Wet Magic E. Nesbit (interesting books to read for teens txt) đ
- Author: E. Nesbit
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âAll right, Mummy. Now, Bearâ âdonât be a young rotter. Whatâs the news?â
âYouâre hurting my ear,â was all Bernardâs rejoinder.
âAll right,â said Francis, âweâve got some news too. But we wonât tell, will we, Mavis?â
âOh donât,â said Kathleen, âdonât letâs be sneaky, the very first day too. Itâs only that theyâve caught the Mermaid, and Iâm afraid sheâll die in captivity, like you said. Whatâs yours?â
Francis had released Bernardâs ear and now he turned to Mavis.
âSo thatâs it,â he said slowlyâ ââwhoâs got her?â
âThe circus people. Whatâs your news?â asked Kathleen eagerly.
âAfter brek,â said Francis. âYes, Mother, half a sec! I apologize about the ear, Bernard. We will tell you all. Oh, itâs quite different from what you think. We meet and discuss the situation in the mill the minute weâre free from brek. Agreed? Right! Yes, Mother, coming!â
âThen there must,â Mavis whispered to Francis, âbe two Mermaids. They canât both be Sabrinaâ ââ ⊠then whichâ ââ âŠâ?â
âWeâve got to save one of them anyhow,â Francis answered with the light of big adventure in his eye, âthey die in captivity.â
III The RescueThe great question, of course, wasâ âWould Mother take them to the circus, or would she, if she wouldnât herself take them, let them go alone? She had once, in Buckinghamshire, allowed them to go to a traveling menagerie, after exacting from them a promise that they were not to touch any of the animals, and they had seen reason to regret their promise when the showman offered to let them stroke his tame performing wolf, who was so very like a collie. When they had said, âNo, thank you,â the showman had said, âOh, frightened, are you? Run along home to Mammy then!â and the bystanders had laughed in a most insulting way. At a circus, of course, the horses and things arenât near enough for you to stroke them, so this time they might not be asked to promise. If Mother came with them her presence, though agreeable, would certainly add to the difficulties, already quite enoughâ âas even Mavis could not but seeâ âof rescuing the Mermaid. But suppose Mother didnât come with them.
âSuppose we have to promise we wonât touch any of the animals?â suggested Cathay. âYou canât rescue a person without touching it.â
âThatâs just it,â said Mavis, âa Mermaid isnât an animal. Sheâs a person.â
âBut suppose it isnât that sort of Mermaid,â said Bernard. âSuppose itâs the sort that other people call seals, like it said in the paper.â
âWell, it isnât,â said Francis briefly, adding, âso there!â
They were talking in the front garden, leaning over the green gate while Mother upstairs unpacked the luggage that had been the mound with spades on top only yesterday, at Waterloo.
âMavis!â Mother called through the open window. âI can only findâ âbut youâd better come up.â
âI ought to offer to help Mother unpack,â said Mavis, and went walking slowly.
She came back after a little while, however, quickly running.
âItâs all right,â she said. âMotherâs going to meet Daddy at the Junction this afternoon and buy us sunbonnets. And weâre to take our spades and go down to the sea till dinnertimeâ âitâs roast rabbit and apple dumpsâ âI asked Mrs. Pearceâ âand we can go to the circus by ourselvesâ âand she never said a word about promise not to touch the animals.â
So off they went, down the white road where the yellowhammer was talking about himself as usual on the tree just beyond wherever you happened to be walking. And so to the beach.
Now, it is very difficult to care much about a Mermaid you have never seen or heard or touched. On the other hand, when once you have seen one and touched one and heard one speak, you seem to care for very little else. This was why when they got to the shore Kathleen and Bernard began at once to dig the moat of a sandcastle, while the elder ones walked up and down, dragging the new spades after them like some new kind of tail, and talking, talking, talking till Kathleen said they might help dig or the tide would be in before the castle was done.
âYou donât know what a lark sandcastles are, France,â she added kindly, âbecause youâve never seen the sea before.â
So then they all dug and piled and patted and made molds of their pails to stand as towers to the castle and dug out dungeons and tunnels and bridges, only the roof always gave way in the end unless you had beaten the sand very tight beforehand. It was a glorious castle, though not quite finished when the first thin flat wash of the sea reached it. And then everyone worked twice as hard trying to keep the sea out till all was hopeless, and then everyone crowded into the castle and the sea washed it away bit by bit till there was only a shapeless island left, and everyone was wet through and had to change every single thing the minute they got home. You will know by that how much they enjoyed themselves.
After the roast rabbit and the apple dumplings Mother started on the sunbonnet-and-meet-Daddy expedition. Francis went with her to the station and returned a little sad.
âI had to promise not to touch any of the animals,â he said. âAnd perhaps a Mermaid is an animal.â
âNot if she can speak,â said Kathleen. âI say, donât you think we ought to wear our best thingsâ âI do. Itâs more respectable to the wonders of the deep. Sheâd like us to look beautiful.â
âIâm not going to change for anybody,â said Bernard firmly.
âAll right, Bear,â said Mavis. âOnly we will. Remember itâs magic.â
âI say, France,â he said, âdo you think we ought to change?â
âNo, I donât,â Francis answered. âI donât believe Mermaids care a bit what youâve got on. You see, they donât wear anything but tails and hair and looking glasses themselves. If thereâs any beautifulness to be done they jolly well do it themselves. But I donât say you wouldnât be better for washing
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