[Illustration: Cover] [Illustration: "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_)] 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. 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