# The Water Babies

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THE WATER BABIES
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HE WAS A LITTLE CONCEITED ABOUT HIS FINE COLOURS AND HIS LARGE WINGS
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THE
WATER-BABIES
A Fairy Tale for
a Land-Baby
BY
CHARLES
KINGSLEY
with illustrations by
W. HEATH ROBINSON
BOSTON & NEW YORK HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
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First Published 1915.
Printed in Great Britain.
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CONTENTS
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LIST OF COLOURED PLATES
| He was a little conceited about his fine Colours and his large Wings | | Frontispiece |
| There are Land Babies—then why not Water-Babies? | Facing page | 66 |
| Down to the Sea, down to the Sea! | ,, | 100 |
| But the Fairies took to the Water-Babies | ,, | 176 |
| The other Children warned him | ,, | 180 |
| And Tom looked up into her Eyes | ,, | 192 |
| There would be a New Water-Baby in St. Brandan's Isle | ,, | 248 |
| I have been sitting here waiting for you many a Hundred Years | ,, | 314 |
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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
| | PAGE |
| Playing Leap frog over the Posts | 2 |
| And some because they want to climb Alps | 6 |
| On they went | 7 |
| Trudging along with a Bundle at her Back | 9 |
| And began dipping his ugly Head into the Spring | 12 |
| "I was told to expect thee" | 14 |
| And bade them begin in a lofty and tremendous Voice | 19 |
| Up jumped the little white Lady in her Bed | 23 |
| And gave Chase to poor Tom | 25 |
| And gave Chase to Tom likewise | 26 |
| Then he saw Lizards | 31 |
| Play by me, bathe in me, Mother and Child | 37 |
| The Girls began to cry | 44 |
| The Boys began to laugh | 45 |
| "What art thou, and what dost want?" cried the old Dame | 46 |
| She had stepped down into the cool clear Water | 50 |
| They may be just what makes the World go round | 53 |
| Somebody would have caught one at least | 61 |
| People call them Pterodactyles | 65 |
| No Water-babies, indeed? | 66 |
| Cousin Cramchild's Arguments | 67 |
| Tom was quite alive, and cleaner, and merrier than he ever had been | 70 |
| When all the World is young, Lad | 72 |
| And every Lass a Queen | 74 |
| ​And learn your Multiplication Table | 75 |
| Not in entire Forgetfulness | 79 |
| So he had no one to speak to or play with | 82 |
| And jumped clean out of the Water | 85 |
| But the Thing whirred up into the Air | 87 |
| "Quick, Children; here is Something to eat, indeed" | 95 |
| And clapped his little Hands | 109 |
| What a well-bred old Salmon he was ! | 111 |
| The wicked old Otter | 112 |
| And perhaps he would never have found his Way, if the Fairies had not guided him | 113 |
| Coasting along the Shore | 114 |
| And sat upon a little Point of Rock | 117 |
| He felt as strong, and light, and fresh, as if his Veins had run Champagne | 121 |
| And he swam on to the Buoy, and got upon it | 123 |
| And the Terns hovered over Tom | 125 |
| Then there came in a great lazy Sunfish | 127 |
| And a very distinguished Lobster he was | 130 |
| Professor Ptthmllnsprts | 136 |
| There used to be Children in the Water | 139 |
| And cried all Day | 154 |
| Spearing Eels and sneezing | 156 |
| And became ever after a sadder and wiser Man | 159 |
| And played Leap-frog with the Town Clerk | 165 |
| A real live Water-baby sitting on the white Sand | 168 |
| They did not want any Introductions there | 170 |
| The Water-babies come inshore after every Storm | 173 |
| And the Fishes told the Water-babies | 175 |
| A very tremendous Lady she was | 180 |
| Then she called up all the careless Nursery-maids | 186 |
| More than half of them were nasty . . . old Monks | 187 |
| Thou little Child | 196 |
| He was all over Prickles | 202 |
| "Dear me!" Said the little Girl; "why, I know you now" | 205 |
| ​Tom asked her | 207 |
| Ellie was quite surprised and sad | 210 |
| He went to the top of the Water and began crying and screaming | 212 |
| And bathed in the warm Springs | 215 |
| In little beside a Cocked Hat and a pair of Straps, or some light Summer Tackle of that kind | 216 |
| And they sat under the Flapdoodle Trees | 217 |
| There were never such comfortable, easy-going, happy-go-lucky People in the World | 218 |
| "You would have ended as an Eft in a Pond" | 224 |
| "Come wander with me" she said | 226 |
| So he asked the Beasts in the Sea | 228 |
| And a very grand old Lady she was | 232 |
| "Two little Birds they sat on a Stone" | 233 |
| And they cawed and cawed | 240 |
| Looking as meek and as neat as a Quakeress | 241 |
| The Good Crow | 242 |
| And fell down dead | 243 |
| And turned into a Water-dog | 246 |
| And ran over the Crests of the Waves | 247 |
| And snapped at the Jelly-fish and the Mackerel | 248 |
| But Epimetheus was a very slow Fellow | 258 |
| Pandora | 260 |
| Old Mother Shipton on her Broomstick | 263 |
| He never turned his Head round once | 264 |
| Ye are better than all the Ballads | 266 |
| He came to the great Sea-serpent himself | 268 |
| There Philosophers demonstrate | 275 |
| He found Gotham, where the Wise Men live | 277 |
| He had a great Pair of Spectacles on his Nose | 280 |
| So he told him prettily enough, while the poor Turnip listened very carefully | 288 |
| And fainted right away | 294 |
| The Sun was drawing Water out of the Sea | 297 |
| ​He saw before him a huge Building | 298 |
| Till he saw running toward him, and shouting "Stop!" three or four People | 301 |
| Out of the Top of it, his Head and Shoulders just showing, stuck poor Mr. Grimes | 302 |
| So she tied the Bandage on his Eyes | 311 |
| The first Thing which Tom saw was the black Cedars | 313 |
| And put Tom's Dog up in his Place | 317 |
| The End | 320 |
This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.
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