Bedtime Tale: The Water Babies Ch 3/Part 1

Enjoy this bedtime tale to help you drift off into a peaceful slumber. Tonight we read Chapter 3/Part 1 of the classic, The Water Babies, by Charles Kingsley. This reading describes Tom's experience in his new environment.

This audio is perfect for children or adults who want to relax, discover magic, or find adventure before a great night's sleep.

Transcript

The Water Babies A Fairy Tale for a Land Baby by Charles Kingsley Chapter 3 Part 1 Tom was now quite amphibious.

You do not know what that means?

You had better,

Then,

Ask the nearest government pupil teacher who may possibly answer you smartly enough thus.

Amphibious Adjective derived from two Greek words amphi,

A fish and bios,

A beast an animal supposed by our ignorant ancestors to be compounded of a fish and a beast which therefore,

Like the hippopotamus can't live on land and dies in the water.

However that may be,

Tom was amphibious and what is better still,

He was clean.

For the first time in his life he felt how comfortable it was to have nothing on him but himself.

But he only enjoyed it.

He did not know it,

Or think about it just as you enjoy life and health and yet never think about being alive and healthy and may it be long before you have to think about it.

He did not remember having ever been dirty.

Indeed,

He did not remember any of his old troubles being tired,

Or hungry,

Or beaten or sent up dark chimneys.

Since that sweet sleep he had forgotten all about his master and hearth over place and the little white girl and in a word,

All that had happened to him when he lived before.

And what was best of all he had forgotten all the bad words which he had learned from grimes and the rude boys with whom he used to play.

That is not strange for you know,

When you came into this world and became a land baby you remembered nothing.

So why should he when he became a water baby?

Then have you lived before?

My dear child,

Who can tell?

One can only tell that by remembering something which happened where we lived before and as we remember nothing we know nothing about it and no book and no man can ever tell us certainly.

There was a wise man once a very wise man and a very good man who wrote a poem about the feelings which some children have about having lived before and this is what he said Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting The soul that rises with us Our life's star Hath elsewhere had its setting And cometh from afar Not an entire forgetfulness And not an utter nakedness But trailing clouds of glory Do we come from God Who is our home There,

You can know no more than that But if I was you I would believe that For then the great fairy science Who is likely to be the queen of all the fairies For many a year to come Can only do you good And never do you harm And instead of fancying with some people That your body makes your soul As if a steam engine could make its own coke Or that some people That your soul has nothing to do with your body But it is only stuck into it like a pin into a pin cushion To fall out with the first shake You will believe the one true Orthodox Rational Philosophical Logical Realistic Inductive Deductive Seductive Productive Comfortable And on all accounts to be received Doctrine of this wonderful fairy tale Which is That your soul makes your body Just as a snail makes his shell For the rest it is enough for us to be sure That whether or not we lived before We shall live again Though not,

I hope,

As poor little heathen Tom did For he went downward into the water But we,

I hope,

Shall go upward To a very different place But Tom was very happy in the water He had been sadly overworked in the land world And so now,

To make up for that He had nothing but holidays in the water world For a long,

Long time to come He had nothing to do now but enjoy himself And look at all the pretty things Which were to be seen in the cool,

Clear water world Where the sun is never too hot And the frost is never too cold And what did he live on?

Watercresses perhaps?

Or perhaps water gruel and water milk?

Too many land babies do so likewise But we do not know that one-tenth of the water things eat So we are not answerable for the water babies Sometimes he went along the smooth gravel waterways Looking at the crickets which ran in and out among the stones As rabbits do on land Or he climbed over the ledges of rock And saw the sandpipes hanging in thousands With every one of them a pretty little head and legs peeping out Or he went into a still corner And watched the caddises eating dead sticks As greedily as you would eat plum pudding And building their houses with silk and glue Very fanciful ladies they were None of them would keep to the same materials for a day One would begin with some pebbles Then she would stick on a piece of green wood Then she found a shell and stuck it on too And the poor shell was alive And did not at all like being taken to build houses with But the caddise did not let him have any voice in the matter Being rude and selfish As vain people are apt to be Then she stuck on a piece of rotten wood Then a very smart pink stone And so on Till she was patched all over like an Irishman's coat Then she found a long straw Five times as long as herself And said,

Hurrah!

My sister has a tail And I'll have one too And she stuck it on her back And marched about it quite proud Though it was very inconvenient indeed And at that,

Tails became all the fashion among The caddise baits in the pool As they were at the end of the long pond last May And they all toddled about with long straws sticking out behind Getting between each other's legs And tumbling over each other And looking so ridiculous That Tom laughed at them till he cried As we did But they were quite right,

You know For people must always follow the fashion Even if it be spoon bonnets Then sometimes he came to a deep still reach And there he saw the water forests They would have looked to you only little weeds But Tom,

You must remember It was so little that everything looked a hundred times as big to him As it does to you Just as things do to a minnow Who sees and catches the little water creatures Which you can only see in a microscope And in the water forest He saw the water monkeys And water squirrels They had all six legs though Everything almost has six legs in the water Except Fs and water babies And nimbly enough,

They ran among the branches There were water flowers there too,

And thousands And Tom tried to pick them But as soon as he touched them They drew themselves in and turned into knots of jelly And then Tom saw that they were all alive Bells and stars and wheels and flowers Of all beautiful shapes and colors And all alive and busy Just as Tom was So now he found that there was a great deal more in the world Than he had fancied at first sight There was one wonderful little fellow too Who peeped out of the top of the house built of round bricks He had two big wheels and one little one All over teeth,

Spinning round and round Like the wheels in a thrashing machine And Tom stood and stared at him To see what he was going to make with his machinery And what do you think he was doing?

Brick making With his two big wheels he swept together all the mud Which floated in the water All that was nice in it he put into his stomach and ate And all the mud he put into the little wheel on his breast Which really was a round hole set with teeth And there he spun it into a neat hard round brick And then he took it and stuck it on the top of his house wall And set to work to make another Now was not he a clever little fellow?

Tom thought so But when he wanted to talk to him The brick maker was much too busy and proud of his work To take notice of him Now you must know that all things under the water talk Only not such a language as ours But such as horses and dogs and cows and birds talk to each other And Tom soon learned to understand them and talk to them So that he might have had very pleasant company If he had only been a good boy But I am sorry to say He was too like some other little boys Very fond of hunting and tormenting creatures for mere sport Some people say that boys cannot help it That it is nature And only a proof that we are originally descended from beasts of prey But whether it is nature or not Little boys can help it and must help it For if they have naughty,

Low,

Mischievous tricks in their nature As monkeys have That is no reason why they should give way to those tricks like monkeys Who know no better And therefore they must not torment dumb creatures For if they do A certain old lady who is coming Will surely give them exactly what they deserve But Tom did not know that And he pecked and howked the poor water things about sadly Till they were all afraid of him And got out of his way Or crept into their shells So he had no one to speak or to play with The water fairies of course Were very sorry to see him so unhappy And longed to take him And tell him how naughty he was And to teach him to be good And to play and romp with him too But they had been forbidden to do that Tom had to learn his lesson for himself By sound and sharp experience As many other foolish people have to do Though there may be many a kind heart Yearning over them all the while And longing to teach them what they can only teach themselves At last one day he found a caddice And wanted it to peep out of its house But its house door was shut He had never seen a caddice with a house door before So what must he do,

The meddlesome little fellow But pull it open To see what the poor lady was doing inside What a shame How should you like to have anyone breaking your bedroom door in To see how you looked when you were in bed So Tom broke the pieces of the door Which was the prettiest little grating of silk Stuck all over with shining bits of crystal And when he looked in The caddice poked out her head And it had turned into just the shape of a bird's But when Tom spoke to her she could not answer For her mouth and face were tight tied up In a new nightcap of neat pink skin However,

If she didn't answer All the other caddices did For they held up their hands and shrieked like cats Oh you nasty horrid boy There you are at it again She had just laid herself up for a fortnight's sleep And then she would have to come out with such beautiful wings And flown about And laid such a lots of eggs And now you have broken her door And she can't mend it because her mouth is tied up for a fortnight And she will die Who sent you here to worry us out of our lives So Tom swam away He was very much ashamed of himself And felt all the naughtier As little boys do when they have done wrong And won't say so Then he came to a pool full of little trout And began tormenting them And trying to catch them But they slipped through his fingers And jumped clean out of the water in their fright But as Tom chased them He came close to a great dark hover under an alder root And flushed a huge old brown trout Ten times as big as he was And ran right against him And knocked all the breath out of his body And I don't know which was more frightened of the two Then he went on sulky and lonely as he deserved to be And under a bank he saw a very ugly dirty creature sitting About half as big as himself Which had six legs And a big stomach And this ridiculous head with two great eyes and a face Just like a donkey's Oh,

Said Tom You are an ugly fellow to be sure And then he began making faces at him And put his nose close to him And hallowed at him like a very rude boy When,

Hey presto All the things donkey face came off in the moment And out popped a long arm with a pair of pinchers at the end of it And caught Tom by the nose It did not hurt him much But it held him quite tight Ah,

Oh let me go,

Cried Tom Then let me go,

Said the creature I want to be quiet I want to split Tom promised to let him alone And he let go Why do you want to split,

Said Tom Because my brothers and sisters have all split And turned into beautiful creatures with wings And I want to split too Don't speak to me I am sure I shall split I will split Tom stood still and watched him And he swelled himself And puffed and stretched himself out stiff And at last,

Crack,

Puff,

Bang He opened all down his back And then up to the top of his head And out of his inside came the most slender,

Elegant,

Soft creature As soft and smooth as Tom But very pale and weak Like a little child who's been ill a long time in a dark room It moved its legs very feebly And looked about it half ashamed Like a girl when she goes for the first time into a ballroom And then it began walking slowly up a grass stem To the top of the water Tom was so astonished that he never said a word But he stared with all his eyes And he went up to the top of the water too And peeped out to see what would happen And as the creature sat in the warm,

Bright sun A wonderful change came over it It grew strong and firm The most lovely colors began to show on its body Blue and yellow and black Spots of bars and rings Out of its back rose four great wings Of bright brown gauze And its eyes grew so large that they filled all its head And shone like ten thousand diamonds Oh,

You beautiful creature,

Said Tom And he put his hand out to catch it But the thing whirled up into the air And hung poised on its wings a moment And then settled down again by Tom,

Quite fearless No,

It said,

You cannot catch me I am a dragonfly now The king of all the flies And I shall dance in the sunshine And hawk over the river And catch gnats And I have a beautiful wife like myself I know what I shall do Hurrah And he flew away into the air And began catching gnats I will come back Come back,

Cried Tom You beautiful creature I have no one to play with And I'm so lonely here If you will but come back,

I will never try to catch you I don't care whether you do or not,

Said the dragonfly For you can't But when I have my dinner And looked a little about this pretty place I will come back And have a little chat about all I have seen in my travels Why,

What a huge tree this is And what huge leaves on it It was only a big dock But you know the dragonfly had never seen anything but little water trees Starwort and milfoil And water crowfoot And such light So it did look very big to him Besides,

He was very short-sighted As all dragonflies are And never could see a yard before his nose Any more than a great many other folks Who are not half as handsome as he The dragonfly did come back And chatted away with Tom He was a little conceited about his fine colors And his large wings But you know,

He had been a poor,

Dirty,

Ugly creature all his life before So there were great excuses for him He was very fond of talking all about the wonderful things he saw in the trees and the meadows And Tom liked to listen to him For he had forgotten all about them So in a little while they became great friends And I am very glad to say That Tom learned such a lesson that day That he did not torment creatures for a long time after And then the caddises grew quite tame And used to tell him strange stories About the way they built their houses And changed their skins And turned at last into winged flies Till Tom began to long to change his skin And have wings like them someday And the trout and he made it up For trout very soon forget if they've been frightened or hurt So Tom used to play with them at hare and hounds And great fun they had And he used to try to leap out of the water,

Head over heels As they did before a shower came on But somehow he never could manage it He liked most,

Though,

To see them rising at the flies As they sailed round and round under the shadow of the great oak Where the beetles fell flop into the water And the green caterpillars let themselves down from the boughs By silk ropes for no reason at all And then changed their foolish minds for no reason at all either And hauled themselves up again into the tree Rolling up the rope in a ball between their paws Which is a very clever rope-dancer's trick And neither Blondin nor Leotard could do it But why they should take so much trouble about it,

No one can tell For they cannot get their living,

As Blondin and Leotard do By trying to break their necks on a string And very often Tom caught them just as they touched the water And caught the alder flies and the caperers And the cocktail duns and spinners,

Yellow and brown And claret and grey And gave them to his friends the trout Perhaps he was not quite kind to the flies But one must do a good turn to one's friends when one can And at last he gave up catching even the flies For he made acquaintances with one by accident And found him a very merry little fellow And this was the way it happened And it is all quite true He was basking at the top of the water one hot day in July Catching duns and feeding the trout When he saw a new sort A dark grey little fellow with a brown head He was a very little fellow indeed But he made the most of himself,

As people ought to do He cocked up his head,

And he cocked up his wings And he cocked up his tail And he cocked up two whisks at his tail end And in short,

He looked like the cockiest little man of all little men And so he proved to be For instead of getting away,

He hopped upon Tom's finger And sat there as bold as nine tailors And he cried out in the tiniest,

Shrillest,

Squeakiest little voice you ever heard Much obliged to you indeed,

But I don't want it yet Want what,

Said Tom,

Quite taken aback by his impudence Your leg,

Which you are kind enough to hold out for me to sit on I must just go and see after my wife for a few minutes Dear me,

What a troublesome business a family is Though the idle little rogue did nothing at all But left his poor wife to lay all the eggs by herself When I come back,

I shall be glad of it And if you'll be so good as to keep it sticking out just so And off he flew Tom thought him a very cool sort of personage And still more so when in five minutes he came back and said Ah,

You were tired waiting?

Well,

Your other leg will do as well And he popped himself down on Tom's knee And began chatting away in his squeaky voice So,

You live under the water It's a low place I lived there for some time And was very shabby and dirty But I didn't choose that It should last So I turned respectable And came up to the top And put on this grey suit A very business-like suit You think,

Don't you?

Very neat and quiet indeed,

Said Tom Yes,

One must be quiet and neat and respectable And all that sort of thing for a little When one becomes a family man But I'm tired of it,

That's the truth I've done quite enough business,

I consider,

In the last week To last me my life So I shall put on a ball dress And go out and be a smart man And see the gay world And have a dance or two Why shouldn't one be jolly if one can?

And what will become of your wife?

Oh,

She is a very plain,

Stupid creature And that's the truth And thinks about nothing but eggs If she chooses to come,

Why she may And if not,

Why I will go without her And here I go And as he spoke,

He turned quite pale And then quite white Why,

You're ill,

Said Tom But he did not answer You're dead,

Said Tom Looking at him as he stood on his knee As white as a ghost No,

I ain't,

Answered a little squeaking voice over his head This is me up here In my ball dress And that's my skin Ha ha,

You cannot do such a trick as that And no more Tom could Nor Houdin,

Nor Robin Nor Frickle,

Nor all the conjurers in the world For the little rogue had jumped clean out of his own skin And left it standing on Tom's knee Eyes,

Wings,

Legs,

Tail Exactly as if it had been alive Ha ha,

He said And he jerked and skipped up and down Never stopping an instant Just as if he had St.

Vitus's dance Ain't I a pretty fellow now?

And so he was For his body was white,

His tail orange And his eyes all the colors of a peacock's tail And what was the oddest of all?

The whisks at the end of his tail Had grown five times as long as they were before Ah,

Said he Now I will go and see the gay world My living won't cost me much For I have no mouth,

You see And no inside So I can never be hungry Nor have the stomach ache either No more he had He had grown as dry and hard and empty as a quill As such,

Silly,

Shallow-hearted fellows deserve to grow But instead of being ashamed of his emptiness He was quite proud of it As a good many fine gentlemen are And began flirting and flipping up and down,

Singing My wife shall dance and I shall sing So merrily past the day For I hold it quite the wisest thing To drive dull care away And he danced up and down For three days and three nights Till he grew so tired That he tumbled into the water And floated down But what became of him Tom never knew And he himself never minded For Tom heard him singing to the last As he floated down To drive dull care away And if he did not care Why,

Nobody else cared either And that is the end of our story this evening Until next time Sweet dreams