and a pair of straps, or some light summer tackle +of that kind; and the ladies all gathered gossamer in +autumn (when they were not too lazy) to make their +winter dresses.</p> + +<p>They were very fond of music, but it was too +much trouble to learn the piano or the violin; and as +for dancing, that would have been too great an exertion. +So they sat on ant-hills all day long, and +played on the Jews' harp; and, if the ants bit them, +why they just got up and went to the next ant-hill, +till they were bitten there likewise.</p> + +<p>And they sat under the flapdoodle-trees, and let +the flapdoodle drop into their mouths; and under the +vines, and squeezed the grape-juice down their +throats; and, if any little pigs ran about ready +roasted, crying, "Come and eat me," as was their +fashion in that country, they waited till the pigs ran +against their mouths, and then took a bite, and were +content, just as so many oysters would have been.</p> + +<p>They needed no weapons, for no enemies ever +came near their land; and no tools, for everything +was readymade to their hand; and the stern old fairy<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span> +Necessity never came near them to hunt them up, and +make them use their wits, or die.</p> + +<p>And so on, and so on, and so on, till there were +never such comfortable, easy-going, happy-go-lucky +people in the world.</p> + +<p>"Well, that is a jolly life," said Tom.</p> + +<p>"You think so?" said the fairy. "Do you see +that great peaked mountain there behind," said the +fairy, "with smoke coming out of its top?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"And do you see all those ashes, and slag, and +cinders lying about?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"Then turn over the next five hundred years, and +you will see what happens next."</p> + +<p>And behold the mountain had blown up like a +barrel of gunpowder, and then boiled over like a +kettle; whereby one-third of the Doasyoulikes were +blown into the air, and another third were smothered +in ashes; so that there was only one-third left.</p> + +<p>"You see," said the fairy, "what comes of living +on a burning mountain."</p> + +<p>"Oh, why did you not warn them?" said little +Ellie.</p> + +<p>"I did warn them all that I could. I let the +smoke come out of the mountain; and wherever there<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span> +is smoke there is fire. And I laid the ashes and +cinders all about; and wherever there are cinders, +cinders may be again. But they did not like to face +facts, my dears, as very few people do; and so they +invented a cock-and-bull story, which, I am sure, I +never told them, that the smoke was the breath of a +giant, whom some gods or other had buried under +the mountain; and that the cinders were what the +dwarfs roasted the little pigs whole with; and other +nonsense of that kind. And, when folks are in that +humour, I cannot teach them, save by the good old +birch-rod."</p> + +<p>And then she turned over the next five hundred +years: and there were the remnant of the Doasyoulikes, +doing as they liked, as before. They were too +lazy to move away from the mountain; so they said, +If it has blown up once, that is all the more reason +that it should not blow up again. And they were +few in number: but they only said, The more the +merrier, but the fewer the better fare. However, +that was not quite true; for all the flapdoodle-trees +were killed by the volcano, and they had eaten all the +roast pigs, who, of course, could not be expected to +have little ones. So they had to live very hard, on +nuts and roots which they scratched out of the +ground with sticks. Some of them talked of sowing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span> +corn, as their ancestors used to do, before they came +into the land of Readymade; but they had forgotten +how to make ploughs (they had forgotten even how +to make Jews' harps by this time), and had eaten all +the seed-corn which they brought out of the land of +Hardwork years since; and of course it was too much +trouble to go away and find more. So they lived +miserably on roots and nuts, and all the weakly +little children had great stomachaches, and then +died.</p> + +<p>"Why," said Tom, "they are growing no better +than savages."</p> + +<p>"And look how ugly they are all getting," said +Ellie.</p> + +<p>"Yes; when people live on poor vegetables instead +of roast beef and plum-pudding, their jaws +grow large, and their lips grow coarse, like the poor +Paddies who eat potatoes."</p> + +<p>And she turned over the next five hundred years. +And there they were all living up in trees, and +making nests to keep off the rain. And underneath +the trees lions were prowling about.</p> + +<p>"Why," said Ellie, "the lions seem to have eaten +a good many of them, for there are very few left +now."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said the fairy; "you see it was only the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span> +strongest and most active ones who could climb the +trees, and so escape."</p> + +<p>"But what great, hulking, broad-shouldered chaps +they are," said Tom; "they are a rough lot as ever I +saw."</p> + +<p>"Yes, they are getting very strong now; for the +ladies will not marry any but the very strongest and +fiercest gentlemen, who can help them up the trees +out of the lions' way."</p> + +<p>And she turned over the next five hundred years. +And in that they were fewer still, and stronger, and +fiercer; but their feet had changed shape very oddly, +for they laid hold of the branches with their great +toes as if they had been thumbs, just as a Hindoo +tailor uses his toes to thread his needle.</p> + +<p>The children were very much surprised, and asked +the fairy whether that was her doing.</p> + +<p>"Yes, and no," she said, smiling. "It was only +those who could use their feet as well as their hands +who could get a good living: or, indeed, get married; +so that they got the best of everything, and starved +out all the rest; and those who are left keep up a +regular breed of toe-thumb-men, as a breed of short-horns, +or skye-terriers, or fancy pigeons is kept +up."</p> + +<p>"But there is a hairy one among them," said Ellie.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Ah!" said the fairy, "that will be a great man +in his time, and chief of all the tribe."</p> + +<p>And, when she turned over the next five hundred +years, it was true.</p> + +<p>For this hairy chief had had hairy children, and +they hairier children still; and every one wished to +marry hairy husbands, and have hairy children too; +for the climate was growing so damp that none but +the hairy ones could live: all the rest coughed and +sneezed, and had sore throats, and went into consumptions, +before they could grow up to be men and +women.</p> + +<p>Then the fairy turned over the next five hundred +years. And they were fewer still.</p> + +<p>"Why, there is one on the ground picking up +roots," said Ellie, "and he cannot walk upright."</p> + +<p>No more he could; for in the same way that the +shape of their feet had altered, the shape of their +backs had altered also.</p> + +<p>"Why," cried Tom, "I declare they are all apes."</p> + +<p>"Something fearfully like it, poor foolish creatures," +said the fairy. "They are grown so stupid +now, that they can hardly think: for none of them +have used their wits for many hundred years. They +have almost forgotten, too, how to talk. For each +stupid child forgot some of the words it heard from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span> +its stupid parents, and has not wits enough to make +fresh words for itself. Besides, they are grown so +fierce and suspicious and brutal that they keep out of +each other's way, and mope and sulk in the dark +forests, never hearing each other's voice, till they +have forgotten almost what speech is like. I am +afraid they will all be apes very soon, and all by +doing only what they liked."</p> + +<p>And in the next five hundred years they were all +dead and gone, by bad food and wild beasts and +hunters; all except one tremendous old fellow with +jaws like a jack, who stood full seven feet high; and +M. Du Chaillu came up to him, and shot him, as he +stood roaring and thumping his breast. And he remembered +that his ancestors had once been men, and +tried to say, "Am I not a man and a brother?" but +had forgotten how to use his tongue; and then he +had tried to call for a doctor, but he had forgotten +the word for one. So all he said was "Ubboboo!" +and died.</p> + +<p>And that was the end of the great and jolly nation +of the Doasyoulikes. And, when Tom and Ellie +came to the end of the book, they looked very sad +and solemn; and they had good reason so to do, for +they really fancied that the men were apes, and never +thought, in their simplicity, of asking whether the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span> +creatures had hippopotamus majors in their brains or +not; in which case, as you have been told already, +they could not possibly have been apes, though they +were more apish than the apes of all aperies.</p> + +<p>"But could you not have saved them from becoming +apes?" said little Ellie, at last.</p> + +<p>"At first, my dear; if only they would have behaved +like men, and set to work to do what they did +not like. But the longer they waited, and behaved +like the dumb beasts, who only do what they like, the +stupider and clumsier they grew; till at last they were +past all cure, for they had thrown their own wits +away. It is such things as this that help to make me +so ugly, that I know not when I shall grow fair."</p> + +<p>"And where are they all now?" asked Ellie.</p> + +<p>"Exactly where they ought to be, my dear."</p> + +<p>"Yes!" said the fairy, solemnly, half to herself, +as she closed the wonderful book. "Folks say now +that I can make beasts into men, by circumstances, +and selection, and competition, and so forth. Well, +perhaps they are right; and perhaps, again, they are +wrong. That is one of the seven things which I am +forbidden to tell, till the coming of the Cocqcigrues; +and, at all events, it is no concern of theirs. Whatever +their ancestors were, men they are; and I advise +them to behave as such, and act accordingly.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span> +But let them recollect this, that there are two sides +to every question, and a downhill as well as an uphill +road; and, if I can turn beasts into men, I can, +by the same laws of circumstances, and selection, and +competition, turn men into beasts. You were very +near being turned into a beast once or twice, little +Tom. Indeed, if you had not made up your mind +to go on this journey, and see the world, like an +Englishman, I am not sure but that you would have +ended as an eft in a pond."</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear me!" said Tom; "sooner than that, +and be all over slime, I'll go this minute, if it is to +the world's end."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/ep06-three_fish_in_row.png" width="500" height="88" alt="Row of three fish" title="" /> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span></p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/ch01-babies_and_polliwog.jpg" width="500" height="253" alt="Two babies and a polliwog" title="" /> +</div> + + + +<h2>CHAPTER VII</h2> + + +<div class='cap'>"NOW," said Tom, "I am ready to be off, if +it's to the world's end."</div> + +<p>"Ah!" said the fairy, "that is a brave, +good boy. But you must go farther than the world's +end, if you want to find Mr. Grimes; for he is at the +Other-end-of-Nowhere. You must go to Shiny +Wall, and through the white gate that never was +opened; and then you will come to Peacepool, and +Mother Carey's Haven, where the good whales go +when they die. And there Mother Carey will tell +you the way to the Other-end-of-Nowhere, and there +you will find Mr. Grimes."</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear!" said Tom. "But I do not know my +way to Shiny Wall, or where it is at all."</p> + +<p>"Little boys must take the trouble to find out<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span> +things for themselves, or they will never grow to be +men; so that you must ask all the beasts in the sea +and the birds in the air, and if you have been good +to them, some of them will tell you the way to Shiny +Wall."</p> + +<p>"Well," said Tom, "it will be a long journey, so +I had better start at once. Good-bye, Miss Ellie; +you know I am getting a big boy, and I must go out +and see the world."</p> + +<p>"I know you must," said Ellie; "but you will not +forget me, Tom. I shall wait here till you come."</p> + +<p>And she shook hands with him, and bade him +good-bye. Tom longed very much again to kiss her; +but he thought it would not be respectful, considering +she was a lady born; so he promised not to forget +her: but his little whirl-about of a head was so full +of the notion of going out to see the world, that it +forgot her in five minutes: however, though his head +forgot her, I am glad to say his heart did not.</p> + +<p>So he asked all the beasts in the sea, and all the +birds in the air, but none of them knew the way to +Shiny Wall. For why? He was still too far down +south.</p> + +<p>Then he met a ship, far larger than he had ever +seen—a gallant ocean-steamer, with a long cloud of +smoke trailing behind; and he wondered how she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span> +went on without sails, and swam up to her to see. +A school of dolphins were running races round and +round her, going three feet for her one, and Tom +asked them the way to Shiny Wall: but they did not +know. Then he tried to find out how she moved, +and at last he saw her screw, and was so delighted +with it that he played under her quarter all day, till +he nearly had his nose knocked off by the fans, and +thought it time to move. Then he watched the +sailors upon deck, and the ladies, with their bonnets +and parasols: but none of them could see him, because +their eyes were not opened—as, indeed, most +people's eyes are not.</p> + +<p>At last there came out into the quarter-gallery a +very pretty lady, in deep black widow's weeds, and in +her arms a baby. She leaned over the quarter-gallery, +and looked back and back toward England +far away; and as she looked she sang:</p> + + +<div class='center'>I.</div> + +<div class='poem'> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"<i>Soft soft wind, from out the sweet south sliding,</i></span><br /> +Waft thy silver cloud-webs athwart the summer sea;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Thin thin threads of mist on dewy fingers twining</i></span><br /> +Weave a veil of dappled gauze to shade my babe and me.<br /> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span></p> + + +<div class='center'>II.</div> + +<div class='poem'> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"<i>Deep deep Love, within thine own abyss abiding,</i></span><br /> +Pour Thyself abroad, O Lord, on earth and air and sea;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Worn weary hearts within Thy holy Temple hiding,</i></span><br /> +Shield from sorrow, sin, and shame my helpless babe and me."<br /> +</div> + +<p>Her voice was so soft and low, and the music of +the air so sweet, that Tom could have listened to it +all day. But as she held the baby over the gallery +rail, to show it the dolphins leaping and the water +gurgling in the ship's wake, lo! and behold, the baby +saw Tom.</p> + +<p>He was quite sure of that; for when their eyes +met, the baby smiled and held out his hands; and +Tom smiled and held out his hands too; and the baby +kicked and leaped, as if it wanted to jump overboard +to him.</p> + +<p>"What do you see, my darling?" said the lady; +and her eyes followed the baby's till she too caught +sight of Tom, swimming about among the foam-beads +below.</p> + +<p>She gave a little shriek and start; and then she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span> +said, quite quietly, +"Babies in the sea? +Well, perhaps it is the +happiest place for +them;" and waved +her hand to Tom, and +cried, "Wait a little, +darling, only a little: +and perhaps we shall +go with you and be at +rest."</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 242px;"> +<img src="images/gs07-fish-facing-right.png" width="242" height="600" alt="Fish facing right" title="" /> +</div> +<div class="figright" style="width: 236px;"> +<img src="images/gs07-fish-facing-left.png" width="236" height="600" alt="Fish facing left" title="" /> +</div> +<p>And at that an old +nurse, all in black, +came out and talked to +her, and drew her in. +And Tom turned +away northward, sad +and wondering; and +watched the great +steamer slide away +into the dusk, and the +lights on board peep +out one by one, and +die out again, and the +long bar of smoke +fade away into the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span> +evening mist, till all +was out of sight.</p> + +<p>And he swam northward +again, day after +day, till at last he met +the King of the Herrings, +with a curry-comb +growing out of +his nose, and a sprat +in his mouth for a +cigar, and asked him +the way to Shiny +Wall; so he bolted his +sprat head foremost, +and said:</p> + + + +<p>"If I were you, +young gentleman, I +should go to the +Allalonestone, and +ask the last of the +Gairfowl. She is of +a very ancient +clan, very nearly as +ancient as my own; +and knows a good deal +which these modern<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span> +upstarts don't, as ladies of old houses are likely +to do."</p> + +<p>Tom asked his way to her, and the King of the +Herrings told him very kindly, for he was a courteous +old gentleman of the old school, though he was +horribly ugly, and strangely bedizened too, like the +old dandies who lounge in the club-house windows.</p> + +<p>But just as Tom had thanked him and set off, he +called after him: "Hi! I say, can you fly?"</p> + +<p>"I never tried," says Tom. "Why?"</p> + +<p>"Because, if you can, I should advise you to say +nothing to the old lady about it. There; take a hint. +Good-bye."</p> + +<p>And away Tom went for seven days and seven +nights due north-west, till he came to a great codbank, +the like of which he never saw before. The +great cod lay below in tens of thousands, and gobbled +shell-fish all day long; and the blue sharks roved +above in hundreds, and gobbled them when they +came up. So they ate, and ate, and ate each other, +as they had done since the making of the world; for +no man had come here yet to catch them, and find +out how rich old Mother Carey is.</p> + +<p>And there he saw the last of the Gairfowl, standing +up on the Allalonestone, all alone. And a very +grand old lady she was, full three feet high, and bolt<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span> +upright, like some old Highland chieftainess. She +had on a black velvet gown, and a white pinner and +apron, and a very high bridge to her nose (which +is a sure mark of high breeding), and a large pair +of white spectacles on it, which made her look rather +odd: but it was the ancient fashion of her house.</p> + +<p>And instead of wings, she had two little feathery +arms, with which she fanned herself, and complained +of the dreadful heat; and she kept on crooning an +old song to herself, which she learnt when she was +a little baby-bird, long ago—</p> + +<div class='poem'> +"<i>Two little birds they sat on a stone,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">One swam away, and then there was one,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">With a fal-lal-la-lady.</span></i><br /> +<br /> +"<i>The other swam after, and then there was none,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">And so the poor stone was left all alone;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">With a fal-lal-la-lady."</span></i><br /> +</div> + +<p>It was "flew" away, properly, and not "swam" +away: but, as she could not fly, she had a right to +alter it. However, it was a very fit song for her to +sing, because she was a lady herself.</p> + +<p>Tom came up to her very humbly, and made his +bow; and the first thing she said was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span>—</p> + +<p>"Have you wings? Can you fly?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear, no, ma'am; I should not think of such +a thing," said cunning little Tom.</p> + +<p>"Then I shall have great pleasure in talking to +you, my dear. It is quite refreshing nowadays to +see anything without wings. They must all have +wings, forsooth, now, every new upstart sort of bird, +and fly. What can they want with flying, and raising +themselves above their proper station in life? In +the days of my ancestors no birds ever thought of +having wings, and did very well without; and now +they all laugh at me because I keep to the good old +fashion. Why, the very marrocks and dovekies have +got wings, the vulgar creatures, and poor little ones +enough they are; and my own cousins too, the razor-bills, +who are gentlefolk born, and ought to know +better than to ape their inferiors."</p> + +<p>And so she was running on, while Tom tried to +get in a word edgeways; and at last he did, when the +old lady got out of breath, and began fanning herself +again; and then he asked if she knew the way +to Shiny Wall.</p> + +<p>"Shiny Wall? Who should know better than I? +We all came from Shiny Wall, thousands of years +ago, when it was decently cold, and the climate was +fit for gentlefolk; but now, what with the heat, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span> +what with these vulgar-winged things who fly up and +down and eat everything, so that gentlepeople's hunting +is all spoilt, and one really cannot get one's +living, or hardly venture off the rock for fear of +being flown against by some creature that would not +have dared to come within a mile of one a thousand +years ago—what was I saying? Why, we have quite +gone down in the world, my dear, and have nothing +left but our honour. And I am the last of my family. +A friend of mine and I came and settled on this +rock when we were young, to be out of the way of +low people. Once we were a great nation, and +spread over all the Northern Isles. But men shot +us so, and knocked us on the head, and took our +eggs—why, if you will believe it, they say that on +the coast of Labrador the sailors used to lay a plank +from the rock on board the thing called their ship, +and drive us along the plank by hundreds, till we +tumbled down into the ship's waist in heaps; and +then, I suppose, they ate us, the nasty fellows! +Well—but—what was I saying? At last, there were +none of us left, except on the old Gairfowlskerry, +just off the Iceland coast, up which no man could +climb. Even there we had no peace; for one day, +when I was quite a young girl, the land rocked, and +the sea boiled, and the sky grew dark, and all the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span> +air was filled with smoke and dust, and down tumbled +the old Gairfowlskerry into the sea. The dovekies +and marrocks, of course, all flew away; but we were +too proud to do that. Some of us were dashed to +pieces, and some drowned; and those who were left +got away to Eldey, and the dovekies tell me they +are all dead now, and that another Gairfowlskerry +has risen out of the sea close to the old one, but that +it is such a poor flat place that it is not safe to live +on: and so here I am left alone."</p> + +<p>This was the Gairfowl's story, and, strange as it +may seem, it is every word of it true.</p> + +<p>"If you only had had wings!" said Tom; "then +you might all have flown away too."</p> + +<p>"Yes, young gentleman: and if people are not +gentlemen and ladies, and forget that <i>noblesse oblige</i>, +they will find it as easy to get on in the world as +other people who don't care what they do. Why, +if I had not recollected that <i>noblesse oblige</i>, I should +not have been all alone now." And the poor old +lady sighed.</p> + +<p>"How was that, ma'am?"</p> + +<p>"Why, my dear, a gentleman came hither with +me, and after we had been here some time, he +wanted to marry—in fact, he actually proposed to +me. Well, I can't blame him; I was young, and very<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span> +handsome then, I don't deny: but, you see, I could +not hear of such a thing, because he was my deceased +sister's husband, you see?"</p> + +<p>"Of course not, ma'am," said Tom; though, of +course, he knew nothing about it. "She was very +much diseased, I suppose?"</p> + +<p>"You do not understand me, my dear. I mean, +that being a lady, and with right and honourable +feelings, as our house always has had, I felt it my +duty to snub him, and howk him, and peck him continually, +to keep him at his proper distance; and, to +tell the truth, I once pecked him a little too hard, +poor fellow, and he tumbled backwards off the rock, +and—really, it was very unfortunate, but it was not +my fault—a shark coming by saw him flapping, and +snapped him up. And since then I have lived all +alone——</p> + +<div class='poem'> +'<i>With a fal-lal-la-lady.</i>'<br /> +</div> + +<div class='unindent'>And soon I shall be gone, my little dear, and nobody +will miss me; and then the poor stone will be left all +alone."</div> + +<p>"But, please, which is the way to Shiny Wall?" +said Tom.</p> + +<p>"Oh, you must go, my little dear—you must go.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span> +Let me see—I am sure—that is—really, my poor +old brains are getting quite puzzled. Do you know, +my little dear, I am afraid, if you want to know, you +must ask some of these vulgar birds about, for I +have quite forgotten."</p> + +<p>And the poor old Gairfowl began to cry tears of +pure oil; and Tom was quite sorry for her; and for +himself too, for he was at his wit's end whom to +ask.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/ch01-babies_and_polliwog.jpg" width="500" height="253" alt="Two babies and a polliwog" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>But by there came a flock of petrels, who are +Mother Carey's own chickens; and Tom thought +them much prettier than Lady Gairfowl, and so perhaps +they were; for Mother Carey had had a great +deal of fresh experience between the time that she +invented the Gairfowl and the time that she invented +them. They flitted along like a flock of black swallows,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span> +and hopped and skipped from wave to wave, +lifting up their little feet behind them so daintily, +and whistling to each other so tenderly, that Tom +fell in love with them at once, and called them to +know the way to Shiny Wall.</p> + +<p>"Shiny Wall? Do you want Shiny Wall? Then +come with us, and we will show you. We are +Mother Carey's own chickens, and she sends us out +over all the seas, to show the good birds the way +home."</p> + +<p>Tom was delighted, and swam off to them, after +he had made his bow to the Gairfowl. But she +would not return his bow: but held herself bolt upright, +and wept tears of oil as she sang:</p> + +<div class='poem'> +"<i>And so the poor stone was left all alone;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">With a fal-lal-la-lady."</span></i><br /> +</div> + +<p>But she was wrong there; for the stone was not +left all alone: and the next time that Tom goes by it, +he will see a sight worth seeing.</p> + +<p>The old Gairfowl is gone already: but there are +better things come in her place; and when Tom +comes he will see the fishing-smacks anchored there +in hundreds, from Scotland, and from Ireland, and +from the Orkneys, and the Shetlands, and from all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span> +the Northern ports, full of the children of the old +Norse Vikings, the masters of the sea. And the men +will be hauling in the great cod by thousands, till +their hands are sore from the lines; and they will be +making cod-liver oil and guano, and salting down the +fish; and there will be a man-of-war steamer there +to protect them, and a lighthouse to show them the +way; and you and I, perhaps, shall go some day to +the Allalonestone to the great summer sea-fair, and +dredge strange creatures such as man never saw +before; and we shall hear the sailors boast that it +is not the worst jewel in Queen Victoria's crown, for +there are eighty miles of codbank, and food for all +the poor folk in the land. That is what Tom will +see, and perhaps you and I shall see it too. And +then we shall not be sorry, because we cannot get a +Gairfowl to stuff, much less find <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'gairfowl'">Gairfowl</ins> enough to +drive them into stone pens and slaughter them, as +the old Norsemen did, or drive them on board along +a plank till the ship was victualled with them, as the +old English and French rovers used to do, of whom +dear old Hakluyt tells: but we shall remember what +Mr. Tennyson says how</p> + +<div class='poem'> +"<i>The old order changeth, giving place to the new,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">And God fulfils himself in many ways."</span></i><br /> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span></p> + +<p>And now Tom was all agog to start for Shiny +Wall; but the petrels said not. They must go first +to Allfowlsness, and wait there for the great gathering +of all the sea-birds, before they start for their +summer breeding places far away in the Northern +Isles; and there they would be sure to find some birds +which were going to Shiny Wall: but where Allfowlsness +was, he must promise never to tell, lest men +should go there and shoot the birds, and stuff them, +and put them into stupid museums, instead of leaving +them to play and breed and work in Mother Carey's +water-garden, where they ought to be.</p> + +<p>So where Allfowlsness is nobody must know; and +all that is to be said about it is, that Tom waited +there many days; and as he waited, he saw a very +curious sight. On the rabbit burrows on the shore +there gathered hundreds and hundreds of hoodie-crows, +such as you see in Cambridgeshire. And they +made such a noise, that Tom came on shore and went +up to see what was the matter.</p> + +<p>And there he found them holding their great +caucus, which they hold every year in the North; and +all their stump-orators were speechifying; and for a +tribune, the speaker stood on an old sheep's skull.</p> + +<p>And they cawed and cawed, and boasted of all the +clever things they had done; how many lambs' eyes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span> +they had picked out, and how many dead bullocks +they had eaten, and how many young grouse they +had swallowed whole, and how many grouse eggs +they had flown away with, stuck on the point of their +bills, which is the hoodie-crow's particularly clever +feat, of which he is as proud as a gipsy is of doing +the hokanybaro; and what that is, I won't tell +you.</p> + +<p>And at last they brought out the prettiest, neatest +young lady-crow that ever was seen, and set her in +the middle, and all began abusing and vilifying, and +rating, and bullyragging at her, because she had +stolen no grouse-eggs, and had actually dared to say +that she would not steal any. So she was to be tried +publicly by their laws (for the hoodies always try +some offenders in their great yearly parliament). +And there she stood in the middle, in her black +gown and gray hood, looking as meek and as neat +as a Quakeress, and they all bawled at her at once—</p> + +<p>And it was in vain that she pleaded—</p> + +<div class='poem'> +<i>That she did not like grouse eggs;<br /> +That she could get her living very well without them;<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span>That she was afraid to eat them, for fear of the gamekeepers;<br /> +That she had not the heart to eat them, because the grouse were such pretty, kind, jolly birds;<br /> +And a dozen reasons more.</i><br /> +</div> + +<p>For all the other scaul-crows set upon her, and +pecked her to death there and then, before Tom +could come to help her; and then flew away, very +proud of what they had done.</p> + +<p>Now, was not this a scandalous transaction?</p> + +<p>But they are true republicans, these hoodies, who +do every one just what he likes, and make other +people do so too; so that, for any freedom of speech, +thought, or action, which is allowed among them, +they might as well be American citizens of the new +school.</p> + +<p>But the fairies took the good crow, and gave her +nine new sets of feathers running, and turned her at +last into the most beautiful bird of paradise with a +green velvet suit and a long tail, and sent her to eat +fruit in the Spice Islands, where cloves and nutmegs +grow.</p> + +<p>And Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid settled her account +with the wicked hoodies. For, as they flew away, +what should they find but a nasty dead dog?—on +which they all set to work, pecking and gobbling and +cawing and quarrelling to their hearts' content. But<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span> +the moment afterwards, they all threw up their bills +into the air, and gave one screech; and then turned +head over heels backward, and fell down dead, one +hundred and twenty-three of them at once. For +why? The fairy had told the gamekeeper in a +dream, to fill the dead dog full of strychnine; and so +he did.</p> + +<p>And after a while the birds began to gather at +Allfowlsness, in thousands and tens of thousands, +blackening all the air; swans and brant geese, harlequins +and eiders, harolds and garganeys, smews and +gossanders, divers and loons, grebes and dovekies, +auks and razor-bills, gannets and petrels, skuas and +terns, with gulls beyond all naming or numbering; +and they paddled and washed and splashed and +combed and brushed themselves on the sand, till the +shore was white with feathers; and they quacked and +clucked and gabbled and chattered and screamed and +whooped as they talked over matters with their +friends, and settled where they were to go and breed +that summer, till you might have heard them ten +miles off; and lucky it was for them that there was +no one to hear them but the old keeper, who lived +all alone upon the Ness, in a turf hut thatched with +heather and fringed round with great stones slung +across the roof by bent-ropes, lest the winter gales<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span> +should blow the hut right away. But he never +minded the birds nor hurt them, because they were +not in season; indeed, he minded but two things in +the whole world and those were his Bible and his +grouse; for he was as good an old Scotchman as ever +knit stockings on a winter's night: only, when all +the birds were going, he toddled out, and took off +his cap to them, and wished them a merry journey +and a safe return; and then gathered up all the +feathers which they had left, and cleaned them to +sell down south, and make feather-beds for stuffy +people to lie on.</p> + +<p>Then the petrels asked this bird and that whether +they would take Tom to Shiny Wall: but one set was +going to Sutherland, and one to the Shetlands, and +one to Norway, and one to Spitzbergen, and one to +Iceland, and one to Greenland: but none would go to +Shiny Wall. So the good-natured petrels said that +they would show him part of the way themselves, but +they were only going as far as Jan Mayen's Land; +and after that he must shift for himself.</p> + +<p>And then all the birds rose up, and streamed away +in long black lines, north, and north-east, and north-west, +across the bright blue summer sky; and their +cry was like ten thousand packs of hounds, and ten +thousand peals of bells. Only the puffins stayed behind,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span> +and killed the young rabbits and laid their +eggs in the rabbit-burrows; which was rough practice, +certainly; but a man must see to his own family.</p> + +<p>And, as Tom and the petrels went north-eastward, +it began to blow right hard; for the old gentleman in +the gray great-coat, who looks after the big copper +boiler, in the Gulf of Mexico, had got behindhand +with his work; so Mother Carey had sent an electric +message to him for more steam; and now the steam +was coming, as much in an hour as ought to have +come in a week, puffing and roaring and swishing and +swirling, till you could not see where the sky ended +and the sea began. But Tom and the petrels never +cared, for the gale was right abaft, and away they +went over the crests of the billows, as merry as so +many flying-fish.</p> + +<p>And at last they saw an ugly sight—the black +side of a great ship, water-logged in the trough of +the sea. Her funnel and her masts were overboard, +and swayed and surged under her lee; her decks were +swept as clean as a barn floor, and there was no +living soul on board.</p> + +<p>The petrels flew up to her, and wailed round her; +for they were very sorry indeed, and also they expected +to find some salt pork; and Tom scrambled on +board of her and looked round, frightened and sad.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span></p> + +<p>And there, in a little +cot, lashed tight under +the bulwark, lay a baby +fast asleep; the very +same baby, Tom saw at +once, which he had seen in the singing +lady's arms.</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 188px;"> +<img src="images/dedication.png" width="188" height="559" alt="Babies holding a net" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>He went up to it, and wanted to +wake it; but behold, from under the +cot out jumped a little black and tan +terrier dog, and began barking and +snapping at Tom, and would not let +him touch the cot.</p> + +<p>Tom knew the dog's teeth could +not hurt him: but at least it could +shove him away, and did; and he and +the dog fought and struggled, for he +wanted to help the baby, and did not +want to throw the poor dog overboard: +but as they were struggling, +there came a tall green sea, and +walked in over the weather side of +the ship, and swept them all into the +waves.</p> + +<p>"Oh, the baby, the baby!" +screamed Tom: but the next moment<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span> +he did not scream at all; for he saw the cot settling +down through the green water, with the baby, smiling +in it, fast asleep; and he saw the fairies come +up from below, and carry baby and cradle gently +down in their soft arms; and then he knew it was +all right, and that there would be a new water-baby +in St. Brandan's Isle.</p> + +<p>And the poor little dog?</p> + +<p>Why, after he had kicked and coughed a little, he +sneezed so hard, that he sneezed himself clean out +of his skin, and turned into a water-dog, and jumped +and danced round Tom, and ran over the crests of +the waves, and snapped at the jelly-fish and the +mackerel, and followed Tom the whole way to the +Other-end-of-Nowhere.</p> + +<p>Then they went on again, till they began to see +the peak of Jan Mayen's Land, standing up like a +white sugar-loaf, two miles above the clouds.</p> + +<p>And there they fell in with a whole flock of molly-mocks, +who were feeding on a dead whale.</p> + +<p>"These are the fellows to show you the way," +said Mother Carey's chickens; "we cannot help you +farther north. We don't like to get among the ice +pack, for fear it should nip our toes: but the mollys +dare fly anywhere."</p> + +<p>So the petrels called to the mollys: but they were +so busy and greedy, gobbling and pecking and spluttering<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span> +and fighting over the blubber, that they did +not take the least notice.</p> + +<p>"Come, come," said the petrels, "you lazy greedy +lubbers, this young gentleman is going to Mother +Carey, and if you don't attend on him, you won't +earn your discharge from her, you know."</p> + +<p>"Greedy we are," says a great fat old molly, +"but lazy we ain't; and, as for lubbers, we're no +more lubbers than you. Let's have a look at the +lad."</p> + +<p>And he flapped right into Tom's face, and stared +at him in the most impudent way (for the mollys are +audacious fellows, as all whalers know), and then +asked him where he hailed from, and what land he +sighted last.</p> + +<p>And, when Tom told him, he seemed pleased, and +said he was a good plucked one to have got so far.</p> + +<p>"Come along, lads," he said to the rest, "and +give this little chap a cast over the pack, for Mother +Carey's sake. We've eaten blubber enough for today, +and we'll e'en work out a bit of our time by +helping the lad."</p> + +<p>So the mollys took Tom up on their backs, and +flew off with him, laughing and joking—and oh, how +they did smell of train oil!</p> + +<p>"Who are you, you jolly birds?" asked Tom.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span></p> + +<p>"We are the spirits of the old Greenland skippers +(as every sailor knows), who hunted here, right +whales and horse-whales, full hundreds of years +agone. But, because we were saucy and greedy, we +were all turned into mollys, to eat whale's blubber +all our days. But lubbers we are none, and could +sail a ship now against any man in the North seas, +though we don't hold with this new-fangled steam. +And it's a shame of those black imps of petrels to +call us so; but because they're her grace's pets, they +think they may say anything they like."</p> + +<p>"And who are you?" asked Tom of him, for he +saw that he was the king of all the birds.</p> + +<p>"My name is Hendrick Hudson, and a right good +skipper was I; and my name will last to the world's +end, in spite of all the wrong I did. For I discovered +Hudson River and I named Hudson's Bay; +and many have come in my wake that dared not have +shown me the way. But I was a hard man in my +time, that's truth, and stole the poor Indians off +the coast of Maine, and sold them for slaves down +in Virginia; and at last I was so cruel to my sailors, +here in these very seas, that they set me adrift in an +open boat, and I never was heard of more. So now +I'm the king of all mollys, till I've worked out my +time."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span></p> + +<p>And now they came to the edge of the pack, and +beyond it they could see Shiny Wall looming, +through mist, and snow, and storm. But the pack +rolled horribly upon the swell, and the ice giants +fought and roared, and leapt upon each other's +backs, and ground each other to powder, so that +Tom was afraid to venture among them, lest he +should be ground to powder too. And he was the +more afraid, when he saw lying among the ice pack +the wrecks of many a gallant ship; some with masts +and yards all standing, some with the seamen frozen +fast on board. Alas, alas, for them! They were +all true English hearts; and they came to their end +like good knights-errant, in searching for the white +gate that never was opened yet.</p> + +<p>But the good mollys took Tom and his dog up, +and flew with them safe over the pack and the roaring +ice giants, and set them down at the foot of Shiny +Wall.</p> + +<p>"And where is the gate?" asked Tom.</p> + +<p>"There is no gate," said the mollys.</p> + +<p>"No gate?" cried Tom, aghast.</p> + +<p>"None; never a crack of one, and that's the whole +of the secret, as better fellows, lad, than you have +found to their cost; and if there had been, they'd<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span> +have killed by now every right whale that swims the +seas."</p> + +<p>"What am I to do, then?"</p> + +<p>"Dive under the floe, to be sure, if you have +pluck."</p> + +<p>"I've not come so far to turn now," said Tom; +"so here goes for a header."</p> + +<p>"A lucky voyage to you, lad," said the mollys; +"we knew you were one of the right sort. So good-bye."</p> + +<p>"Why don't you come too?" asked Tom.</p> + +<p>But the mollys only wailed sadly, "We can't go +yet, we can't go yet," and flew away over the pack.</p> + +<p>So Tom dived under the great white gate which +never was opened yet, and went on in black darkness, +at the bottom of the sea, for seven days and seven +nights. And yet he was not a bit frightened. Why +should he be? He was a brave English lad, whose +business is to go out and see all the world.</p> + +<p>And at last he saw the light, and clear clear water +overhead; and up he came a thousand fathoms, +among clouds of sea-moths, which fluttered round +his head. There were moths with pink heads and +wings and opal bodies, that flapped about slowly; +moths with brown wings that flapped about quickly; +yellow shrimps that hopped and skipped most quickly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span> +of all; and jellies of all the colours in the world, that +neither hopped nor skipped, but only dawdled and +yawned, and would not get out of his way. The dog +snapped at them till his jaws were tired; but Tom +hardly minded them at all, he was so eager to get +to the top of the water, and see the pool where the +good whales go.</p> + +<p>And a very large pool it was, miles and miles +across, though the air was so clear that the ice cliffs +on the opposite side looked as if they were close at +hand. All round it the ice cliffs rose, in walls and +spires and battlements, and caves and bridges, and +stones and galleries, in which the ice-fairies live, +and drive away the storms and clouds, that Mother +Carey's pool may lie calm from year's end to year's +end. And the sun acted policeman, and walked +round outside every day, peeping just over the top +of the ice wall, to see that all went right; and now +and then he played conjuring tricks, or had an exhibition +of fireworks, to amuse the ice-fairies. For +he would make himself into four or five suns at +once, or paint the sky with rings and crosses and +crescents of white fire, and stick himself in the middle +of them, and wink at the fairies; and I daresay +they were very much amused; for anything's fun in +the country.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span></p> + +<p>And there the good whales lay, the happy sleepy +beasts, upon the still oily sea. They were all right +whales, you must know, and finners, and razor-backs, +and bottle-noses, and spotted sea-unicorns with long +ivory horns. But the sperm whales are such raging, +ramping, roaring, rumbustious fellows, that, if +Mother Carey let them in, there would be no more +peace in Peacepool. So she packs them away in a +great pond by themselves at the South Pole, two hundred +and sixty-three miles south-south-east of Mount +Erebus, the great volcano in the ice; and there they +butt each other with their ugly noses, day and night +from year's end to year's end.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/gs04-frog-on-rock.png" width="500" height="210" alt="Frog on rock" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>But here there were only good quiet beasts, lying +about like the black hulls of sloops, and blowing +every now and then jets of white steam, or sculling +round with their huge mouths open, for the sea-moths +to swim down their throats. There were no<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span> +threshers there to thresh their poor old backs, or +sword-fish to stab their stomachs, or saw-fish to rip +them up, or ice-sharks to bite lumps out of their +sides, or whalers to harpoon and lance them. They +were quite safe and happy there; and all they had +to do was to wait quietly in Peacepool, till Mother +Carey sent for them to make them out of old beasts +into new.</p> + +<p>Tom swam up to the nearest whale, and asked the +way to Mother Carey.</p> + +<p>"There she sits in the middle," said the whale.</p> + +<p>Tom looked; but he could see nothing in the +middle of the pool, but one peaked iceberg; and he +said so.</p> + +<p>"That's Mother Carey," said the whale, "as you +will find when you get to her. There she sits making +old beasts into new all the year round."</p> + +<p>"How does she do that?"</p> + +<p>"That's her concern, not mine," said the old +whale; and yawned so wide (for he was very large) +that there swam into his mouth 943 sea-moths, 13,846 +jelly-fish no bigger than pins' heads, a string of +salpæ nine yards long, and forty-three little ice-crabs, +who gave each other a parting pinch all round, +tucked their legs under their stomachs, and determined +to die decently, like Julius Cæsar.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I suppose," said Tom, "she cuts up a great +whale like you into a whole shoal of porpoises?"</p> + +<p>At which the old whale laughed so violently that +he coughed up all the creatures; who swam away +again very thankful at having escaped out of that +terrible whalebone net of his, from which bourne no +traveller returns; and Tom went on to the iceberg, +wondering.</p> + +<p>And, when he came near it, it took the form of the +grandest old lady he had ever seen—a white marble +lady, sitting on a white marble throne. And from +the foot of the throne there swum away, out and out +into the sea, millions of new-born creatures, of more +shapes and colours than man ever dreamed. And +they were Mother Carey's children, whom she makes +out of the sea-water all day long.</p> + +<p>He expected, of course—like some grown people +who ought to know better—to find her snipping, +piecing, fitting, stitching, cobbling, basting, filing, +planing, hammering, turning, polishing, moulding, +measuring, chiselling, clipping, and so forth, as men +do when they go to work to make anything.</p> + +<p>But, instead of that, she sat quite still with her +chin upon her hand, looking down into the sea with +two great grand blue eyes, as blue as the sea itself. +Her hair was as white as the snow—for she was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span> +very very old—in fact, as old as anything which you +are likely to come across, except the difference between +right and wrong.</p> + +<p>And, when she saw Tom, she looked at him very +kindly.</p> + +<p>"What do you want, my little man? It is long +since I have seen a water-baby here."</p> + +<p>Tom told her his errand, and asked the way to the +Other-end-of-Nowhere.</p> + +<p>"You ought to know yourself, for you have been +there already."</p> + +<p>"Have I, ma'am? I'm sure I forget all +about it."</p> + +<p>"Then look at me." And, as Tom looked into +her great blue eyes, he recollected the way perfectly.</p> + +<p>Now, was not that strange?</p> + +<p>"Thank you, ma'am," said Tom. "Then I won't +trouble your ladyship any more; I hear you are very +busy."</p> + +<p>"I am never more busy than I am now," she +said, without stirring a finger.</p> + +<p>"I heard, ma'am, that you were always making +new beasts out of old."</p> + +<p>"So people fancy. But I am not going to trouble +myself to make things, my little dear. I sit here and +make them make themselves."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You are a clever fairy, indeed," thought Tom. +And he was quite right.</p> + +<p>That is a grand trick of good old Mother Carey's, +and a grand answer, which she has had occasion to +make several times to impertinent people.</p> + +<p>There was once, for instance, a fairy who was so +clever that she found out how to make butterflies. I +don't mean sham ones; no: but real live ones, which +would fly, and eat, and lay eggs, and do everything +that they ought; and she was so proud of her skill that +she went flying straight off to the North Pole, to boast +to Mother Carey how she could make butterflies.</p> + +<p>But Mother Carey laughed.</p> + +<p>"Know, silly child," she said, "that any one can +make things, if they will take time and trouble +enough: but it is not every one who, like me, can +make things make themselves."</p> + +<p>But people do not yet believe that Mother Carey +is as clever as all that comes to; and they will not +till they, too, go the journey to the Other-end-of-Nowhere.</p> + +<p>"And now, my pretty little man," said Mother +Carey, "you are sure you know the way to the +Other-end-of-Nowhere?"</p> + +<p>Tom thought; and behold, he had forgotten it +utterly.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span></p> + +<p>"That is because you took your eyes off me."</p> + +<p>Tom looked at her again, and recollected; and +then looked away, and forgot in an instant.</p> + +<p>"But what am I to do, ma'am? For I can't keep +looking at you when I am somewhere else."</p> + +<p>"You must do without me, as most people have +to do, for nine hundred and ninety-nine thousandths +of their lives; and look at the dog instead; for he +knows the way well enough, and will not forget it. +Besides, you may meet some very queer-tempered +people there, who will not let you pass without this +passport of mine, which you must hang round your +neck and take care of; and, of course, as the dog +will always go behind you, you must go the whole +way backward."</p> + +<p>"Backward!" cried Tom. "Then I shall not be +able to see my way."</p> + +<p>"On the contrary, if you look forward, you will +not see a step before you, and be certain to go +wrong; but, if you look behind you, and watch carefully +whatever you have passed, and especially keep +your eye on the dog, who goes by instinct, and therefore +can't go wrong, then you will know what is coming +next, as plainly as if you saw it in a looking-glass."</p> + +<p>Tom was very much astonished: but he obeyed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span> +her, for he had learnt always to believe what the +fairies told him.</p> + +<p>He was very sorely tried; for though, by keeping +the dog to heels (or rather to toes, for he had to +walk backward), he could see pretty well which way +the dog was hunting, yet it was much slower work +to go backwards than to go forwards. But, what +was more trying still, no sooner had he got out of +Peacepool, than there came running to him all the +conjurors, fortune-tellers, astrologers, prophesiers, +projectors, prestigiators, as many as were in those +parts (and there are too many of them everywhere), +all bawling and screaming at him, "Look a-head, +only look a-head; and we will show you what man +never saw before, and right away to the end of the +world!"</p> + +<p>But I am proud to say that Tom was such a little +dogged, hard, gnarly, foursquare brick of an English +boy, that he never turned his head round once all the +way from Peacepool to the Other-end-of-Nowhere: +but kept his eye on the dog, and let him pick out the +scent, hot or cold, straight or crooked, wet or dry, +up hill or down dale; by which means he never made +a single mistake, and saw all the wonderful and +hitherto by-no-mortal-man-imagined things, which it +is my duty to relate to you in the next chapter.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span></p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/ch08-angry_wet_cat.png" width="500" height="253" alt="Angry otter" title="" /> +</div> + + + +<h2>CHAPTER VIII AND LAST</h2> + + +<div class='cap'>HERE begins the never-to-be-too-much-studied +account of the nine-hundred-and-ninety-ninth +part of the wonderful things which +Tom saw on his journey to the Other-end-of-Nowhere; +which all good little children are requested +to read; that, if ever they get to the Other-end-of-Nowhere, +as they may very probably do, they may +not burst out laughing, or try to run away, or do any +other silly vulgar thing which may offend Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid.</div> + +<p>Now, as soon as Tom had left Peacepool, he came +to the white lap of the great sea-mother, ten thousand +fathoms deep; where she makes world-pap all +day long, for the steam-giants to knead, and the fire-giants<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span> +to bake, till it has risen and hardened into +mountain-loaves and island-cakes.</p> + +<p>And there Tom was very near being kneaded up +in the world-pap, and turned into a fossil water-baby; +which would have astonished the Geological +Society of New Zealand some hundreds of thousands +of years hence.</p> + +<p>For, as he walked along in the silence of the sea-twilight, +on the soft white ocean floor, he was aware +of a hissing, and a roaring, and a thumping, and a +pumping, as of all the steam-engines in the world at +once. And, when he came near, the water grew boiling-hot; +not that that hurt him in the least: but it +also grew as foul as gruel; and every moment he +stumbled over dead shells, and fish, and sharks, and +seals, and whales, which had been killed by the hot +water.</p> + +<p>And at last he came to the great sea-serpent himself, +lying dead at the bottom; and as he was too +thick to scramble over, Tom had to walk round him +three-quarters of a mile and more, which put him +out of his path sadly; and, when he had got round, +he came to the place called Stop. And there he +stopped, and just in time.</p> + +<p>For he was on the edge of a vast hole in the bottom +of the sea, up which was rushing and roaring<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span> +clear steam enough to work all the engines in the +world at once; so clear, indeed, that it was quite +light at moments; and Tom could see almost up to +the top of the water above, and down below into the +pit for nobody knows how far.</p> + +<p>But, as soon as he bent his head over the edge, he +got such a rap on the nose from pebbles, that he +jumped back again; for the steam, as it rushed up, +rasped away the sides of the hole, and hurled it up +into the sea in a shower of mud and gravel and +ashes; and then it spread all around, and sank again +and covered in the dead fish so fast, that before Tom +had stood there five minutes he was buried in silt up +to his ankles, and began to be afraid that he should +have been buried alive.</p> + +<p>And perhaps he would have been, but that while +he was thinking, the whole piece of ground on which +he stood was torn off and blown upwards, and away +flew Tom a mile up through the sea, wondering what +was coming next.</p> + +<p>At last he stopped—thump! and found himself +tight in the legs of the most wonderful bogy which +he had ever seen.</p> + +<p>It had I don't know how many wings, as big as the +sails of a windmill, and spread out in a ring like +them; and with them it hovered over the steam which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span> +rushed up, as a ball hovers over the top of a fountain. +And for every wing above it had a leg below, +with a claw like a comb at the tip, and a nostril at the +root; and in the middle it had no stomach and one +eye; and as for its mouth, that was all on one side, as +the madre-poriform tubercle in a star-fish is. Well, +it was a very strange beast; but no stranger than +some dozens which you may see.</p> + +<p>"What do you want here," it cried quite peevishly, +"getting in my way?" and it tried to drop Tom: +but he held on tight to its claws, thinking himself +safer where he was.</p> + +<p>So Tom told him who he was, and what his errand +was. And the thing winked its one eye, and sneered:</p> + +<p>"I am too old to be taken in in that way. You +are come after gold—I know you are."</p> + +<p>"Gold! What is gold?" And really Tom did +not know; but the suspicious old bogy would not +believe him.</p> + +<p>But after a while Tom began to understand a +little. For, as the vapours came up out of the hole, +the bogy smelt them with his nostrils, and combed +them and sorted them with his combs; and then, +when they steamed up through them against his +wings, they were changed into showers and streams +of metal. From one wing fell gold-dust, and from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span> +another silver, and from another copper, and from +another tin, and from another lead, and so on, and +sank into the soft mud, into veins and cracks, and +hardened there. Whereby it comes to pass that the +rocks are full of metal.</p> + +<p>But, all of a sudden, somebody shut off the steam +below, and the hole was left empty in an instant: +and then down rushed the water into the hole, in such +a whirlpool that the bogy spun round and round as +fast as a teetotum. But that was all in his day's +work, like a fair fall with the hounds; so all he did +was to say to Tom—</p> + +<p>"Now is your time, youngster, to get down, if you +are in earnest, which I don't believe."</p> + +<p>"You'll soon see," said Tom; and away he went, +as bold as Baron Munchausen, and shot down the +rushing cataract like a salmon at Ballisodare.</p> + +<p>And, when he got to the bottom, he swam till he +was washed on shore safe upon the Other-end-of-Nowhere; +and he found it, to his surprise, as most +other people do, much more like This-End-of-Somewhere +than he had been in the habit of expecting.</p> + +<p>And first he went through Waste-paper-land, +where all the stupid books lie in heaps, up hill and +down dale, like leaves in a winter wood; and there +he saw people digging and grubbing among them, to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span> +make worse books out of bad ones, and thrashing +chaff to save the dust of it; and a very good trade +they drove thereby, especially among children.</p> + +<p>Then he went by the sea of slops, to the mountain +of messes, and the territory of tuck, where the +ground was very sticky, for it was all made of bad +toffee, and full of deep cracks and holes choked with +wind-fallen fruit, and green goose-berries, and sloes, +and crabs, and whinberries, and hips and haws, and +all the nasty things which little children will eat, +if they can get them. But the fairies hide them out +of the way in that country as fast as they can, and +very hard work they have, and of very little use it is. +For as fast as they hide away the old trash, foolish +and wicked people make fresh trash full of lime and +poisonous paints, and actually go and steal receipts +out of old Madame Science's big book to invent +poisons for little children, and sell them at wakes +and fairs and tuck-shops. Very well. Let them go +on. Dr. Letheby and Dr. Hassall cannot catch them, +though they are setting traps for them all day long. +But the Fairy with the birch-rod will catch them all +in time, and make them begin at one corner of their +shops, and eat their way out at the other: by which +time they will have got such stomachaches as will +cure them of poisoning little children.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span></p> + +<p>Then came Tom to the great land of Hearsay.</p> + +<p>When Tom came into that land, he found them all, +high and low, man, woman, and child, running for +their lives day and night continually, and entreating +not to be told they didn't know what: only the land +being an island, and they having a dislike to the +water (being a musty lot for the most part), they +ran round and round the shore for ever, which was +hard work.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 336px;"> +<img src="images/gs13-baby_using_fish_feelers_as_reins.png" width="336" height="400" alt="Riding a catfish" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>And running after them, day and night, came such +a poor, lean, seedy, hard-worked old giant, as ought +to have been cockered up, and had a good dinner +given him, and a good wife found him, and been set +to play with little children; and then he would have +been a very presentable old fellow after all; for he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span> +had a heart, though it was considerably overgrown +with brains.</p> + +<p>He was made up principally of fish bones and +parchment, put together with wire and Canada balsam; +and smelt strongly of spirits, though he never +drank anything but water: but spirits he used somehow, +there was no denying. He had a great pair of +spectacles on his nose, and a butterfly-net in one +hand, and a geological hammer in the other; and +was hung all over with pockets, full of collecting +boxes, bottles, microscopes, telescopes, barometers, +ordnance maps, scalpels, forceps, photographic apparatus, +and all other tackle for finding out everything +about everything, and a little more too. And, +most strange of all, he was running not forwards +but backwards, as fast as he could.</p> + +<p>Away all the good folks ran from him, except +Tom, who stood his ground and dodged between his +legs; and the giant, when he had passed him, looked +down, and cried, as if he was quite pleased and comforted,—</p> + +<p>"What? who are you? And you actually don't +run away, like all the rest?" But he had to take +his spectacles off, Tom remarked, in order to see him +plainly.</p> + +<p>Tom told him who he was; and the giant pulled<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span> +out a bottle and a cork instantly, to collect him +with.</p> + +<p>But Tom was too sharp for that, and dodged between +his legs and in front of him; and then the giant +could not see him at all.</p> + +<p>"No, no, no!" said Tom, "I've not been round +the world, and through the world, and up to Mother +Carey's haven, beside being caught in a net and +called a Holothurian and a Cephalopod, to be +bottled up by any old giant like you."</p> + +<p>And when the giant understood what a great +traveller Tom had been, he made a truce with him at +once, and would have kept him there to this day to +pick his brains, so delighted was he at finding any +one to tell him what he did not know before.</p> + +<p>"Ah, you lucky little dog!" said he at last, quite +simply—for he was the simplest, pleasantest, honestest, +kindliest old Dominie Sampson of a giant that +ever turned the world upside down without intending +it—"ah, you lucky little dog! If I had only been +where you have been, to see what you have seen!"</p> + +<p>"Well," said Tom, "if you want to do that, you +had best put your head under water for a few hours, +as I did, and turn into a water-baby, or some other +baby, and then you might have a chance."</p> + +<p>"Turn into a baby, eh? If I could do that, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span> +know what was happening to me for but one hour, I +should know everything then, and be at rest. But +I can't; I can't be a little child again; and I suppose +if I could, it would be no use, because then I should +know nothing about what was happening to me. +Ah, you lucky little dog!" said the poor old giant.</p> + +<p>"But why do you run after all these poor people?" +said Tom, who liked the giant very much.</p> + +<p>"My dear, it's they that have been running after +me, father and son, for hundreds and hundreds of +years, throwing stones at me till they have knocked +off my spectacles fifty times, and calling me a malignant +and a turbaned Turk, who beat a Venetian and +traduced the State—goodness only knows what they +mean, for I never read poetry—and hunting me +round and round—though catch me they can't, for +every time I go over the same ground, I go the +faster, and grow the bigger. While all I want is +to be friends with them, and to tell them something +to their advantage: only somehow they are so +strangely afraid of hearing it. But, I suppose I am +not a man of the world, and have no tact."</p> + +<p>"But why don't you turn round and tell them +so?"</p> + +<p>"Because I can't. You see, I must go backwards, +if I am to go at all."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span></p> + +<p>"But why don't you stop, and let them come up +to you?"</p> + +<p>"Why, my dear, only think. If I did, all the +butterflies and cockyolybirds would fly past me, and +then I should catch no more new species, and should +grow rusty and mouldy, and die. And I don't intend +to do that, my dear; for I have a destiny before me, +they say: though what it is I don't know, and don't +care."</p> + +<p>"Don't care?" said Tom.</p> + +<p>"No. Do the duty which lies nearest you, and +catch the first beetle you come across, is my motto; +and I have thriven by it for some hundred years. +Now I must go on. Dear me, while I have been talking +to you, at least nine new species have escaped me."</p> + +<p>And on went the giant, behind before, like a bull +in a china-shop, till he ran into the steeple of the +great idol temple (for they are all idolaters in those +parts, of course, else they would never be afraid of +giants), and knocked the upper half clean off, hurting +himself horribly about the small of the back.</p> + +<p>But little he cared; for as soon as the ruins of the +steeple were well between his legs, he poked and +peered among the falling stones, and shifted his +spectacles, and pulled out his pocket-magnifier, and +cried<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span>—</p> + +<p>"An entirely new Oniscus, and three obscure +Podurellæ! Besides a moth which M. le Roi des +Papillons (though he, like all Frenchmen, is given +to hasty inductions) says is confined to the limits of +the Glacial Drift. This is most important!"</p> + +<p>And down he sat on the nave of the temple (not +being a man of the world) to examine his Podurellæ. +Whereon (as was to be expected) the roof caved in +bodily, smashing the idols, and sending the priests +flying out of doors and windows, like rabbits out of a +burrow when a ferret goes in.</p> + +<p>But he never heeded; for out of the dust flew a +bat, and the giant had him in a moment.</p> + +<p>"Dear me! This is even more important! Here +is a cognate species to that which Macgilliwaukie +Brown insists is confined to the Buddhist temples of +Little Thibet; and now when I look at it, it may +be only a variety produced by difference of climate!"</p> + +<p>And having bagged his bat, up he got, and on he +went; while all the people ran, being in none the +better humour for having their temple smashed for +the sake of three obscure species of Podurella, and +a Buddhist bat.</p> + +<p>"Well," thought Tom, "this is a very pretty +quarrel, with a good deal to be said on both sides. +But it is no business of mine."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span></p> + +<p>So the giant ran round after the people, and the +people ran round after the giant, and they are running +unto this day for aught I know, or do not know; +and will run till either he, or they, or both, turn into +little children. And then, as Shakespeare says (and +therefore it must be true)—</p> + +<div class='poem'> +"<i>Jack shall have Gill<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Nought shall go ill</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">The man shall have his mare again, and all go well."</span></i><br /> +</div> + +<p>Then Tom came to a very famous island, which +was called, in the days of the great traveller Captain +Gulliver, the Isle of Laputa. But Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid +has named it over again, the Isle of Tomtoddies, +all heads and no bodies.</p> + +<p>And when Tom came near it, he heard such a +grumbling and grunting and growling and wailing +and weeping and whining that he thought people +must be ringing little pigs, or cropping puppies' ears, +or drowning kittens: but when he came nearer still, +he began to hear words among the noise; which was +the Tomtoddies' song which they sing morning and +evening, and all night too, to their great idol Examination<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span>—</p> + +<div class='poem'> +"<i>I can't learn my lessons: the examiner's coming!</i>"<br /> +</div> + +<div class='unindent'>And that was the only song which they knew.</div> + +<p>And when Tom got on shore the first thing he saw +was a great pillar, on one side of which was inscribed, +"Playthings not allowed here;" at which he +was so shocked that he would not stay to see what +was written on the other side. Then he looked +round for the people of the island: but instead of +men, women, and children, he found nothing but +turnips and radishes, beet and mangold wurzel, without +a single green leaf among them, and half of them +burst and decayed, with toad-stools growing out of +them. Those which were left began crying to Tom, +in half a dozen different languages at once, and all +of them badly spoken, "I can't learn my lesson; do +come and help me!"</p> + +<p>"And what good on earth will it do you if I did +tell you?" quoth Tom.</p> + +<p>Well, they didn't know that: all they knew was +the examiner was coming.</p> + +<p>Then Tom stumbled on the hugest and softest +nimblecomequick turnip you ever saw filling a hole in +a crop of swedes, and it cried to him, "Can you tell +me anything at all about anything you like?"</p> + +<p>"About what?" says Tom.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[243]</a></span></p> + +<p>"About anything you like; for as fast as I learn +things I forget them again. So my mamma says that +my intellect is not adapted for methodic science, and +says that I must go in for general information."</p> + +<p>Tom told him that he did not know general information: +but he could tell him a great many +strange things which he had seen in his travels.</p> + +<p>So he told him prettily enough, while the poor +turnip listened very carefully; and the more he +listened, the more he forgot, and the more water +ran out of him.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/ch04-baby_following_bug.png" width="500" height="215" alt="Baby following a bug" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>Tom thought he was crying: but it was only his +poor brains running away, from being worked so +hard; and as Tom talked, the unhappy turnip +streamed down all over with juice, and split and +shrank till nothing was left of him but rind and +water; whereat Tom ran away in a fright, for he +thought he might be taken up for killing the turnip.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[244]</a></span></p> + +<p>But, on the contrary, the turnip's parents were +highly delighted, and considered him a saint and a +martyr, and put up a long inscription over his tomb +about his wonderful talents, early development, and +unparalleled precocity. Were they not a foolish +couple? But there was a still more foolish couple +next to them, who were beating a wretched little +radish, no bigger than my thumb, for sullenness and +obstinacy and wilful stupidity, and never knew that +the reason why it couldn't learn or hardly even speak +was, that there was a great worm inside it eating +out all its brains. But even they are no foolisher +than some hundred score of papas and mammas, who +fetch the rod when they ought to fetch a new toy, and +send to the dark cupboard instead of to the doctor.</p> + +<p>Tom was so puzzled and frightened with all he +saw, that he was longing to ask the meaning of it; +and at last he stumbled over a respectable old stick +lying half covered with earth. But a very stout and +worthy stick it was, for it belonged to good Roger +Ascham in old time, and had carved on its head +King Edward the Sixth, with the Bible in his hand.</p> + +<p>"You see," said the stick, "there were as pretty +little children once as you could wish to see, and +might have been so still if they had been only left to +grow up like human beings, and then handed over to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[245]</a></span> +me; but their foolish fathers and mothers, instead of +letting them pick flowers, and make dirt-pies, and get +birds' nests, and dance round the gooseberry bush, as +little children should, kept them always at lessons, +working, working, working, learning week-day lessons +all week-days, and Sunday lessons all Sunday, +and weekly examinations every Saturday, and +monthly examinations every month, and yearly examinations +every year, everything seven times over, +as if once was not enough, and enough as good as a +feast—till their brains grew big, and their bodies +grew small, and they were all changed into turnips, +with little but water inside; and still their foolish +parents actually pick the leaves off them as fast as +they grow, lest they should have anything green +about them."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said Tom, "if dear Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby +knew of it she would send them a lot of +tops, and balls, and marbles, and ninepins, and make +them all as jolly as sand-boys."</p> + +<p>"It would be no use," said the stick. "They +can't play now, if they tried. Don't you see how +their legs have turned to roots and grown into the +ground, by never taking any exercise, but sapping +and moping always in the same place? But here +comes the Examiner-of-all-Examiners. So you had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[246]</a></span> +better get away, I warn you, or he will examine you +and your dog into the bargain, and set him to examine +all the other dogs, and you to examine all the +other water-babies. There is no escaping out of his +hands, for his nose is nine thousand miles long, and +can go down chimneys, and through keyholes, upstairs, +downstairs, in my lady's chamber, examining +all little boys, and the little boys' tutors likewise. +But when he is thrashed—so Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid +has promised me—I shall have the thrashing of +him: and if I don't lay it on with a will it's a pity."</p> + +<p>Tom went off: but rather slowly and surlily; for +he was somewhat minded to face this same Examiner-of-all-Examiners, +who came striding among the +poor turnips, binding heavy burdens and grievous to +be borne, and laying them on little children's shoulders, +like the Scribes and Pharisees of old, and not +touching the same with one of his fingers; for he had +plenty of money, and a fine house to live in, and so +forth; which was more than the poor little turnips +had.</p> + +<p>But when he got near, he looked so big and burly +and dictatorial, and shouted so loud to Tom, to +come and be examined, that Tom ran for his life, and +the dog too. And really it was time; for the poor +turnips, in their hurry and fright, crammed themselves<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[247]</a></span> +so fast to be ready for the Examiner, that +they burst and popped by dozens all round him, till +the place sounded like Aldershot on a field-day, and +Tom thought he should be blown into the air, dog +and all.</p> + +<p>As he went down to the shore he passed the poor +turnip's new tomb. But Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid +had taken away the epitaph about talents and precocity +and development, and put up one of her own +instead which Tom thought much more sensible:—</p> + +<div class='poem'> +"<i>Instruction sore long time I bore,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">And cramming was in vain;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Till heaven did please my woes to ease</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">With water on the brain."</span></i><br /> +</div> + +<p>So Tom jumped into the sea, and swam on his +way.</p> + +<p>And next he came to Oldwivesfabledom, where +the folks were all heathens, and worshipped a howling +ape.</p> + +<p>And there he found a little boy sitting in the +middle of the road, and crying bitterly.</p> + +<p>"What are you crying for?" said Tom.</p> + +<p>"Because I am not as frightened as I could wish +to be."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[248]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Not frightened? You are a queer little chap: +but, if you want to be frightened, here goes—Boo!"</p> + +<p>"Ah," said the little boy, "that is very kind of +you; but I don't feel that it has made any impression."</p> + +<p>Tom offered to upset him, punch him, stamp on +him, fettle him over the head with a brick, or anything +else whatsoever which would give him the +slightest comfort.</p> + +<p>But he only thanked Tom very civilly, in fine long +words which he had heard other folk use, and which, +therefore, he thought were fit and proper to use himself; +and cried on till his papa and mamma came, and +sent off for the Powwow man immediately. And a +very good-natured gentleman and lady they were, +though they were heathens; and talked quite pleasantly +to Tom about his travels, till the Powwow man +arrived, with his thunderbox under his arm.</p> + +<p>And a well-fed, ill-favoured gentleman he was. +Tom was a little frightened at first; for he thought it +was Grimes. But he soon saw his mistake: for +Grimes always looked a man in the face; and this +fellow never did. And when he spoke, it was fire +and smoke; and when he sneezed, it was squibs and +crackers; and when he cried (which he did whenever<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[249]</a></span> +it paid him), it was boiling pitch; and some of it +was sure to stick.</p> + +<p>"Here we are again!" cried he, like the clown +in a pantomime. "So you can't feel frightened, my +little dear—eh? I'll do that for you. I'll make an +impression on you! Yah! Boo! Whirroo! Hullabaloo!"</p> + +<p>And he rattled, thumped, brandished his thunderbox, +yelled, shouted, raved, roared, stamped, and +danced corrobory like any black fellow; and then he +touched a spring in the thunderbox, and out popped +turnip-ghosts and magic-lanthorns and pasteboard +bogies and spring-heeled Jacks, and sallaballas, with +such a horrid din, clatter, clank, roll, rattle, and roar, +that the little boy turned up the whites of his eyes, +and fainted right away.</p> + +<p>And at that his poor heathen papa and mamma +were as much delighted as if they had found a gold +mine; and fell down upon their knees before the +Powwow man, and gave him a palanquin with a pole +of solid silver and curtains of cloth of gold; and +carried him about in it on their own backs: but as +soon as they had taken him up, the pole stuck to their +shoulders, and they could not set him down any +more, but carried him on willynilly, as Sinbad carried +the old man of the sea: which was a pitiable<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[250]</a></span> +sight to see; for the father was a very brave officer, +and wore two swords and a blue button; and the +mother was as pretty a lady as ever had pinched feet +like a Chinese. But, you see, they had chosen to do +a foolish thing just once too often; so, by the laws of +Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid, they had to go on doing +it whether they chose or not, till the coming of the +Cocqcigrues.</p> + +<p>Ah! don't you wish that some one would go and +convert those poor heathens, and teach them not to +frighten their little children into fits?</p> + +<p>"Now, then," said the Powwow man to Tom, +"wouldn't you like to be frightened, my little dear? +For I can see plainly that you are a very wicked, +naughty, graceless, reprobate boy."</p> + +<p>"You're another," quoth Tom, very sturdily. +And when the man ran at him, and cried "Boo!" +Tom ran at him in return, and cried "Boo!" likewise, +right in his face, and set the little dog upon +him; and at his legs the dog went.</p> + +<p>At which, if you will believe it, the fellow turned +tail, thunderbox and all, with a "Woof!" like an +old sow on the common; and ran for his life, screaming, +"Help! thieves! murder! fire! He is going to +kill me! I am a ruined man! He will murder me; +and break, burn, and destroy my precious and invaluable<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[251]</a></span> +thunderbox; and then you will have no +more thunder-showers in the land. Help! help! +help!"</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/ep01-fish_in_reeds.png" width="500" height="188" alt="Fish in reeds" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>At which the papa and mamma and all the people +of Oldwivesfabledom flew at Tom, shouting, "Oh, +the wicked, impudent, hard-hearted, graceless boy! +Beat him, kick him, shoot him, drown him, hang him, +burn him!" and so forth: but luckily they had nothing +to shoot, hang, or burn him with, for the fairies +had hid all the killing-tackle out of the way a little +while before; so they could only pelt him with stones; +and some of the stones went clean through him, and +came out the other side. But he did not mind that a +bit; for the holes closed up again as fast as they were +made, because he was a water-baby. However, he +was very glad when he was safe out of the country, +for the noise there made him all but deaf.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[252]</a></span></p> + +<p>Then he came to a very quiet place, called Leaveheavenalone. +And there the sun was drawing water +out of the sea to make steam-threads, and the wind +was twisting them up to make cloud-patterns, till they +had worked between them the loveliest wedding veil +of Chantilly lace, and hung it up in their own Crystal +Palace for any one to buy who could afford it; while +the good old sea never grudged, for she knew they +would pay her back honestly. So the sun span, and +the wind wove, and all went well with the great +steam-loom; as is likely, considering—and considering—and +considering—</p> + +<p>And at last, after innumerable adventures, each +more wonderful than the last, he saw before him a +huge building.</p> + +<p>Tom walked towards this great building, wondering +what it was, and having a strange fancy that he +might find Mr. Grimes inside it, till he saw running +toward him, and shouting "Stop!" three or four +people, who, when they came nearer, were nothing +else than policemen's truncheons, running along without +legs or arms.</p> + +<p>Tom was not astonished. He was long past that. +Besides, he had seen the naviculæ in the water move +nobody knows how, a hundred times, without arms +or legs, or anything to stand in their stead. Neither<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[253]</a></span> +was he frightened; for he had been doing no harm.</p> + +<p>So he stopped; and, when the foremost truncheon +came up and asked his business, he showed Mother +Carey's pass; and the truncheon looked at it in the +oddest fashion; for he had one eye in the middle of +his upper end, so that when he looked at anything, +being quite stiff, he had to slope himself, and poke +himself, till it was a wonder why he did not tumble +over; but, being quite full of the spirit of justice (as +all policemen, and their truncheons, ought to be), he +was always in a position of stable equilibrium, whichever +way he put himself.</p> + +<p>"All right—pass on," said he at last. And then +he added: "I had better go with you, young man." +And Tom had no objection, for such company was +both respectable and safe; so the truncheon coiled its +thong neatly round its handle, to prevent tripping +itself up—for the thong had got loose in running—and +marched on by Tom's side.</p> + +<p>"Why have you no policeman to carry you?" +asked Tom, after a while.</p> + +<p>"Because we are not like those clumsy-made truncheons +in the land-world, which cannot go without +having a whole man to carry them about. We do +our own work for ourselves; and do it very well, +though I say it who should not."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[254]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Then why have you a thong to your handle?" +asked Tom.</p> + +<p>"To hang ourselves up by, of course, when we +are off duty."</p> + +<p>Tom had got his answer, and had no more to say, +till they came up to the great iron door of the +prison. And there the truncheon knocked twice, with +its own head.</p> + +<p>A wicket in the door opened, and out looked a +tremendous old brass blunderbuss charged up to the +muzzle with slugs, who was the porter; and Tom +started back a little at the sight of him.</p> + +<p>"What case is this?" he asked in a deep voice, +out of his broad bell mouth.</p> + +<p>"If you please, sir, it is no case; only a young +gentleman from her ladyship, who wants to see +Grimes, the master-sweep."</p> + +<p>"Grimes?" said the blunderbuss. And he pulled +in his muzzle, perhaps to look over his prison-lists.</p> + +<p>"Grimes is up chimney No. 345," he said from +inside. "So the young gentleman had better go on +to the roof."</p> + +<p>Tom looked up at the enormous wall, which +seemed at least ninety miles high, and wondered how +he should ever get up; but, when he hinted that to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[255]</a></span> +the truncheon, it settled the matter in a moment. +For it whisked round, and gave him such a shove +behind as sent him up to the roof in no time, with his +little dog under his arm.</p> + +<p>And there he walked along the leads, till he met +another truncheon, and told him his errand.</p> + +<p>"Very good," it said. "Come along: but it will +be of no use. He is the most unremorseful, hard-hearted, +foul-mouthed fellow I have in charge; and +thinks about nothing but beer and pipes, which are +not allowed here, of course."</p> + +<p>So they walked along over the leads, and very +sooty they were, and Tom thought the chimneys +must want sweeping very much. But he was surprised +to see that the soot did not stick to his feet, or +dirty them in the least. Neither did the live coals, +which were lying about in plenty, burn him; for, +being a water-baby, his radical humours were of a +moist and cold nature, as you may read at large in +Lemnius, Cardan, Van Helmont, and other gentlemen, +who knew as much as they could, and no man +can know more.</p> + +<p>And at last they came to chimney No. 345. Out +of the top of it, his head and shoulders just showing, +stuck poor Mr. Grimes, so sooty, and bleared, and +ugly, that Tom could hardly bear to look at him.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[256]</a></span> +And in his mouth was a pipe; but it was not alight; +though he was pulling at it with all his might.</p> + +<p>"Attention, Mr. Grimes," said the truncheon, +"here is a gentleman come to see you."</p> + +<p>But Mr. Grimes only said bad words; and kept +grumbling, "My pipe won't draw. My pipe won't +draw."</p> + +<p>"Keep a civil tongue, and attend!" said the truncheon; +and popped up just like Punch, hitting Grimes +such a crack over the head with itself, that his brains +rattled inside like a dried walnut in its shell. He +tried to get his hands out, and rub the place: but he +could not, for they were stuck fast in the chimney. +Now he was forced to attend.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/gs31-alligator.png" width="500" height="103" alt="Alligator" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>"Hey!" he said, "why, it's Tom! I suppose +you have come here to laugh at me, you spiteful +little atomy?"</p> + +<p>Tom assured him he had not, but only wanted +to help him.</p> + +<p>"I don't want anything except beer, and that I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[257]</a></span> +can't get; and a light to this bothering pipe, and that +I can't get either."</p> + +<p>"I'll get you one," said Tom; and he took up a +live coal (there were plenty lying about) and put it +to Grimes' pipe: but it went out instantly.</p> + +<p>"It's no use," said the truncheon, leaning itself +up against the chimney and looking on. "I tell you, +it is no use. His heart is so cold that it freezes +everything that comes near him. You will see that +presently, plain enough."</p> + +<p>"Oh, of course, it's my fault. Everything's always +my fault," said Grimes. "Now don't go to +hit me again" (for the truncheon started upright, +and looked very wicked); "you know, if my arms +were only free, you daren't hit me then."</p> + +<p>The truncheon leant back against the chimney, and +took no notice of the personal insult, like a well-trained +policeman as it was, though he was ready +enough to avenge any transgression against morality +or order.</p> + +<p>"But can't I help you in any other way? Can't +I help you to get out of this chimney?" said Tom.</p> + +<p>"No," interposed the truncheon; "he has come +to the place where everybody must help themselves; +and he will find it out, I hope, before he has done +with me."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[258]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 443px;"> +<img src="images/col08.jpg" width="443" height="600" alt="Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby" title="" /> +<span class="caption">Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby</span> +</div> + +<p>"Oh, yes," said Grimes, "of course it's me. Did +I ask to be brought here into the prison? Did I ask +to be set to sweep your foul chimneys? Did I ask to +have lighted straw put under me to make me go up? +Did I ask to stick fast in the very first chimney of +all, because it was so shamefully clogged up with +soot? Did I ask to stay here—I don't know how +long—a hundred years, I do believe, and never get +my pipe, nor my beer, nor nothing fit for a beast, +let alone a man?"</p> + +<p>"No," answered a solemn voice behind. "No +more did Tom, when you behaved to him in the very +same way."</p> + +<p>It was Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid. And, when the +truncheon saw her, it started bolt upright—Attention!—and +made such a low bow, that if it had not +been full of the spirit of justice, it must have trembled +on its end, and probably hurt its one eye. And Tom +made his bow too.</p> + +<p>"Oh, ma'am," he said, "don't think about me; +that's all past and gone, and good times and bad +times and all times pass over. But may not I help +poor Mr. Grimes? Mayn't I try and get some of +these bricks away, that he may move his arms?"</p> + +<p>"You may try, of course," she said.</p> + +<p>So Tom pulled and tugged at the bricks: but he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[259]</a></span> +could not move one. And then he tried to wipe Mr. +Grimes' face: but the soot would not come off.</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear!" he said. "I have come all this +way, through all these terrible places, to help you, +and now I am of no use at all."</p> + +<p>"You had best leave me alone," said Grimes; +"you are a good-natured forgiving little chap, and +that's truth; but you'd best be off. The hail's coming +on soon, and it will beat the eyes out of your +little head."</p> + +<p>"What hail?"</p> + +<p>"Why, hail that falls every evening here; and, +till it comes close to me, it's like so much warm rain: +but then it turns to hail over my head, and knocks +me about like small shot."</p> + +<p>"That hail will never come any more," said the +strange lady. "I have told you before what it was. +It was your mother's tears, those which she shed +when she prayed for you by her bedside; but your +cold heart froze it into hail. But she is gone to +heaven now, and will weep no more for her graceless +son."</p> + +<p>Then Grimes was silent awhile; and then he +looked very sad.</p> + +<p>"So my old mother's gone, and I never there to +speak to her! Ah! a good woman she was, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[260]</a></span> +might have been a happy one, in her little school +there in Vendale, if it hadn't been for me and my +bad ways."</p> + +<p>"Did she keep the school in Vendale?" asked +Tom. And then he told Grimes all the story of his +going to her house, and how she could not abide the +sight of a chimney-sweep, and then how kind she +was, and how he turned into a water-baby.</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said Grimes, "good reason she had to +hate the sight of a chimney-sweep. I ran away from +her and took up with the sweeps, and never let her +know where I was, nor sent her a penny to help her, +and now it's too late—too late!" said Mr. Grimes.</p> + +<p>And he began crying and blubbering like a great +baby, till his pipe dropped out of his mouth, and +broke all to bits.</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear, if I was but a little chap in Vendale +again, to see the clear beck, and the apple-orchard, +and the yew-hedge, how different I would go on! +But it's too late now. So you go along, you kind +little chap, and don't stand to look at a man crying, +that's old enough to be your father, and never feared +the face of man, nor of worse neither. But I'm beat +now, and beat I must be. I've made my bed, and I +must lie on it. Foul I would be, and foul I am, as +an Irishwoman said to me once; and little I heeded<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[261]</a></span> +it. It's all my own fault: but it's too late." And he +cried so bitterly that Tom began crying too.</p> + +<p>"Never too late," said the fairy, in such a strange +soft new voice that Tom looked up at her; and she +was so beautiful for the moment, that Tom half +fancied she was her sister.</p> + +<p>No more was it too late. For, as poor Grimes +cried and blubbered on, his own tears did what his +mother's could not do, and Tom's could not do, and +nobody's on earth could do for him; for they washed +the soot off his face and off his clothes; and then +they washed the mortar away from between the +bricks; and the chimney crumbled down; and Grimes +began to get out of it.</p> + +<p>Up jumped the truncheon, and was going to hit +him on the crown a tremendous thump, and drive +him down again like a cork into a bottle. But the +strange lady put it aside.</p> + +<p>"Will you obey me if I give you a chance?"</p> + +<p>"As you please, ma'am. You're stronger than +me—that I know too well, and wiser than me, I +know too well also. And, as for being my own +master, I've fared ill enough with that as yet. So +whatever your ladyship pleases to order me; for +I'm beat, and that's the truth."</p> + +<p>"Be it so then—you may come out. But remember,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[262]</a></span> +disobey me again, and into a worse place still +you go."</p> + +<p>"I beg pardon, ma'am, but I never disobeyed you +that I know of. I never had the honour of setting +eyes upon you till I came to these ugly quarters."</p> + +<p>"Never saw me? Who said to you, Those that +will be foul, foul they will be?"</p> + +<p>Grimes looked up; and Tom looked up too; for +the voice was that of the Irishwoman who met them +the day that they went out together to Harthover. +"I gave you your warning then: but you gave it +yourself a thousand times before and since. Every +bad word that you said—every cruel and mean thing +that you did—every time that you got tipsy—every +day that you went dirty—you were disobeying me, +whether you knew it or not."</p> + +<p>"If I'd only known, ma'am——"</p> + +<p>"You knew well enough that you were disobeying +something, though you did not know it was me. But +come out and take your chance. Perhaps it may be +your last."</p> + +<p>So Grimes stepped out of the chimney, and really, +if it had not been for the scars on his face, he looked +as clean and respectable as a master-sweep need look.</p> + +<p>"Take him away," said she to the truncheon, +"and give him his ticket-of-leave."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[263]</a></span></p> + +<p>"And what is he to do, ma'am?"</p> + +<p>"Get him to sweep out the crater of Etna; he +will find some very steady men working out their +time there, who will teach him his business: but +mind, if that crater gets choked again, and there is +an earthquake in consequence, bring them all to me, +and I shall investigate the case very severely."</p> + +<p>So the truncheon marched off Mr. Grimes, looking +as meek as a drowned worm.</p> + +<p>And for aught I know, or do not know, he is +sweeping the crater of Etna to this very day.</p> + +<p>"And now," said the fairy to Tom, "your work +here is done. You may as well go back again."</p> + +<p>"I should be glad enough to go," said Tom, "but +how am I to get up that great hole again, now the +steam has stopped blowing?"</p> + +<p>"I will take you up the backstairs: but I must +bandage your eyes first; for I never allow anybody +to see those backstairs of mine."</p> + +<p>So she tied the bandage on his eyes with one hand, +and with the other she took it off.</p> +<div class="figleft" style="width: 270px;"> +<img src="images/gs03-tom-sitting-holding-fish.png" width="270" height="300" alt="Holding a fish" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>"Now," she said, "you are safe up the stairs." +Tom opened his eyes very wide, and his mouth too; +for he had not, as he thought, moved a single step. +But, when he looked round him, there could be no +doubt that he was safe up the backstairs, whatsoever<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[264]</a></span> +they may be, which no man +is going to tell you, for the +plain reason that no man +knows.</p> + + +<p>The first thing which +Tom saw was the black +cedars, high and sharp +against the rosy dawn; and +St. Brandan's Isle reflected +double in the still broad silver sea. The wind sang +softly in the cedars, and the water sang among the +caves; the sea-birds sang as they streamed out into +the ocean, and the land-birds as they built among the +boughs; and the air was so full of song that it stirred +St. Brandan and his hermits, as they slumbered in +the shade; and they moved their good old lips, and +sang their morning hymn amid their dreams. But +among all the songs one came across the water more +sweet and clear than all; for it was the song of a +young girl's voice.</p> + +<p>And what was the song which she sang? Ah, my +little man, I am too old to sing that song, and you +too young to understand it. But have patience, and +keep your eye single, and your hands clean, and you +will learn some day to sing it yourself, without needing +any man to teach you.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[265]</a></span></p> + +<p>And as Tom neared the island, there sat upon a +rock the most graceful creature that ever was seen, +looking down, with her chin upon her hand, and +paddling with her feet in the water. And when +they came to her she looked up, and behold it was +Ellie.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Miss Ellie," said he, "how you are +grown!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Tom," said she, "how you are grown too!"</p> + +<p>And no wonder; they were both quite grown up—he +into a tall man, and she into a beautiful woman.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps I may be grown," she said. "I have +had time enough; for I have been sitting here waiting +for you many a hundred years, till I thought +you were never coming."</p> + +<p>"Many a hundred years?" thought Tom; but he +had seen so much in his travels that he had quite +given up being astonished; and, indeed, he could +think of nothing but Ellie. So he stood and looked +at Ellie, and Ellie looked at him; and they liked the +employment so much that they stood and looked for +seven years more, and neither spoke nor stirred.</p> + +<p>At last they heard the fairy say: "Attention, children. +Are you never going to look at me again?"</p> + +<p>"We have been looking at you all this while," +they said. And so they thought they had been.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[266]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Then look at me once more," said she.</p> + +<p>They looked—and both of them cried out at once, +"Oh, who are you, after all?"</p> + +<p>"You are our dear Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby."</p> + +<p>"No, you are good Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid; but +you are grown quite beautiful now!"</p> + +<p>"To you," said the fairy, "but look again."</p> + +<p>"You are Mother Carey," said Tom, in a very +low, solemn voice; for he had found out something +which made him very happy, and yet frightened him +more than all that he had ever seen.</p> + +<p>"But you are grown quite young again."</p> + +<p>"To you," said the fairy. "Look again."</p> + +<p>"You are the Irishwoman who met me the day I +went to Harthover!"</p> + +<p>And when they looked she was neither of them, +and yet all of them at once.</p> + +<p>"My name is written in my eyes, if you have eyes +to see it there."</p> + +<p>And they looked into her great, deep, soft eyes, +and they changed again and again into every hue, +as the light changes in a diamond.</p> + +<p>"Now read my name," said she, at last.</p> + +<p>And her eyes flashed, for one moment, clear, +white, blazing light: but the children could not read<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[267]</a></span> +her name; for they were dazzled, and hid their faces +in their hands.</p> + +<p>"Not yet, young things, not yet," said she, smiling; +and then she turned to Ellie.</p> + +<p>"You may take him home with you now on Sundays, +Ellie. He has won his spurs in the great +battle, and become fit to go with you and be a man; +because he has done the thing he did not like."</p> + +<p>So Tom went home with Ellie on Sundays, and +sometimes on week-days, too; and he is now a great +man of science, and can plan railroads, and steam-engines, +and electric telegraphs, and rifled guns, and +so forth; and knows everything about everything, +except why a hen's egg don't turn into a crocodile, +and two or three other little things which no one +will know till the coming of the Cocqcigrues. And +all this from what he learnt when he was a water-baby, +underneath the sea.</p> + +<p>"And of course Tom married Ellie?"</p> + +<p>My dear child, what a silly notion! Don't you +know that no one ever marries in a fairy tale, under +the rank of a prince or a princess?</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[268]</a></span></p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/gs05-two-babies-looking-downcast.png" width="500" height="146" alt="Two downcast babies" title="" /> +</div> + + + +<h2>MORAL</h2> + + +<p><i>And now, my dear little man, what should we +learn from this parable?</i></p> + +<p><i>We should learn thirty-seven or thirty-nine things, +I am not exactly sure which: but one thing, at least, +we may learn, and that is this—when we see efts in +the pond, never to throw stones at them, or catch +them with crooked pins, or put them into vivariums +with sticklebacks, that the sticklebacks may prick +them in their poor little stomachs, and make them +jump out of the glass into somebody's work-box, and +so come to a bad end. For these efts are nothing else +but the water-babies who are stupid and dirty, and +will not learn their lessons and keep themselves +clean; and, therefore (as comparative anatomists +will tell you fifty years hence, though they are not +learned enough to tell you now), their skulls grow +fat, their jaws grow out, and their brains grow small, +and their tails grow long, and they lose all their ribs +(which I am sure you would not like to do), and +their skins grow dirty and spotted, and they never<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[269]</a></span> +get into the clear rivers, much less into the great +wide sea, but hang about in dirty ponds, and live in +the mud, and eat worms, as they deserve to do.</i></p> + +<p><i>But that is no reason why you should ill-use them: +but only why you should pity them and be kind to +them, and hope that some day they will wake up, and +be ashamed of their nasty, dirty, lazy, stupid life, +and try to amend, and become something better once +more. For, perhaps, if they do so, then after +379,423 years, nine months, thirteen days, two +hours, and twenty-one minutes (for aught that appears +to the contrary), if they work very hard and +wash very hard all that time, their brains may grow +bigger, and their jaws grow smaller, and their ribs +come back, and their tails wither off, and they will +turn into water-babies again, and perhaps after that +into land-babies; and after that perhaps into grown +men.</i></p> + +<p><i>You know they won't? Very well, I daresay you +know best. But you see, some folks have a great +liking for those poor little efts. They never did +anybody any harm, or could if they tried; and their +only fault is, that they do no good—any more than +some thousands of their betters. But what with +ducks, and what with pike, and what with sticklebacks, +and what with water-beetles, and what with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[270]</a></span> +naughty boys, they are "sae sair hadden doun," as +the Scotsmen say, that it is a wonder how they live; +and some folks can't help hoping, with good Bishop +Butler, that they may have another chance, to make +things fair and even, somewhere, somewhen, somehow.</i></p> + +<p><i>Meanwhile, do you learn your lessons, and thank +God that you have plenty of cold water to wash in; +and wash in it too. And then, if my story is not true, +something better is; and if I am not quite right, still +you will be, as long as you stick to hard work and +cold water.</i></p> + +<p><i>But remember always, as I told you at first, that +this is all a fairy tale, and only fun and pretence: +and, therefore, you are not to believe a word of it, +even if it is true.</i></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/gs06-baby-sitting-on-reed-leaf.png" width="500" height="165" alt="Baby sitting on reed leaf" title="" /> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class='tnote'><h3>Transcriber's Notes:</h3> +<p>Obvious punctuation errors repaired.</p> +<p><a href="#Page_237">Page 237</a>, paragraph break was introduced after (you have seen!")</p> +<p>The remaining corrections made are indicated by dotted lines under the corrections. Scroll the mouse over the word and the original text will <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'apprear'">appear</ins>.</p></div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Water-Babies, by Charles Kingsley + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WATER-BABIES *** + +***** This file should be named 36309-h.htm or 36309-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/3/0/36309/ + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Emmy and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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