The Water-Babies

The Water-Babies is a fairy tale. As the author tells us, “There must be fairies; for this is a fairy tale: and how can one have a fairy tale if there are no fairies?” But the main character isn’t a fairy, he’s a young, ill-treated chimney sweep named Tom who falls into the river and becomes a water-baby.

Being a water-baby, being exactly and only 3.87902 inches long, and being invisible to normal folk, Tom sees his new watery world in ways we can’t. There are observations on the evolution of sea life and on what people should do to protect the aquatic and marine environment. We are told to deplore those cases “where men are wasteful and dirty, and let sewers run into the sea instead of putting the stuff on the fields like thrifty reasonable souls.”

Tom meets other water-babies and finds that, like him, they are children who have “come to grief by ill-usage or ignorance or neglect.” He continues his journey out into the ocean, meeting strange and wonderful denizens of the sea floor. His guides and mentors are two fairies, Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid, and Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby. Everywhere he gains new ideas about the land he left behind. He learns, sadly, that there are too many doctors “who still fancy that a baby’s inside is much like a Scotch grenadier’s.” He also discovers how much education has been improved, “for in the stupid old time, you must understand, children were taught to know one thing, and to know it well; but in these enlightened new times they are taught to know a little about everything, and to know it all ill; which is a great deal pleasanter and easier and therefore quite right.”

The Water-Babies is a remarkable little novel, beautifully descriptive of the natural world, that speaks moral lessons to children and social reform to adults. Part fairy tale and part satire in the mold of Gulliver’s Travels, it is Christian but progressive, supporting Darwin and various social movements. Kingsley seems not to have had much faith in democracy, though, parodying American government as an assembly of crows, and there are other slurs of ethnic and national groups that may have cost this book its place among children’s classics. But it’s still a delight and a surprise to read.

A childhood favorite, but I find it very sad now. ( )

One of my childhood favorites. A lovely fable and fairy tale from the 1860s. Beautiful illustrations by Goble, adorable illos by Atwell & Willcox (yes, I have more than one edition :-)!

A hardworking boy, transformation into a water baby, good fairies, an entire undersea world - pure magic! A treat of a story that makes one WANT to be honest, trustworthy, courageous, determined, considerate, kind, caring, and good! The beauty and benefits of this story far outweigh its few flaws from a dated past.

Somewhat passé today in our politically correct society due to the complacent English prejudices (hopefully only from the era in which it was written) mentioned in it. Racial stereotyping was completely acceptable in children's books (and society as a whole) not just in England but everywhere and not that long ago.

The one bit that stuck with me was something to the effect ... If you ask Paddy (as a symbol for the entire Irish population!) a question and he lies in answer, don't get angry at him as he doesn't know any better. Egads. Hard to believe but sadly too believable. I'm Irish therefore I lie?? OMG!! But in fairness, in the beginning chapters of the book, the author did have the fairy godmother type take the form of a wholly admirable and beautiful Irish peasant woman to look out for and talk to our hero, Tom :-)

As an Irish-American who has never experienced any anti-Irish prejudice, I thoroughly enjoyed this book both as a child and still love it as an adult. So don't let my prejudice comment stop you from reading the book. It's old, from another era, and the author had a well-meaning, kindly but unthinking and sometimes ridiculous victorian paternalistic attitude towards the Irish that I found at worst irksome but easily ignored. It snuck in here and there but was not the focus of the book. And he certainly was not rabidly anti-Irish as some from his era were. Actually, I got the feeling that the author was probably a bit forward thinking and more kindly inclined to the Irish for his time though still a product of his own upbringing and times.

I know that "politically correct" is often made fun of nowadays. I'm all for it in modern lit simply because - to our children- kindness, fairness, and equality will simply be taken for granted one day. And that would be a wonderful thing! But at the same time I would hate for any lit from the past to be white-washed or cleaned up simply to meet today's standards. It is part of a historical record. One day, racial stereotyping will simply be a ridiculous primitive practice from the past. Both kids and adults will enjoy wondering innocently how people could ever have been so silly! Re-writing classics or the past serves no one.

Overall, this is a sweet, wholesome, moral and very appealing book which I would be happy to gift to any child or adult! It still has much to offer the modern reader. ( )

Discovered this treasure when I was a teenager. It still holds up for me today. ( )

Another childhood treasure that I hadn't read before. I'm declaring this one part of my childhood retroactively (ha!) Charming story, with social commentary as well. The version I read was illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith, and the illustrations were beautiful. A magical, healing kind of story.

Here's the author's winding-up of the statement of the moral of his story:

"Meanwhile, do you learn your lessons, and thank God that you have plenty of cold water to wash in; and wash in it too. And then, if my story is not true, something better is; and if I am not quite right, still you will be, as long as you stick to hard work and cold water.

But remember always, as I told you at first, that this is all a fairy tale, and only fun and pretence: and, therefore, you are not to believe a word of it, even if it is true."

I love this book. ( )