Then the procession moved out again, and Effie clung still to the little man's seal-skin cap, as she sat on her cushion of sea-weed, upon the hump on his back; and he marched along, using his flat hands like oars, while the gruff old constable with his sword, and the dolphins and the fishes, great and small, moved beside the pair, and they all went swiftly up from the light to the darker green, the voices growing fainter to Effie, and their forms more indistinct. The little sea-green man brought Effie out of the water, and set her down on the beach, and then, making his profoundest bow, he walked off to the water again, the ends of his seal-skin cap dangling and bobbing behind. Effie watched him go under the water, and then walked up into the house. There was her mother frying some fish which Father Gilder had just brought home for supper, while he was chopping wood at the side of the house. It was not a bit like the beautiful palace she had seen, with the Queen of the Ocean Deeps, and her maidens about her, weaving and singing songs. Effie wished the little sea-green man had never brought her up again, but had let her always live in such a beautiful place. "What's the matter, Effie?" asked her mother, looking up from the frying-pan, and seeing Effie stand there, staring into the fire. "Oh, mother!" said she, "I have seen such beautiful things!" "Whereabouts, child!" "Oh, way down under the water! Such a funny little man, all dressed in sea-weed, took me down on his back, and--" "Nonsense, Effie! don't come to me with such stories. Go and wash your face and hands, and get yourself ready for supper." "But really! mother,--" "Sh! child; do as I tell you, and don't talk to _me_ about your going down underneath the water; you'd ha' been wet through if you had." "But he covered me all up with sea-weed." "Poh! you've been asleep on the rock, and dreaming about it; it's a wonder you didn't fall off into the water. Come! run and wash yourself. Supper's most ready." Effie went off pouting; and Mother Gilder took the frying-pan off the fire with the fish sizzling and smoking hot. "Come, father!" said she, "and Effie, hurry up! supper's on the table." "Where's your little dog, Effie?" said her father. Effie didn't speak. "Have you eat him up, eh?" Never a word from Effie. "The child is naughty!" said her mother, "Effie, speak to your father!" But Effie looked crosser than ever. "Well, you shall go to bed without your supper," said Mrs. Gilder, getting up, "if you're going to behave so. The little thing's been telling some ridiculous story about a man's taking her down under the water on his back!" "He _did_ take me down!" cried Effie, "and I wish I'd stayed there! erhn! erhn! erhn!" and she cried and cried. "Soh, soh, little one," said Father Gilder, "you wouldn't want to leave your old father and mother, would you, Effie?" "N-n-n-no, b-b-but m-m-mother said I didn't go."