The Water-Babies — Charles Kingsley
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 . If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook. Title : The Water-Babies: A Fairy Tale for a Land-Baby Author : Charles Kingsley Illustrator : Warwick Goble Release date : May 23, 2008 [eBook #25564] Most recently updated: December 2, 2023 Language : English Other information and formats : www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/25564 Credits : Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Emmy and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net *** START OF . . a dragon fly, . . . the king of all the flies."— P. 74 ( Frontispiece ) THE WATER-BABIES A Fairy Tale for a Land-Baby BY CHARLES KINGSLEY WITH ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR BY WARWICK GOBLE MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON 1922 First Published 1863 Edition with 32 Illustrations in Colour by Warwick Goble, Crown 4to, 1909 With 16 Illustrations in Colour by Warwick Goble, Demy 8vo, October 1910 Reprinted November 1910, 1912 With 16 Illustrations in Colour by Warwick Goble, Medium 8vo, 1922 PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN TO MY YOUNGEST SON GRENVILLE ARTHUR AND TO ALL OTHER GOOD LITTLE BOYS COME READ ME MY RIDDLE, EACH GOOD LITTLE MAN; IF YOU CANNOT READ IT, NO GROWN-UP FOLK CAN. Contents CHAPTER I CHAPTER II CHAPTER III CHAPTER IV CHAPTER V CHAPTER VI CHAPTER VII CHAPTER VIII and LAST MORAL ILLUSTRATIONS FACING PAGE The thing whirred up into the air, and hung poised on its wings, . . . a dragon fly, . . . the king of all the flies.— p. 74 Frontispiece In rushed a stout old nurse from the next room 20 Play by me, bathe in me, mother and child 32 A quiet, silent, rich, happy place 35 She was the Queen of them all 44 From which great trout rushed out on Tom 88 He watched the moonlight on the rippling river 101 Tom had never seen a lobster before 113 The fairies came flying in at the window and brought her such a pretty pair of wings 126 A real live water-baby, sitting on the white sand 146 Tom found that the isle stood all on pillars, and that its roots were full of caves 151 He crept away among the rocks, and got to the cabinet, and behold! it was open 172 There he saw the last of the Gairfowl, standing up on the Allalonestone, all alone 201 The most beautiful bird of paradise 210 "That's Mother Carey" 219 Pandora and her box 224 "I heard a thousand blended notes, While in a grove I sate reclined; In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts Bring sad thoughts to the mind. "To her fair works did Nature link The human soul that through me ran; And much it grieved my heart to think, What man has made of man." Wordsworth . CHAPTER I 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 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 halfpennies 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 grey ear, and carry her puppies in his pocket, just like a man. And he would have apprentices, one, two, three, if he 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 button-hole, like a king at the head of his army. Yes, there were good times coming; and, when his master let him have a pull at the leavings of his beer, Tom was the jolliest boy in the whole town. 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. 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 h