Transcribed from the 1889 Macmillan and Co. edition by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org THE WATER BABIES A Fairy Tale for a Land-Baby * * * * * BY CHARLES KINGSLEY * * * * * _NEW EDITION_ WITH ONE HUNDRED ILLUSTRATIONS BY LINLEY SAMBOURNE * * * * * London MACMILLAN AND CO. AND NEW YORK 1889 _All rights reserved_ * * * * * _Printed by_ R. & R. CLARK, _Edinburgh_ * * * * * 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. [Picture: Water babies and frogs playing leap-frog] “I heard a thousand blended notes, While in a grove I sate reclined; In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts Being 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 “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. [Picture: Little chimney-sweep]