{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_53901/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_53901","id":"gutenberg_53901","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/53901","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Humour","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Novels","Category: Romance","Category: Science-Fiction & Fantasy","Children's stories","Fantasy fiction","Mermaids -- Juvenile fiction"],"text":"[Illustration: \u201cHe gazed at the wooden creature with all his heart in\nhis eyes.\u201d Page 62.]\n\n\n\n\n                               ADVENTURES\n                                   IN\n                              Shadow-Land.\n\n\n                               CONTAINING\n\n                    Eva\u2019s Adventures in Shadow-Land.\n                           By MARY D. NAUMAN.\n\n                                  AND\n\n                    The Merman and The Figure-Head.\n                         By CLARA F. GUERNSEY.\n\n\n                          TWO VOLUMES IN ONE.\n\n                         _WITH ILLUSTRATIONS._\n\n\n                              PHILADELPHIA\n                         J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO.\n                                 1874.\n\n\n       Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1873, by\n                        J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO.,\n       In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.\n\n                          Lippincott\u2019s Press,\n                             Philadelphia.\n\n\n\n\n                               THE MERMAN\n                                  AND\n                            THE FIGURE-HEAD.\n\n\n\n\n                               CONTENTS.\n\n\n                               CHAPTER I.\n                                                                    PAGE\n  The Sea-Nymph                                                        7\n\n                               CHAPTER II.\n  The Sea Kingdom                                                     28\n\n                               CHAPTER III.\n  The Figure-head                                                     52\n\n                               CHAPTER IV.\n  The Bewitched Lover                                                 74\n\n                                CHAPTER V.\n  The Sea-Nymphs                                                      90\n\n                               CHAPTER VI.\n  Lucy Peabody\u2019s Dream                                               103\n\n\n\n\n                               THE MERMAN\n                                  AND\n                            THE FIGURE-HEAD.\n\n\n\n\n                               CHAPTER I.\n                            _THE SEA-NYMPH._\n\n\n  \u201cI may be wrong, but I think it a pity\n  For a movable doll to be made so pretty.\u201d\n                                                      _Doll Poems._\n\n\u201cI shall call her the Sea-nymph,\u201d said Master Isaac Torrey.\n\n\u201cUmph!\u201d said his clerk, Ichabod Sterns, looking over his spectacles at\nhis master.\n\n\u201cAnd why not The Sea-nymph, pray?\u201d demanded Master Torrey. \u201cWhy, I say,\nshould I not call my fine new brig The Sea-nymph if it pleases my\nfancy?\u201d\n\n\u201cFancy!\u201d said Ichabod Sterns, putting his head on one side. \u201cFancy!\nUmph!\u201d\n\nNow this was most exasperating conduct on Ichabod\u2019s part, and as such\nMaster Torrey felt it.\n\n\u201cYes, if it pleases my fancy,\u201d he repeated, defiantly. \u201cWhat right have\nyou, Ichabod Sterns, to object to that, I should like to know? If I\nchose to name her after the whole choir of all the nymphs that ever swam\nin the sea\u2014Panope and Melite, Arethusa, Leucothea, Thetis, Cymodoce\u2014what\nhave you to say against it? Isn\u2019t she to swim the seas and make her\nliving out of the winds and waves? And what can you object to \u2018The\nSea-nymph?\u2019 I\u2019d like to hear. But it\u2019s your nature to object, Ichabod\nSterns. I\u2019ve no doubt that you came objecting into the world, and I\u2019ve\nno doubt that when your time comes you\u2019ll object to dying. It would be\njust like you.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd death will mind my objections no more than you, Master Torrey,\u201d\nsaid the old clerk, smiling rather grimly as Master Torrey ceased his\npacing up and down the room and flung himself into a chair.\n\n\u201cBut what _is_ your objection to the name?\u201d asked the merchant, calming\ndown a little.\n\n\u201cDid I object?\u201d said Ichabod Sterns.\n\n\u201cDidn\u2019t you? You were bristling all over with objections from the toe of\nyour shoe to the top of your wig.\u201d Ichabod involuntarily put up his hand\nto his wig. \u201cWhy isn\u2019t it a good name for a ship?\u201d\n\n\u201cNay, I know naught against it, Master Torrey, only it is a heathenish\nkind of name for a ship that is to sail out of our decent Christian town\nof Salem.\u201d\n\n\u201cHeathenish! Let me tell you, Master Ichabod, that this world owes a\nvast deal to the heathen\u2014more than she does to some Christians I could\nname.\u201d\n\nNow this awful speech was enough to make the very pig tails of many of\nMaster Torrey\u2019s acquaintance stand on end with horror and surprise. But\nIchabod was used to his master\u2019s ways, so he did not jump out of his\nchair, but only looked to the door to be sure that no one had overheard\nthe terrible statement, for had such been the case there is no telling\nwhat might have come to pass.\n\n\u201cHow do you make that out, Master Torrey?\u201d he said, composedly.\n\n\u201cDid you ever happen to hear of Socrates or Cicero?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, I\u2019ve heard of \u2019em,\u201d said Ichabod.\n\n\u201cAnd did you ever hear of the Duke of Alva, or Cardinal Pole, or Bloody\nQueen Mary, or Catenat?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, I\u2019ve heard of \u2019em,\u201d returned Ichabod again, a little fiercely.\n\n\u201cAnd which was the better man, the Athenian or the Christians who burnt\ntheir fellows at the stake?\u201d said Master Torrey, triumphantly, as one\nwho had made a point.\n\n\u201cUmph!\u201d said Ichabod; \u201cI\u2019m not a scholar like you, Master Torrey, but\nI\u2019d like you to tell me whether they were Christians by name that\npoisoned Socrates and murdered Cicero?\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, no,\u201d said the merchant.\n\n\u201cUmph!\u201d said Ichabod Sterns again, leaning back on his chair and rubbing\nhis hands slowly one over the other.\n\n\u201cWell, what of that?\u201d said Master Torrey, a little taken aback.\n\n\u201cOh, nothing, sir,\u201d said Ichabod; \u201cwe have wandered a long way from the\nname of the new brig.\u201d\n\n\u201cShe shall be The Sea-nymph,\u201d said Master Torrey with decision. \u201cWhat\ncould be better?\u201d\n\n\u201cI thought, Master Torrey, you might have liked to call her the Anna\nJane,\u201d said Ichabod, with a little cracked laugh like an amused crow.\n\nMaster Torrey colored high, but not with displeasure.\n\n\u201cI wouldn\u2019t venture, Ichabod, I wouldn\u2019t dare. She\u2019s too shy, too\nmodest, to be pleased with such an open compliment.\u201d\n\n\u201cUmph!\u201d said the clerk again. It seemed to be a way he had. \u201cBut you are\ndetermined to call her The Sea-nymph, Master Torrey?\u201d\n\n\u201cAh, am I!\u201d replied Torrey, who seemed by no means disposed to pursue\nthe subject of the \u201cinexpressive she,\u201d whoever it might be. \u201cAnd she\nshall have the handsomest figure-head that Job Chippit can carve; and it\nsha\u2019n\u2019t be a mere head and shoulders either, it shall be a full-length\nfigure.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt will cost a good penny, master. Job\u2019s prices are high.\u201d\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s another objection! Who cares what it costs? Am I a destitute\nperson? Am I an absolute pauper? Am I like to apply to the selectmen to\nbe supported by the town?\u201d\n\n\u201cNot yet, master,\u201d said Ichabod, gathering his papers together. \u201cBut if\nwe go to following our _fancies_\u201d\u2014scornful emphasis\u2014\u201cthere is no telling\nwhere we may end;\u201d and without giving his master time to reply, Ichabod\nsped out of the counting-room.\n\nNow I am not going to tell you a long story about Master Torrey, though\nI might do so if I had not a tale to tell you about something\nelse\u2014namely, this sea-nymph and the merman who figure at the head of\nthis story. I was once told by a schoolmaster that in writing there was\n\u201cnothing so important as a strict adherence to facts;\u201d \u201cfax\u201d he called\nthem. I treasured up this valuable precept in the inmost recesses of my\nmind, and I mean to adhere to facts if I possibly can. But I can\u2019t\nadhere to facts till I get them, and to do that I don\u2019t see but I shall\nhave to tell you a little about Master Isaac Torrey, merchant of Salem,\nwho was the means of putting this wonderful figure-head in the merman\u2019s\nway. He was a merchant of Salem when Salem was a centre of trade, and\nsent many a brave ship to the Indies and the Mediterranean. He was\nthirty-four years old, and looked ten years younger. He was a man\ninclined to extravagance and luxury. He wore the handsomest waistcoats\nand the finest lace of any one in town. He had been educated in the\ngravest, strictest fashion of those grave days. His parents would have\nbeen horrified if they had found him reading a novel or a play, but they\nurged him on to study Virgil and Homer.\n\nNow if you will promise, my young readers, never to tell your respected\ninstructors, I will let you into a secret. The truth is that the poems\nof Virgil and Homer are all full of stories as interesting and charming\nas any boy or girl could desire. But this is a circumstance which most\nschool-teachers make it their first object in life to conceal, and they\ngenerally succeed so well that their pupils for the most part go through\ntheir whole course of education and never discover that their Virgils\nand Homers are anything but stupid school-books\u2014a sort of intellectual\ncatacombs enshrining the dryest bones of grammar and parsing.\n\nNow and then, however, a boy or girl finds out that there is food for\nthe imagination in classic poetry. Such had been the case with Isaac\nTorrey, and the verses that he read with his tutor took such a hold upon\nhim that he became what some of his friends called \u201chalf a heathen.\u201d Not\nbut that an acquaintance with the classics was thought becoming, nay,\nessential, to the character of a gentleman. In the speeches and writings\nof those days a due seasoning of allusions to the old gods and a\nsprinkling of Latin quotations was considered the proper thing. But this\nlearning was rather looked upon as solid and ponderous furniture for the\nmind\u2014an instrument of mental discipline. Fancy, imagination, amusement,\nwere ideas much too light and frivolous to be connected with anything so\ngrave, solid and respectable as the intellectual drill for which alone\nLatin and Greek were intended. So when Isaac Torrey talked about the old\ngods as if they had been real existences, and spoke of Achilles, Hector\nand Andromache as though they had been live creatures, he rather\nstartled the excellent young divinity student who was his tutor.\n\nOnce upon a time his father detecting a smell of burning followed it up\nto Isaac\u2019s room, where he found his son in the midst of a cloud of blue\nsmoke. He asked the cause, and was told that in order to procure fair\nweather for the next day\u2019s fishing excursion he (Isaac) had been\nsacrificing a paper bull to Jupiter.\n\nMr. Torrey senior was inexpressibly shocked at the thought that his son\nshould have been guilty of such a heathenish performance. He gave the\nboy a lecture of an hour long, ending with a whipping. He called in the\nminister to talk to him. That gentleman, on being informed of the act of\nidolatry perpetrated in his parish, only took a prodigious pinch of\nsnuff and said: \u201cPooh! pooh! child\u2019s play! child\u2019s play! No use to talk\nabout it. Let the boy alone.\u201d Mr. Torrey had the highest respect for his\nclergyman, and the boy _was_ let alone accordingly, and was deeply\ngrateful to the Rev. Mr. Bartlett.\n\nIsaac grew up tall and handsome, went to school and to college, and in\nspite of numerous prophecies that he would never be good for anything,\nneither went into debt nor disgraced himself in any way. In due course\nof time he succeeded to his father\u2019s business, and astonished every one\nby making money and being successful, in spite of his tasteful dress,\nhis \u201cwild ways\u201d of talking and a report that he actually wrote poetry.\n\nAt the present time he was devoted to Miss Anna Jane Shuttleworth, a\nbeautiful still image of a girl, who was supposed to have a great fund\nof good sense, propriety, prudence and piety, because she liked to sit\nstill and sew from morning to night, and hardly ever opened her lips.\nIchabod Sterns was the old clerk of Isaac\u2019s father. He and his young\nmaster exasperated each other in many ways, but they were fond of each\nother for all that.\n\nFrom the counting-house on the wharf and the talk with Ichabod Sterns,\nMaster Torrey went to the workshop of Job Chippit, who in those days was\nfamous for his skill in the carving of figure-heads.\n\nIn these times Job would probably have been a sculptor, have gone to\nRome and been famous in marble and bronze. But the idea of such a thing\nhad never entered his brain, and he went on from year to year making his\nwooden figures without any thought of a higher calling. He was a little\ndried, brown old man, with bright eyes slightly near-sighted. Year after\nyear he carved Indian chiefs, eagles and wooden maidens for the Sally\nAnns and Susan Janes that sailed from the New England ports, portraits\nof public men, likenesses of William and Mary. He had once made a\nfull-length figure of Oliver Cromwell for a certain stiff-necked old\nmerchant of Boston who called his best ship after the great Protector\u2014a\nstatue which every one thought his finest work. \u201cIt was so natural,\u201d\nsaid the good folks of Salem, and really I don\u2019t know that they could\nhave said anything better even if they had been art critics and had\nwritten for the newspapers.\n\nTrue it was that all Job\u2019s works had a certain live look to them that\nwas almost startling sometimes. The Indians clenched their hatchets with\na savageness quite alarming; they looked as though they might open their\nwooden lips and whoop. His female figures had life and character. Each\ngovernor, senator or general had his own peculiar expression and style.\n\nJob was an artist, and, what was more, he was a well-paid artist. He\nquite appreciated his own genius, and got almost any prices he liked to\nask for his signs and figure-heads. Job was the fashion, and no ship of\nany pretension sailed from a harbor along the coast but carried one of\nhis masterpieces on the bow.\n\nAs Master Torrey entered his shop he was just putting the last touches\nof paint on an oaken bust destined to adorn Captain Peabody\u2019s little\nschooner, The Flora. \u201cSo you have nearly finished The Flora\u2019s\nfigure-head,\u201d said Master Torrey, whose tastes led him to be a frequent\nvisitor at Job\u2019s shop.\n\n\u201cAnd a pretty creature she is,\u201d said Job, suspending his paint-brush\nfull of the yellow-brown pigment with which he was tinging the rippled\nhair of the wooden lady, which was crowned with a garland of flowers\ncarved with no mean skill.\n\n\u201cAnd the flowers! Don\u2019t you think they are an improvement? What did\nCaptain Peabody say to them?\u201d\n\n\u201cHe didn\u2019t jest like them at first,\u201d replied Job, continuing his work.\n\u201cI didn\u2019t myself, to begin with, for you know the ship is called after\nhis wife, and nobody ever see old Mis\u2019 Peabody going round with flowers\nin her hair; but the captain, sez he, \u2018Job, I want to have you make it\nsomethin\u2019 like what Mis\u2019 Peabody was when she was a young woman, ef you\nkin,\u2019 sez he. \u2018She was a most uncommon pretty girl when I went\na-courting in Salsbury.\u2019 Well, I was kind of struck with the idee, and\nthe next day I went to meeting, and I sot and sot, and kind of studied\nthe old lady\u2019s face all through meetin\u2019-time; and when they stood up to\nsing, the choir sang \u2018Amsterdam.\u2019 You know it\u2019s a kind of livening sort\nof hymn. The old lady, she kind of brightened up, and it seemed as if I\ncould see the young face sort of coming out behind the old one. Thinks\nI, \u2018Job Chippit, you\u2019ve got it,\u2019 and when I come home, though it was the\nSabbath day, I couldn\u2019t hardly keep my hands off the tools, and the\nminute the sun was down I went at it. Then when you come in the next day\nand told me about the Flora them old folks used to think took care of\nthe flowers and the spring, it seemed to suit so well with my notion of\nthe old lady when she was young I couldn\u2019t help stickin\u2019 the flowers\nonto her head, like a fool as I was, for they wa\u2019n\u2019t in the bargain, and\nI sha\u2019n\u2019t get no extry pay for \u2019em.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd what did Captain Peabody say?\u201d asked Master Torrey, whose own\nnature found sympathy in that of the artist.\n\n\u201cOh, he was as tickled as could be when I\u2019d persuaded him about the\nflowers. Lucy Peabody, she\u2019s been to see it. She says she expects that\u2019s\nthe way her mother\u2019ll look when she gets to heaven, and the flowers was\nlike the crowns we read about in the Revelations. She\u2019s an awful nice\ngirl, Lucy Peabody. Anna Jane Shuttleworth was with her.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd what did _she_ say?\u201d asked Master Torrey, eagerly.\n\n\u201cOh, nothing. Anna Jane don\u2019t never have much to say for herself. I told\nher the wreath was your notion, and she kind of smiled, but she hadn\u2019t a\nword to say. But look here, Master Torrey, am I to have the making of\nthe figure-head for your new ship, and what is it to be?\u201d\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s just what I have come to see you about, Job,\u201d said Master\nTorrey. \u201cI am going to call her the Sea-nymph, and I want you to make\nthe most beautiful full-length figure of a sea-nymph to stand on her bow\nand look across the water when the brig goes sailing away into the South\nSeas.\u201d\n\n\u201cA _sea-nimp_!\u201d said Job; \u201cand what sort of a critter may that be?\u201d\n\n\u201cDid you never hear of them?\u201d\n\n\u201cNever as I know of. There\u2019s more fish in the sea than ever come out of\nit. I expect these nimps of yourn are some of the kind that never come\nout.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou never were more mistaken in your life, Job Chippit. They have been\nseen on the surface of the sea over and over again. We know almost all\ntheir names, and how could they have names if they were not real beings?\nAnswer me that!\u201d\n\n\u201cOh!\u201d said Job, standing back to take a general survey of his wooden\nFlora. \u201cThey\u2019re some of them heathen young women your head is always so\nfull of, Master Torrey?\u201d\n\n\u201cYoung women! Why they were goddesses, man, or a sort of goddesses. Was\nthere not the white-footed Thetis, mother of Achilles? and did she not\ncome to him with all her attendant nymphs\u2014Melite, and Doris, and\nGalatea, and Panope?\u201d\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve hearn tell of _her_,\u201d said Job, touching up the wreath on Flora\u2019s\nhead; \u201cit\u2019s in Lycidas:\n\n  \u2018The air was calm, and on the level brine\n  _Slick_ Panope and all her sisters played.\u2019\n\n\u201cJest so; I kinder like to read that piece. It don\u2019t seem to have so\nvery much meanin\u2019 to\u2019t, I must say, but I sort of like the sound of it.\nThem nimps lived in the sea, or folks thought they did, didn\u2019t they?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, Job, as we live on the land. I\u2019m by no means sure that I haven\u2019t\nheard and seen Nereides and Oceanides myself when I\u2019ve been out by\nmoonlight on the bay or round the rocks.\u201d\n\n\u201cI guess they never was any round these parts; it\u2019s too cold for \u2019em. I\nknew an old sailor once that said he\u2019d seen a mermaid, but I suppose you\ndon\u2019t want me to stick a curly fish\u2019s tail on your figure-head?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, indeed. Make her full length, like the most beautiful woman you\nknow.\u201d\n\n\u201cHev\u2019 you any idee how them young women used to dress. Master Torrey?\u201d\nasked the wood-carver. \u201cI\u2019d like to go as near the nature of the critter\nas I could. I must say the notion takes my fancy. It\u2019ll make kind of a\nvariety, and it\u2019s a pretty sort of an idee to name a ship after a thing\nthat has its life out the sea.\u201d\n\n\u201cI thought you\u2019d think so,\u201d said Master Torrey, gratified. \u201cIchabod\nSterns said it was a heathenish name for a ship that was to sail out of\nSalem.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, you know Ichabod. He hain\u2019t got much notion of anything of that\nsort. But now what\u2019s your notion of these \u2019ere water women? Kinder\ncold-blooded critters they must have been, I\u2019m thinking.\u201d There was\nsomething in this last remark which seemed to grate on Master Torrey\u2019s\nfeelings, whatever they were.\n\n\u201cWhy so?\u201d he said, a little shortly.\n\n\u201cOh, because it\u2019s the natur\u2019 of all the things in the sea. It must have\nbeen but a damp, uncomfortable way to live for warm-blooded folks; but\ntell me what they were like, or do you happen to have a picture of one?\u201d\n\n\u201cI\u2019m sorry to say I have not.\u201d\n\n\u201cDid they think they was like folks, or did they live for ever?\u201d\n\n\u201cSome said they were immortal, others that they were only very\nlong-lived. Plutarch says they lived more than nine thousand years.\u201d\n\n\u201cCreation! What awful old maids they must have been! That\u2019s more than\nold Mrs. Skinner, who was eighty-six when she married John Dickenson,\n\u2019cause she said she wasn\u2019t going to have \u2018Miss\u2019 on her tombstone if she\ncould help it.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut then they always remained young and lovely, never grew old or\nchanged. They used to say that whoever looked on an unveiled nymph went\nmad.\u201d\n\n\u201cWaal, I\u2019d risk that if I could see one. But they was kind of onlucky\nsort of critters, then, after all?\u201d asked Job, who seemed to be inwardly\ndwelling on some thought which he was keeping out of the talk.\n\n\u201cYes, to those who approached them rashly, but they were kind to those\nwho worshiped them with reverence and offered them the gifts they\nloved.\u201d\n\n\u201cWaal, they wa\u2019n\u2019t very peculiar in that. The most of women is capable\nof being coaxed if you only go to work the right way. I don\u2019t know how\nit might have been with gals in the sea, but it ain\u2019t best to be too\ndreadful diffident with the land kind always,\u201d returned Job, with a sly\nsmile. \u201cBut about this figure of ourn. I suppose it ought to have some\nkind of a light gown on, and hadn\u2019t they\u2014them nimps?\u2014got no emblem, nor\nnothing of that sort, like Neptune\u2019s trident? I\u2019m going to make a\nNeptune for a ship Peleg Brag\u2019s got. Her name was The Ann Eliza. But the\nyoung woman she was named for, she up and married Jonathan Whitbeck, so\nPeleg, he\u2019s gont to call his ship The Neptune now. It\u2019s the only way he\ncan think of to take it out on Ann Eliza, and I don\u2019t expect that\u2019ll\nkill her; but didn\u2019t these _nimps_ have nothing about them to show what\nthey were?\u201d\n\n\u201cSometimes seaweeds, or coral and shells. Sometimes they held a silver\nvase.\u201d\n\n\u201cWaal, I reckon I\u2019ll take the vase, if it\u2019s agreeable to you, and make\nher holding it out, and put some seaweed and shells and sich onto her\nhead, and let her hair fly loose, as if the wind blew it back. She won\u2019t\nwant no shoes nor sandals, nor nothing of that sort. What would be the\nuse to a critter that passes its life swimming round the sea?\u201d\n\n\u201cI see you understand. You\u2019ll make her a beauty, Job?\u201d\n\n\u201cI\u2019ll do my best. You\u2019ll want her to be a light-complected young woman,\nI guess.\u201d\n\n\u201cThey say the Nereides had green hair, but Virgil says Arethusa\u2019s was\ngolden, so we may make our nymph\u2019s that color,\u201d said Master Torrey,\nturning away to the window.\n\n\u201cJes\u2019 so; I\u2019ll go right to work. I must get Lucy Peabody to put on a\nwhite gown and come and let me look at her a little. She\u2019ll do it. She\u2019s\na real accommodating girl, is Lucy.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut Lucy is not fair.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo more she ain\u2019t. Not white as milk, like Anna Jane Shuttleworth, but\nshe\u2019s a nice, pretty girl, and will be willing to oblige me. I\u2019d never\ndare ask such a thing of old Colonel Shuttleworth\u2019s daughter.\u201d\n\nMaster Torrey smiled to himself as he thought of the silent, stately\nAnna standing as a model in the rude shop.\n\n\u201cBut I\u2019ll give the figure a look like Anna Jane, if I can,\u201d pursued Job.\n\u201cTo my mind, she\u2019s a great deal more like some such thing than she is\nlike a real flesh-and-blood woman.\u201d\n\nTo this Master Torrey made no answer, but smiled at the old man\u2019s folly,\nand passed into the street without even asking what would be the price\nof the wooden sea-nymph.\n\n\n\n\n                              CHAPTER II.\n                           _THE SEA KINGDOM._\n\n\nI take it for granted that all my readers have heard of mermen and\nmermaids. But in case any one\u2019s education should have been neglected, I\nwill just say that they are like human beings, only that instead of legs\nthey have tails like dolphins, a fashion much more useful in their\nelement, and regarded by them as much more ornamental, than the style in\nwhich people are finished on land.\n\nThe merladies are very beautiful. They have long, golden hair, and have\noften been seen sitting on the rocks by the seaside, combing their locks\nwith their golden combs and holding a looking-glass. They are also said\nto sing in the most charming manner. I knew a Manx woman once whose\nmother had seen a mermaid making her toilette. She described the sea\nlady as wonderfully beautiful, and \u201csinging in a way that would ravish\nyour heart.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut as soon as she saw that she was watched,\u201d said Katy, \u201cshe gave a\nscream like a sea eagle and dived into the water. No one ever saw her\nagain, but I\u2019ve heard the singing more than once when I was young.\u201d\n\nConcerning the kingdoms of the sea and their inhabitants Hans Anderson\nhas written a pretty story, which I hope you have all read. The fullest\naccount, however, that I know of the mer countries is in the Arabian\nNights, Lane\u2019s translation, where you will find the story of \u201cAbdalla of\nthe Land and Abdalla of the Sea.\u201d It is a pity that the date and place\nof this interesting narration is left so uncertain, for to some minds it\nthrows an air of improbability over the whole story; however, it is\ncertainly the most authentic account of the world under the waters. So\nfar as I know, \u201cAbdalla of the Land\u201d is the only person who has ever\nassociated familiarly with mermen.\n\nThere was, to be sure, Gulnare of the Sea, who married the King of\nKhorassan and introduced her family to that monarch. But she was not a\nproper merwoman, being destitute of their peculiar appendage, and being,\nmoreover, related to the Genii and Afrites of those parts.\n\nBut in the chronicle of Abdalla you will find much that is curious and\ninteresting. There you may read concerning the \u201cdendan,\u201d that tremendous\nfish which is able to swallow an elephant at a mouthful; and, by the\nway, if you wish to descend into the sea undrowned, you have only to\nanoint yourself with the fat of the dendan. But the difficulty seems to\nbe in catching this monster, who eats mermen whenever he can find them.\nYou, however, are in no danger even if you happen to fall in his way,\nfor he dies \u201cwhenever he hears the voice of a son of Adam.\u201d So if you\nshould fall in with a dendan, you have only to scream at the top of your\nvoice and be quite safe. But concerning these wonders and many more I\nhave no time to write, seeing that if you can get the book you can read\nit for yourself.\n\nNow there are just as many mermen and mermaids along the American coasts\nas there are anywhere else, though they very seldom show themselves. I\nheard, indeed, of a sailor who had seen one in Passamaquoddy Bay, but I\ndid not have the pleasure of conversing with this mariner myself, so I\nam unable to state as an absolute fact that a mermaid was seen.\n\nIf any of you are at the seaside in the summer, you can keep a sharp\nlookout, and there is no telling what you may see. You would find an\nalliance with a mer-person very advantageous if we may judge by the\nexperience of Abdalla. Jewels in the sea are as common as pebbles with\nus, and in return for a little fruit a merman will give you bushels of\nprecious stones.\n\nYou must be a little careful, however, not to offend them, for it would\nseem that some of them are rather touchy and apt to be intolerant of\nother people\u2019s opinion in matters of doctrine and practice.\n\nNow, not far from the Massachusetts coast, out beyond the bay, is a very\nbeautiful sea country. There are mountains as big as Mount Washington,\nwhose tops, just covered by the sea, are bare rock, but which are\nclothed around their base with the most beautiful seaweed, golden green\nand purple and crimson. Through these seaweeds wander all manner of\nstrange creatures, such as human eyes have never seen, for there is no\ntruer proverb than that \u201cThere are more fish in the sea than ever came\nout of it.\u201d There are miles and miles of gray-green weed and emerald\nmoss where the sea cows and sea horses find pasture. There, too, are the\ncities and villages of the merpeople, and many a pleasant home standing\nin the midst of the beautiful sea gardens, blossoming with strange\nflowers and bright with strange fruit.\n\nThe houses are grottoes and caves hollowed out of the rock, and for the\nmost part very handsomely furnished, for there is a great deal of wealth\namong the sea people. They have not only all the mineral wealth of the\nsea, but they have all the treasures that have been lost in the deep\never since men first began to sail the waters. Their soft carpets are\nmade of sea-green wool that the sea people comb and weave, for they are\nskillful in the arts and manufactures.\n\nThey have soft, lace-like fabrics woven of seaweed, silks and satins\nthat the water does not hurt. There is no coral on our Northern shores,\nbut they import it, and pay in exchange with oysters and\nlooking-glasses. The sea ladies dress in the most beautiful things you\ncan imagine, that is, when they dress at all, for in warm weather they\ngenerally make their appearance in a light suit of their own hair with a\nzone and necklace of pearls or jewels.\n\nThis country that I am writing about has a republican form of\ngovernment, and is very prosperous and comfortable. It is a long time\nsince any foreign power has made war upon it, and it has had time to\ngrow and develop its resources. But at the time of which I write they\nhad just finished a seven years\u2019 war with the king of a country lying to\nthe east who had tried to annex the sea republic to his own dominions.\nThis monarch had counted on a very easy conquest because the republic\nkept a very small army, not big enough really to keep down the sharks.\nMoreover, there was a large \u201cPeace Society\u201d in the country, every member\nof which had maintained repeatedly, in the most public manner, that it\nwas the duty of every member to be invaded and killed a dozen times over\nrather than lift up his hand in war against any creature with mer blood\nin his veins. The king thought this talk of theirs really meant\nsomething, I suppose they thought so themselves in peace-times, but when\nthe annual meeting came, about a week after the declaration of war, only\ntwo members made their appearance, and they told each other that all the\nmen of the society had enlisted and all the women were busy making their\nclothes and packing their knapsacks. The king was very much surprised to\nfind that these peaceable soldiers fought harder than any one else, and\nwhen he was at last forced to conclude peace on the most humiliating\nterms, it was the ex-President of the non-resistance society that\ninsisted on a surrender of his most important frontier fortress.\n\n\u201cI thought you believed in non-resistance,\u201d said the king, greatly\ndisgusted.\n\n\u201cSo I do, your majesty, for other people,\u201d said the ex-President,\nrespectfully, and the king had to give way.\n\nBut this is not a chronicle of the politics and history of the sea\ncountry, but only of one particular merman\u2019s fortunes. Our merman was\nyoung and very handsome, and belonged to a very distinguished family in\nhis own state. It was said that they were in some way connected with\nthat royal race to which belonged Gulnare of the Sea\u2014she who married the\nKing of Khorassan. It was whispered that the family were descended from\na younger son of this pair, who had married a mer lady, and displeased\nboth her family and his to such an extent by the marriage that they had\nleft the Eastern seas and emigrated to the English waters, and from\nthere into the new sea lands of the West.\n\nAll these things, if they were true, must have happened centuries before\nmy merman was born. The legend was well known, and if it was founded on\nfact, the family had human blood in their veins and a cross of sea\ngenii, for Gulnare was, as you will remember, not quite a\nflesh-and-blood woman. However, the humanity in them was at least royal\nhumanity, and the King of Khorassan, as the story goes, was a very fine\ngentleman.\n\nAll the people of that country were fair-haired, big-boned people, with\nblue eyes, but the race I am writing about were black haired and dark\neyed, with slender hands. They were rather delicate and slight in their\nappearance, and they had a peculiarly graceful way of carrying their\ntails, a manner quite indescribable in its elegance, but a family mark.\nThey were rather more intellectual than their countrymen and were fond\nof literary pursuits and the study of magic, which in the sea land is\nconsidered as a very essential part of a gentleman\u2019s education. It is\ntaught only in the higher schools and colleges.\n\nOur merman\u2019s old grandfather (his father was dead) was Professor of\nMagic in the State University, and so expert in his own science that he\ncould turn himself into an oyster so perfect that you could not tell him\nfrom the genuine article. It was said that once while in that condition\nhe had been nearly swallowed by a member of the Freshman class. For this\noffence the young merman was called up before the Faculty. He apologized\nvery humbly, and said his only motive had been to see if he couldn\u2019t for\nonce get the professor to agree with him. He professed himself very\npenitent, and was let off with a reprimand, but he said afterward that\nhis great mistake had been in waiting for the pepper and vinegar. After\nthis accident the professor could never be induced to repeat the\nperformance except in a small circle of his intimate friends.\n\nNow, there was one curious thing about this family, and one which makes\nme think there was some truth in the legend of their descent from\nGulnare and the King of Khorassan.\n\nAll the other merpeople have the greatest objection to human beings, and\nshun all inhabited coasts, seaport towns and ships. But every once in a\nwhile a member of this race would show the oddest fancy for the shore\nand a kind of longing after human society\u2014a longing which of course they\nnever could gratify, for they could not live out of the water, and if\nthey had been able to desert the sea, the forked ends of their long\ntails would have been of no use on land.\n\nA few years before the family left the English coast, a younger son had\nactually married a human girl who went back to her friends and deserted\nhim on the shamefully false pretence that she wanted to go to church.\nThe poor merman went out of his wits and died, and was ever afterward\nheld up as an example to any of the younger ones who showed any signs of\nsimilar weakness. To care anything for human creatures is counted\ndisgraceful in mer society, and the older members of the family for the\nmost part felt it their duty to express the greatest possible animosity\nto the whole human race. The old professor of magic had once said that\nhe would swim a hundred miles to see a shipwreck if he were only sure\nthe people would all be drowned, but he was strongly suspected of having\nsaved a drunken sailor who fell overboard from a Cape Cod schooner. The\nprofessor himself used to deny this story with great indignation, and\nsay it was of a piece with the slanderous invention about his family\u2019s\nconnection with Gulnare of the sea and her misalliance.\n\nHis grandson, however, if the story was hinted at in his presence, would\nlook grave and say that he had never supposed the story was true, but if\nit were, his grandfather had only obeyed the dictates of mermanity. This\nwas a shocking speech in the ears of the merpeople. Our young merman,\nhowever, had distinguished himself in the war, and no one cared to\nquarrel with him. So they contented themselves with calling him \u201cqueer,\u201d\nand saying that \u201coddity ran in the family.\u201d\n\n\nIt was the summer vacation in the sea land. All the commencements in the\nmer colleges were just over. All the presidents of those institutions\nhad made their speeches in languages dead and alive, and told all their\nclasses what an enormous responsibility rested upon them, how they were\nbound to \u201cgo forward,\u201d and \u201cto conquer,\u201d and to \u201cbuild themselves up,\u201d\nand to \u201cdevelop themselves,\u201d and be \u201cleaders of their kind,\u201d and, in\nshort, do something in proportion to the expense bestowed on their\neducation. This is a way they have in sea land. But naturally in the sea\nthey take things cooler than we can on land, and you wouldn\u2019t believe\nhow very little difference the advent of all these expensively got up\nyoung mermen made in the water world if you had not been there to see.\nNow the old mer professor hadn\u2019t had a very comfortable time. His class\nthat year was rather a stupid one, and with all the pains he could take\nand all the \u201ccoaches\u201d they could use they hadn\u2019t passed a very good\nexamination in magic. One young gentleman upon whom he had thought he\ncould certainly depend being told to make himself invisible, which is a\nvery difficult problem, had made a mistake, used the wrong formula, and\nby accident transformed the whole Board of Examiners, who were not\nexpecting any such thing, into cuttle-fishes. There was dreadful\nconfusion for a few minutes, for the student couldn\u2019t remember how to\nturn them back again, and as the spell could not be undone by any one\nelse, the members of the board got all tangled up together, while the\nprofessor, in an awful temper, was trying to teach the young man the\nright formula.\n\n[Illustration: \u201cAnd by accident transformed the whole board of examiners\ninto cuttle-fishes.\u201d]\n\nBut they were all undone at last, only there was one immensely wealthy\nold merman who was never quite sure in his mind that he had got back his\nown proper curly fish\u2019s tail, and not that of some other gentleman, so\nthat all the rest of his life he was in a puzzle as to at least half his\npersonal identity. This incident so vexed him that he did not give\nanything to the college funds, as he had fully intended. This\ncircumstance and a few other accidents had so annoyed the professor that\ninstead of going to the North Seas with his grandson he shut himself up\nin the house and began to write a book. The book was in opposition to a\ntheory put forth by a learned merman in the Baltic Sea that human beings\nwere undeveloped mermen. The professor, however, declared that they were\nno such thing, but simply undeveloped walruses. He began his first\nchapter by saying that, while he had the highest respect for the Baltic\nmerman\u2019s acquirements, intellect, penetration and general infallibility,\nhe nevertheless felt himself obliged to declare that none but an idiot\nor a madman could come to the conclusion of the learned man aforesaid.\nHe (the professor) wished to lay down his platform in the beginnings and\nstate that he differed from the opinions of the learned author on this\nand all other conceivable points.\n\n\u201cYou\u2019d a good deal better go along with me, grandfather,\u201d said the young\nmerman, swimming into the room where the professor was sitting with his\nbig books all about him. \u201cThink how nice and cool it will be among the\nicebergs this hot weather. Hadn\u2019t you better come?\u201d\n\n\u201cI won\u2019t,\u201d said the old professor, snapping and switching his tail\nangrily round in the water, for the houses there are full of water, as\nours are of air.\n\n\u201cI didn\u2019t say you would, sir,\u201d said the young merman; \u201cI said you\u2019d\nbetter.\u201d\n\n\u201cDid you ever know me say I would do a thing when I did?\u201d returned the\nprofessor, angrily. \u201cI mean, did you ever know me say I did do a thing\nwhen I would? Pooh! Pshaw! That isn\u2019t what I mean.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, sir!\u201d said his grandson, respectfully.\n\n\u201cWhat do you mean by that?\u201d said the professor, sharply. \u201cThere\u2019s that\ncatfish mewing at the door. Get up and let her in, do, and make yourself\nuseful for once in your life.\u201d\n\nThe young merman got up and opened the door for the catfish, which came\nswimming in, followed by two little kitten fish. These, frisking\nplayfully around the room, soon overset the professor\u2019s ink-stand.\n\n\u201cThere!\u201d said the professor to his grandson. \u201cThat\u2019s all your fault!\nWhat did you let them in for? Open the windows and let in some fresh\nwater, do. Scat! scat! you little torments! I don\u2019t believe the cook has\ngiven them their dinner; she never does unless I see to it myself; your\nsisters forget them. No, I\u2019m not going to the North Seas; I can\u2019t spare\nthe time.\u201d\n\n\u201cDon\u2019t you think you can, sir?\u201d said the young merman. \u201cWhat odds does\nit make about those forked creatures on land?\u201d\n\n\u201cDo you know this fellow has the impudence to pretend that they are\nundeveloped mermen, that they\u2019ll be just like ourselves after a series\nof ages when their two legs grow into one, and that our ancestors were\nactually of the same type as those low creatures that go about in ships?\nBut perhaps you agree with him, sir?\u201d said the old professor, with a\nlook that seemed to say that if he did he might expect to be annihilated\non the spot.\n\n\u201cNot I, sir. For aught I know we mermen may be undeveloped human beings.\nI\u2019ve sometimes thought so, I have such a sort of longing for the land.\u201d\n\n\u201cHow dare you\u2014?\u201d began the old gentleman in great indignation.\n\n\u201cCome, come, grandfather,\u201d said the young merman, smiling. \u201cYou are not\nangry with me I know; I presume you\u2019ve felt just so yourself.\u201d\n\nThe professor was silent, and swam thoughtfully two or three times up\nand down the room. The two little kitten fish went and sat on his head.\n\n\u201cI won\u2019t say but I have,\u201d he remarked at length, \u201cbut it\u2019s best not to\nmention it. Where do you mean to go for your vacation?\u201d\n\n\u201cI thought I should go North along the coast,\u201d said the young merman. \u201cI\ncan\u2019t help having a curiosity about the land, and if I am in a way to\nobserve any human creatures, I may pick up some facts to support your\ntheory that they are undeveloped walruses.\u201d\n\n\u201cAny one can see that who has ever seen them floundering about in the\nwater,\u201d said the old professor, scornfully.\n\n\u201cBut the men drown and the walruses don\u2019t.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s because the men have not yet acquired the habit of not being\ndrowned,\u201d said the professor. \u201cWhen are you going?\u201d\n\n\u201cTo-morrow, I thought.\u201d\n\n\u201cVery well,\u201d said the professor. \u201cSwim away with you now, and tell the\ncook to feed these kittens; there they are nibbling the hair off my\nhead.\u201d\n\nThe next day the young merman set off on his travels. He bade good-bye\nto no one but his grandfather and his two sisters. His best friend was\naway as bearer of despatches to the secretary of state.\n\n\u201cI wish he wouldn\u2019t go near the coast,\u201d said the older sister,\nwistfully.\n\n\u201cSo do I,\u201d said the younger; \u201cI\u2019m afraid for him. But, sister, now\nhonestly, don\u2019t you wish you could see a human creature near enough to\nspeak to?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, not I,\u201d said the elder, who had less of the family traits than any\nof her relations; \u201cI wish you wouldn\u2019t say such silly things.\u201d\n\n\nJust as the young merman was going out of the front door, he met a huge\nlobster coming into it, and without ringing. The young merman felt that\nthis was a liberty in the lobster, and was sure that his grandfather\nwould not be pleased.\n\n\u201cHadn\u2019t you better go round to the back door?\u201d he said, quietly.\n\nNow the lobster was no less than the old Witch of the Sea in disguise.\n\n\u201cRound to the back door indeed!\u201d shrieked the lobster. \u201cDo you know who\nI am, young man?\u201d\n\n\u201cI beg your pardon,\u201d said the young merman; \u201cI had no idea you were any\none in particular. The servant will admit you if you wish to see the\nprofessor.\u201d\n\n\u201cI do,\u201d said the lobster, in a huff, \u201cbut I won\u2019t;\u201d and she turned round\nand swam away.\n\nThe professor saw her out of the window. He knew who it was well enough,\nbut he did not like the Witch of the Sea. He thought females had no\nbusiness to study magic, and he said she practiced her art in a most\nirregular manner. Moreover, she could do two or three things which he\ncouldn\u2019t, so he naturally held her in contempt.\n\n\u201cAhrr! you old fool!\u201d cried the lobster, shaking her claw at him.\n\nBut the professor pretended to take no notice. \u201cThose low-bred people\nalways call names,\u201d he said to himself. \u201cWhat an old humbug she is, and\nwhat idiots people are to go to her for advice!\u201d\n\n\nThe merman went swimming on his way, but as he swam he passed a garden.\nIt was rather a large garden, shut in by a hedge of sea flag and tangle,\nwith pink and white shells glittering here and there among the leaves.\nBehind the garden was a very lofty and spacious grotto, where lived a\nfamily with whom the professor\u2019s household was very intimate. The merman\npaused a minute, for some one in the garden was singing. The singer had\na voice that would have made people on land go wild to hear her. If you\ncan imagine a wood-thrush multiplied by fifty and singing articulate\nmusic, you can have some idea of the mermaid\u2019s voice. But in the sea\nevery one can sing, and they don\u2019t care much more for it than we do here\nfor public speaking. She was singing a silly little song, but it was\njoined to a sweet air, and the words were of no great consequence:\n\n  \u201cMy goodman march\u00e8d down the street,\n    \u2018Good-bye, my dear, good-bye,\u2019 said he;\n  \u2018Good-bye, my dear;\u2019 it might be ne\u2019er\n    Would he come back again to me.\n\n  \u201c\u2018Good-bye, my love,\u2019 I said aloud;\n    I kept my smile, I did not cry;\n  \u2018Good-bye, my own,\u2019 and he was gone,\n    And who was left so lone as I!\n\n  \u201cIt was so long, so very long,\n    I kept myself so calm and still;\n  The days went on, the time was gone,\n    I lost my hope and I fell ill.\n\n  \u201cI could not rest, I could not sleep,\n    I hid myself from every eye;\n  And wearing care to dumb despair\n    Was changed, and yet I did not cry.\n\n  \u201cMy goodman came up the street,\n    And from the street he called to me;\n  \u2018Look out, my dear, for I am here,\n    And safe returned to comfort thee.\u2019\n\n  \u201cMy tears fell down like summer rain,\n    I could not rise to ope the door,\n  Though once again, so firm and plain,\n    I heard his step upon the floor.\n\n  \u201cI was so glad, so very glad,\n    I had to cry and so did he;\n  But wars are o\u2019er, and now no more\n    My goodman goes away from me.\u201d\n\n\u201cIs that you?\u2019\u201d called the merman when the song was done.\n\nJust over the hedge was a little arbor covered with trailing sea-plants.\nAs the merman spoke, two little white hands parted the broad crimson\nleaves of a dulse that hung over the door, then there swam out one of\nthe loveliest mermaids in the whole sea. Her yellow hair shone like\ngold, and was full two yards long as it trailed on the water, for\nmermaids never wear their hair any other way. Her complexion was like\nthe inside of a pink-and-white shell, and her eyes were like two clear,\nstill pools of water, they were so pure and deep. As for the mer part of\nher, the dolphin\u2019s tail, I declare it was only an additional beauty, she\nmanaged it so gracefully. I can\u2019t begin to tell you how beautiful she\nwas. She was a very intimate friend of the merman\u2019s sister, and he had\nknown her all his life\u2014ever since they used to chase the fishes round\nthe garden and in and out of the rocks, and make baby-houses together.\n\n\u201cWhere are you going?\u201d said the mermaid to the merman.\n\n\u201cOnly North a little for my vacation trip.\u201d\n\n\u201cWithout saying good-bye?\u201d said the mermaid, smiling as though she did\nnot care a bit.\n\n\u201cI didn\u2019t know you\u2019d come home till I heard you singing, I sha\u2019n\u2019t be\ngone long; what shall I bring you?\u201d\n\n\u201cA tame seal to play with, if you can remember it.\u201d\n\n\u201cTie a string round my finger,\u201d said the merman.\n\n\u201cYou can wear this,\u201d she said, holding up a seal ring of red carnelian.\n\u201cI found it in the garden; I suppose it belonged to some human being.\u201d\n\nIt was a large seal ring, having two interlaced triangles cut in the\nstone.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s a spell,\u201d said the merman; \u201cit will keep away evil spirits.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen wear it,\u201d said the mermaid, holding it out to him, and he slipped\nit on his finger.\n\n\u201cGood-bye,\u201d she said; \u201cyou won\u2019t forget the tame seal?\u201d\n\n\u201cCertainly not; I\u2019ll be home in time to dance at your birth-day party.\u201d\n\nThe mermaid swam away to the house, turning at the door to wave her hand\nto her old playmate, but he did not see her. His two sisters had watched\ntheir interview from an upper window of their own house.\n\n\u201cHe has no more eyes in his head than an oyster,\u201d said the elder, in\nquite a pet.\n\n\u201cIt would be so nice,\u201d said the younger, with a sigh. \u201cIt would be just\nthe thing for him.\u201d\n\n\u201cOf course, and that\u2019s the reason why he never thinks of it,\u201d said the\nelder, who had more experience.\n\n\n\n\n                              CHAPTER III.\n                           _THE FIGURE-HEAD._\n\n\nIn the mean time, a most beautiful thing had grown out of the oak block\nin Job Chippit\u2019s shop.\n\nDay by day Job worked at the figure-head of the Sea-nymph, Master\nTorrey\u2019s beautiful new brig that was lying on the stocks all but ready\nfor the launch. Job spared no pains on his work, and his wonderful\nsuccess really astonished himself.\n\nEvery one wanted to see the new figure-head, but Job kept it locked up\nin an inner room, and would admit no one but Master Torrey and Lucy\nPeabody. Lucy had been willing to put on a white dress and stand for a\nmodel, but the figure did not look at all like Lucy. It was taller, more\nslender, and the features were nothing like hers. Once or twice Lucy had\npersuaded Anna Jane Shuttleworth with her into Job\u2019s shop. The old man\nhad studied her face, and worked every moment of the young lady\u2019s stay.\nHe stared at Anna in meeting-time in a way that almost disturbed that\nyoung woman\u2019s composure, but she looked straight before her and took no\nnotice. It was impossible to tell how she felt. Anna was always \u201cvery\nreserved,\u201d people said. They had an idea that treasures of wisdom, good\nsense and virtue were at once indicated and concealed by that\nstatue-like air and silence.\n\nMaster Torrey was delighted with the nymph, which was, indeed, most\nbeautiful. She stood on a point of rock, leaning lightly forward. Her\nrounded arms upheld a silvered vase of antique fashion; her head was\nthrown back; her hair, crowned with seaweed and coral, streamed over her\nshoulders as though blown by the same breeze that wafted back the thin\nrobe from her dainty feet and ankles; the face was of the regular\nclassic type, yet not quite human in its cold purity; the eyes looked\nout over the sea toward the far horizon. It was really quite\nextraordinary how the old Yankee wood-carver could have accomplished\nsuch a work of art. It looked, also, as if it might, if it chose, open\nits lips and speak, but you were quite certain it never would choose, it\nwas so life-like and yet so still.\n\nJob had sent to Boston and procured finer colors than he had ever used\nbefore, and laid them on with a cunning hand. He had painted the sea\nlady\u2019s robe a pale sea-green; over it fell her hair\u2014not yellow with\ngolden lights, but soft flaxen; the eyes were blue, and the faintest\nsea-shell pink tinged the lips and cheeks. It was altogether the most\nbeautiful figure-head that any one had ever seen.\n\n\u201cThere! I reckon she\u2019s about done,\u201d said Job as he laid down his last\nbrush and stood contemplating his work. There was an odd look on the old\nman\u2019s face, half satisfaction, half dislike.\n\n\u201cShe\u2019s a pretty cretur, ain\u2019t she?\u201d he said to Lucy Peabody.\n\n\u201cBeautiful,\u201d said Lucy, but speaking with a slight effort.\n\n\u201cDon\u2019t you like her?\u201d said Job in a doubtful tone.\n\n[Illustration: \u201c\u2018Don\u2019t you like her?\u2019 said Job, in a doubtful tone.\u201d]\n\n\u201cShe\u2019s very beautiful, Uncle Job, but\u2014but\u201d\u2014and Lucy hesitated\u2014\u201cI\nshouldn\u2019t want any one I cared for to love a woman like that.\u201d\n\n\u201cWaal, I can\u2019t say\u2019s I would myself,\u201d said Job. \u201cBut this ain\u2019t a woman,\nyou see; it\u2019s one of them nimps. They wa\u2019n\u2019t like real human girls, you\nknow.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut she is not kind,\u201d said Lucy, with a little shiver. \u201cShe would see\nmen drowning before her eyes, and would not put out her hand to help\nthem. I think she took those pearl bracelets and her necklace from some\npoor dead girl she found floating in the sea. She wouldn\u2019t mind; she\nwould only care to dress herself with them.\u201d\n\n\u201cI won\u2019t say but that\u2019s my notion of her too,\u201d said Job. \u201cDo you know,\nLucy,\u201d he continued, in a lower voice, \u201cI can\u2019t help feeling as if there\nwas something more than common in this bit of wood all the while I\u2019ve\nbeen doing it? It seemed as if \u2019twa\u2019n\u2019t me that was making of it up, but\nI was jest like some kind of a machine going along on some one else\u2019s\nnotion. Sometimes I am half skeered at the critter myself.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou meant to make her like Anna Jane Shuttleworth, didn\u2019t you?\u201d asked\nLucy, suddenly.\n\n\u201cWaal, yis, I did kind o\u2019 mean to give her a look of Anna Jane, \u2019cause\nTorrey, he\u2019s so set on her, but I\u2019ve got it more like her than I meant.\nSomehow, it seems as if it was more like her than she is herself.\u201d\n\nLucy gave one more long look at the figure \u201cI must go,\u201d she said, with a\nlittle start. \u201cGood-bye, Uncle Job;\u201d and she flitted away by a side\ndoor.\n\nJust then Master Torrey came into the shop, and with him came old\nColonel Shuttleworth and his daughter. Colonel Shuttleworth was a\npompous, portly man, in an embroidered waistcoat, plum-colored coat and\nlace ruffles.\n\n\u201cA pretty thing! a pretty thing!\u201d he said, condescendingly. \u201cHow many\nguineas has she cost Master Torrey?\u201d\n\n\u201cYou didn\u2019t expect I was going to make her for nothing, did you,\ncunnel?\u201d said Job, who stood in no awe of the old man\u2019s wealth, clothes\nor title.\n\n\u201cNo, no, of course not,\u201d said the colonel, trying to be dignified. \u201cUm!\nah! it seems to me this figure has something the look of my daughter.\nAnna, isn\u2019t the new figure-head like you?\u201d\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t know, sir,\u201d said Anna, who had dropped into a seat and sat\nlooking at nothing in particular.\n\n\u201cShe\u2019s so delicate, so modest, she won\u2019t notice,\u201d thought her lover.\n\u201cShe is lovely, Job,\u201d he cried aloud. \u201cYou have outdone yourself. Our\nsea lady is no mortal, but a goddess. She has everything noble in\nhumanity, but none of its faults or weaknesses.\u201d\n\n\u201cUmph!\u201d said Job; \u201cI don\u2019t know about that. I\u2019ve heard some of them\ngoddesses was rather queer-acted people. Anyhow, I think I\u2019d like the\nwomen folks best, not being a heathen god myself.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy, Job, you don\u2019t understand your own work,\u201d said Master Torrey, half\nangrily. \u201cShe is too pure to be moved by our passions, too much exalted\nabove humanity to be agitated by its troubles.\u201d\n\n\u201cWaal now, that ain\u2019t my notion of exaltation,\u201d said Job. \u201c\u2018Seems to me\nthat\u2019s more like havin\u2019 no feelin\u2019s at all, kind of too dull and stupid\nand full of herself to keer very much about anything. This wooden girl\nof ourn is uncommon handsome, though I say it, but bless you, Master\nTorrey! she hain\u2019t got no more brains in her skull than a minnow. She\u2019d\nbe a kind of dead-and-alive sort of a critter always. If she had a\nhusband, she\u2019d never bother herself if he was in trouble. If she had a\nbaby, she wouldn\u2019t care much for it, only maybe to dress it up.\u201d\n\nThe old man seemed strangely excited in this absurd discussion. Master\nTorrey, too, seemed much disturbed and not a little provoked. Anna Jane\nsat calm and still, and wondered whether that light green color in the\nnymph\u2019s robe would become her. The colonel, who had not the faintest\nidea what the two men were talking about, looked from one to the other\nuncomprehending, and consequently slightly offended.\n\n\u201cAre you talking about this wooden image?\u201d he said, wondering.\n\n\u201cYes, to be sure, cunnel,\u201d said Job, with an odd sound between a laugh\nand a groan.\n\n\u201cCome, child, it is time to go home,\u201d said the colonel, loftily.\n\nAnna Jane rose and took her father\u2019s arm. Master Torrey followed them\nout of the shop without looking back or saying good-bye to his old\nfriend. In a strange passion, Job caught up the axe and looked at the\nwooden nymph as if about to dash it in pieces. \u201cWhat an old fool I am!\u201d\nhe said. \u201c_She_ ain\u2019t only wood, and I\u2019ll get my pay for her.\n_Creation!_ it does beat all how contrary things turn out in this\nworld!\u201d\n\nThe figure-head of the Sea-nymph was carried through the streets in the\nmidst of an admiring throng and fixed securely in its place on the\nbeautiful new brig. A few days more, and the ship was launched and slid\nswiftly and safely into the sea. That night it was bright moonlight.\nSilver-gilt ripples were rising and falling along the coast and all over\nthe bay. Now and then a fish would jump, scattering a shower of shining\ndrops. Everything was very still around the Sea-nymph. She lay quite by\nherself at some distance from any other craft. There was no one on board\nbut an old watchman, who was fast asleep. If he had been awake, he would\nhave seen a long, bright ripple on the water coming nearer as some sea\ncreature cut its way swiftly toward the new craft. It was our merman,\nwho found himself drawn toward the land by a longing curiosity too\nstrong for him to resist.\n\n\u201cIt is all so quiet and still,\u201d he thought. \u201cThere can be no possible\ndanger, and I do so want to see what sort of houses these human\ncreatures live in. There\u2019s a new ship. I\u2019m a great mind to go and look\nat it. What is that standing there on the end of it?\u201d\n\nThe merman swam on slowly, debating whether he should really go and\nlook. Something seemed at once to warn him away and to call him forward.\nHe could not tell what was the matter with him. Once he turned to swim\naway. Then he made up his mind once for all, and dashed straight on\ntoward the ship. He said over to himself a charm his grandfather had\ntaught him: \u201cAski, kataski, lix tetrax, damnamenous,\u201d words of power\nonce written on the fish-bodied statue of the great goddess of Ephesus;\nbut, dear me! it did him no good at all. All the while he was coming the\nwooden nymph stood up in her place, holding out her silver vase in both\nhands and looking over the sea with her painted eyes.\n\n\u201cWhat a lovely creature!\u201d thought the merman. \u201cShe is looking at me; she\nholds her vase toward me.\u201d\n\nShe was doing no such thing, of course\u2014the wooden image\u2014but he thought\nshe was. He did not know that she would have looked just the same way if\nhe had been an old porpoise instead of a young merman. He swam closer\nand closer. The moon shone on the painted face. The ship moved gently on\nthe water. The merman thought the lady had inclined her head. In one\nmoment he fell desperately, helplessly, in love with the oaken nymph. It\ncertainly must have been the doing of the old Witch of the Sea. Some\ninfluence of the kind must have been at work, or else a merman who had\nbeen to college would surely have had more sense than to become enamored\nof an oak block. But whether it was the witch\u2019s work, or whether it was\nthe drop of human blood in his veins, or whether it was fate, that is\njust what he did\u2014he fell in love with a wooden image. He forgot his\nhome, his old grandfather, his sisters, his best friend, who loved him\nlike a brother and who had saved his life in the war. As for the mermaid\nwho had given him the ring, he never gave her a thought. He didn\u2019t care\nfor anything in the world but that painted image smiling up there and\nholding its vase. He saw nothing but that, and, in fact, he didn\u2019t see\nthat either, for he saw it as if it were alive.\n\n\u201cOh I wish I knew her name or what she is!\u201d said the merman to himself.\n\u201cShe can\u2019t be human. She is too beautiful.\u201d He swam round and round and\nread the words \u201cThe Sea-nymph\u201d painted under the figure. He gave a jump\nalmost out of the water. \u201cIt is a nymph,\u201d he said\u2014\u201cone of the Nereides\nor Oceanides. I thought they had left this world long ago. What can she\nbe doing on that ship?\u201d\n\nHe gazed at the wooden creature with all his heart in his eyes. He\nwished he were human that he might at least be a little like this lovely\nshape. He hated his own form. Was it likely the divine nymph would ever\ndeign to notice a creature with a fish\u2019s tail? Finally he ventured to\nspeak.\n\n\u201cFairest nymph,\u201d he said.\n\nHe got no answer, but as the shadow of a cloud flitted across her face,\nand then the moon shone on her, he thought the nymph smiled. If there\nhad been any possible way, he would certainly have climbed up to her,\nthough he knew he could not live five minutes out of the water. He did\nnot think anything about that, the poor silly merman. He was so\ninfatuated that he would have been glad to die beside her. He stayed\nthere the whole night talking to the wooden sea-nymph, and when the\nimage moved with the rise and fall of the water he thought she inclined\nher head toward him. He said the most extravagant things to her; he told\nher all he had ever thought or felt, things he had never spoken to his\nbest friend who loved him dearly; he poured out all his heart into the\ndeaf ears of the wooden nymph. The image kept looking out over the water\nwith its painted eyes, and the merman thought, \u201cNow at last I have found\nsome one who can understand me.\u201d\n\nIt was growing to gray dawn when a huge sea gull came sweeping over the\nwater, and poised and hovered over the merman\u2019s head.\n\n\u201cHallo!\u201d said the sea-gull to the merman, \u201cwhat are _you_ up to, young\nman?\u201d\n\nThe merman was disgusted and made no answer.\n\n\u201cYou\u2019d better clear out of this,\u201d said the gull. \u201cIf they catch you,\nthey\u2019ll make a show of you and wheel you round the streets in a tub of\nwater for sixpence a sight.\u201d\n\n\u201cBe so good as to reserve your anxiety for your own affairs,\u201d said the\nmerman, haughtily. He had always been sweet-tempered, but now he felt as\nif he must have a quarrel with some one. He had a general impression\nthat every living creature was his rival and enemy. He didn\u2019t just know\nwhat he wanted, but he was determined to have it.\n\n\u201cHighty tighty!\u201d said the sea-gull. \u201cDon\u2019t put yourself out. What have\nwe here? A pretty wooden image, upon my word!\u201d and the gull perched on\nthe sea-nymph\u2019s head and scratched his ear with one claw. The merman\nwent almost wild at the sight.\n\n\u201cYou profane wretch!\u201d he shouted; \u201chow dare you? Oh, good heavens, that\nI should see her so insulted and not be able to help her. Oh, why can\u2019t\nI fly?\u201d\n\n\u201c\u2019Cause you hain\u2019t got no wings,\u201d said the vulgar bird, flapping his own\nwide white pinions. \u201cWhy shouldn\u2019t I perch here as well as on any other\npost? It\u2019s none of your funeral.\u201d\n\n\u201cPost!\u201d said the merman, in a fury.\n\n\u201cYes, post! Why? You don\u2019t mean to say you think this thing\u2019s alive?\u201d\n\n\u201cAlive! She is a goddess, a nymph, an angel!\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, you _are_ a muff,\u201d said the gull, with immense contempt. \u201cIf I\never! Look here! if you don\u2019t want a harpoon in you, you had better\nquit.\u201d\n\n\u201cI\u2019ll wring your neck,\u201d said the merman, in a rage.\n\n\u201cSkee-ee-eek!\u201d screamed the gull. \u201cWill you have it now or wait till you\nget it? Take your own way, if you only know what it is;\u201d and the gull\nlifted his wings and swept off over the water, laughing frantically. The\nwooden lady kept looking over the sea.\n\n\u201cWhat noble composure! what breeding!\u201d thought the merman. \u201cShe scorns\nto notice a creature like that. How much more noble and womanly is this\nmodest reserve and silence than the chatter and laughing of our\nmermaids!\u201d\n\nIt grew lighter and lighter; sounds of life were heard from the shore; a\nboat put out on the bay; presently the workmen began to come on board\nthe brig.\n\n\u201cAny of those human beings can speak to her,\u201d thought the merman. He was\nfrantically jealous of an old ship carpenter with a wooden leg.\n\nOne of the workmen caught a glimpse of him. \u201cHo!\u201d said he, \u201cthere\u2019s an\nodd fish! Who\u2019s got a harpoon?\u201d\n\nThe merman had just sense enough left to see that if he was harpooned in\nthe morning he couldn\u2019t court the goddess at night. He dived and swam\naway, for mermen, although they are warm-blooded animals, are not\nobliged to come up to the top of the water to breathe.\n\nHe hid all day long under the timbers of an old wharf, and when it was\nstill at night he came out again and swam toward The Sea-nymph. Some one\nhad covered up the figure with an old sheet to keep the dust off. The\nmerman thought she had put on a veil.\n\n\u201cWhat charming modesty!\u201d he said. \u201cShe don\u2019t wish to be seen by these\nhuman beings, or perhaps I offended her by my staring.\u201d\n\nHe called her every lovely name he could invent or think of. He got no\nanswer, of course, but that was her feminine reserve, the merman\nthought.\n\n\u201cSpeech is silvern, silence is golden,\u201d he said. So it went on all the\ntime the new brig was being fitted up. The merman lived a wretched life.\nTwo or three times he was seen and chased by the fishermen. A talk went\nabout of the odd creature that haunted the water near the new ship. Some\none was always on the lookout for him, and once he was nearly caught.\nThey kept watch for him at night. It was only now and then that he could\nworship his wooden love for an hour.\n\nAll the time the old sheet was over her head, but the merman only loved\nher the better. He hid under the old wharf by day, for though he knew\nhow to make himself invisible to mermen, the charm hadn\u2019t the slightest\neffect where Yankees were concerned. He lived on whatever he could\ncatch, but he had very little appetite. The shallow harbor water did not\nagree with his constitution. He grew thin and hollow-eyed, a mere ghost\nof a merman, but he was constant to his wooden image.\n\nMeantime, the ship was finished and the cargo was stowed away. One day,\nglancing out from his place, he saw that the nymph was unveiled and was\nstanding in her old fashion, lovely as ever. She was looking straight at\nhim, the merman thought. \u201cShe is anxious about my safety,\u201d he said, with\ndelight, for he did not know that the image just looked toward the old\nwharf because it happened to be in the way.\n\n\u201cDearest,\u201d he said, \u201cI would follow you over the whole ocean for such a\nlook as that!\u201d\n\nThat night there were so many men on board the brig that the merman did\nnot dare go near her. The next morning the ship spread her sails and\nwent out of the harbor with a fair wind, bound for Lisbon and the\nMediterranean. That same evening there was a great gathering at Colonel\nShuttleworth\u2019s. Master Torrey was married to Anna Jane.\n\nThe merman followed the ship at a long distance. He dared not go too\nnear in the daytime for fear of the harpoon that had been thrown at him\nonce or twice. Then it came into his head that the lovely nymph was in\nsome mysterious way held captive by these human creatures. He swore to\ndeliver her if it cost him his life, for which he cared only as it could\nserve his goddess, for that she was a goddess he fully believed.\n\nHe swam in the wake of the ship, and it was very seldom that he could\ncome up and look his idol in the face. The sailors kept a sharp look-out\nfor him. They thought he was some sort of monster, the poor innocent\nmerman, and had harpoons ready to throw at him whenever he showed\nhimself. But for all this he followed The Sea-nymph across the Atlantic.\nHe knew he was not likely to meet any of his own people, for the merfolk\navoid ships whenever they can, and do not frequent the highway between\nthe two continents.\n\nOne day, however, he was so possessed with a desire for the sight of his\nlove that, utterly reckless, he swam directly before the ship and\nstretched out his arms to the wooden image. \u201cI am here! I will die for\nyou!\u201d he cried, for he thought she was suffering in her captivity and\nwanted comfort. There was a shout from the sailors; one flung a fish\nspear, another fired a gun. The captain ordered out the whale-boat, and\nthey gave chase to the merman, for such they now saw it was. It was all\nthat he could do to get away. He was a very fast swimmer, however, and\nas he was not obliged to come up to breathe, they soon lost sight of\nhim. He distanced the boat, but he found when he stopped that the bullet\nfrom the gun had grazed his shoulder, and that he had lost blood and was\nsuffering pain. \u201cIt is for her,\u201d thought the merman as he tried to\nstanch the blood with his pocket handkerchief.\n\nJust then a huge sperm whale came dashing up.\n\n\u201cWhy, what in the world are you doing here?\u201d said the whale, surprised.\n\u201cHave those wretches of men been chasing you?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said the merman, his eyes flashing; \u201cyou may well call them\nwretches. Do you know who it is they hold prisoner in their hateful\nship? The loveliest sea-nymph in the world.\u201d\n\n\u201cHow do you know?\u201d said the whale.\n\n\u201cI have seen her. I have followed her all the way from home. She stands\nholding out a silver vase. Every creature in the sea ought to fly to\ndeliver her. If I was only as big and strong as you! These men are your\nenemies as well as mine and hers. I know how they kill you whales\nwhenever they can. You can sink that ship if you like and deliver the\ngoddess.\u201d\n\nThe whale was so astonished that he had to go to the top of the water\nand blow. \u201cMy dear sir,\u201d said he, diving down again, \u201cyou are under some\nstrange mistake. That is nothing but wood, that figure on the ship, as\nsure as my name is Moby Dick.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou great stupid creature, where are your eyes?\u201d said the merman in a\npassion, and yet he was rather struck by the whale\u2019s remarks too.\n\n\u201cIn my head,\u201d said Moby Dick, \u201cand I shouldn\u2019t think yours were. Why\nthey put some such thing on all the ships\u2014women, dolphins, what not.\nI\u2019ve seen dozens of \u2019em. I know about nymphs. I used to read about \u2019em\nin the old classical dictionary in our school. Every school of whales of\nany pretension has one. If she was a sea goddess, do you suppose she\u2019d\nstand there in all weathers? Besides, there are no nymphs.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen you won\u2019t sink the ship?\u201d said the merman.\n\n\u201cCertainly not; she\u2019s only a merchant ship. If she was a whaler, I would\nwith pleasure. I\u2019ve done it before now, but that was in self-defence.\nI\u2019m not going to drown a lot of folks because you have lost your wits.\nCome, come, my young friend, go home to your family. I dare say your\nmother don\u2019t know you\u2019re out. You are too tired to swim after that ship,\nand you are hurt besides. Let me take you home on my back; I\u2019d just as\nsoon swim your way as any other.\u201d\n\nThe merman was a little affected by the whale\u2019s tone of kindness, but he\nwas too much possessed with his wooden love to accept the offer.\n\n\u201cNo! no!\u201d he cried, \u201cI must follow her to the ends of the earth.\nSomething tells me she will yet be mine.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd suppose she should be?\u201d said Moby Dick. \u201cWhy, she\u2019s only a stick\ncut and painted. What would the ladies of your family think if you\nbrought home a wooden wife?\u201d\n\n\u201cYou are blind,\u201d said the merman, swimming away.\n\n\u201cYou are cracked!\u201d the whale shouted after him, but the merman was\nalready out of hearing.\n\n\u201cDear! dear!\u201d said Moby Dick. \u201cWhat a pity! If I can find any of the\nmermen, I\u2019ll tell them about him. He ought not to be left to himself;\u201d\nand he shook his huge head solemnly and swam away in an opposite\ndirection.\n\n\n\n\n                              CHAPTER IV.\n                         _THE BEWITCHED LOVER._\n\n\nOff to Lisbon went the brig Sea-nymph, and after her the poor merman. He\nstayed there as long as the ship stayed, hiding under boats and behind\ntimbers, chased more than once, in danger of his life every hour, hardly\nable to get a glimpse of his idol. The wooden nymph stood straight up in\nher place, looking toward the city this time, because her head happened\nto be turned that way.\n\nOnce a priest going across the water in a boat happened to see him. The\npriest took him for a demon, was dreadfully scared, and solemnly cursed\nhim, as is the fashion of priests when they are afraid of anything.\nBesides, such is the approved mode of dealing with demons in those\ncountries. The report went abroad that there was an evil spirit in the\nharbor. The Spanish and Italian sailors said innumerable prayers to the\nsaints and bought little blessed candles. The Yankees and Englishmen\nhunted him whenever they could, for they had a curiosity to see what a\nlive demon was like. You may imagine what a life it was for the poor\nmerman. He was almost worn out when The Sea-nymph weighed anchor and set\nsail for Sicily. He followed her, of course, for he was more possessed\nthan ever.\n\nAnd yet away down at the bottom of his heart he had misgivings. When day\nafter day went on and the nymph stood still in the same place, he could\nnot help thinking to himself, \u201cWhat if it should be a wooden image,\nafter all!\u201d\n\nBut when this thought came into his head he drove it away, and called\nhimself all the names that ever were for daring to entertain such a\nnotion about his goddess. Was she not constant? Did she not always hold\nout her vase toward him? He didn\u2019t or wouldn\u2019t think, the poor silly\nmerman, that it was because he always swam right before her and she\ncouldn\u2019t hold it any other way.\n\nNot far from the Straits of Gibraltar the merman met his most intimate\nfriend, who had been looking for him a long time, and had only heard of\nhim through Moby Dick.\n\n\u201cMy dear fellow,\u201d said his friend, \u201cI am so glad to see you!\u201d and then\nhe stopped, for he couldn\u2019t help seeing that the other was not at all\nglad to see him, and he felt hurt and disappointed.\n\n\u201cAre you?\u201d said the merman, coldly, and gazing after the ship sailing\naway from him.\n\n\u201cWhy, of course. We\u2019ve all been so anxious about you. Why haven\u2019t you\nwritten? Your grandfather has tried every spell he could think of, but\nit all seemed of no use. The dear old gentleman is almost sick, and so\nmiserable about you that he has had no heart to finish his work, even\nthough the Baltic merman has come out with another pamphlet. Do come\nhome.\u201d\n\nNow as his friend spoke our merman felt at once how selfish and\nungrateful he had been. But his passion for his wooden nymph had so\naltered his nature that instead of being sorry he was only angry with\nhimself, and pretended that he was angry with his friend.\n\n\u201cI suppose I am old enough to be my own master,\u201d he said, haughtily.\n\n\u201cWhy, what has come over you?\u201d said his friend. \u201cI\u2019m sure it was natural\nI should come to look for you. If I\u2019d been lost, wouldn\u2019t you have tried\nto find me?\u201d\n\nThe merman felt more and more ashamed of himself and grew crosser and\ncrosser. \u201cExcuse me,\u201d he said, coldly, \u201cbut I have business that I must\nattend to. I don\u2019t choose to discuss the subject;\u201d and he swam away\nafter The Sea-nymph.\n\n\u201cBut look here!\u201d said his friend, coming after him. \u201cI must tell you\nsomething. I\u2019m going to be married to your youngest sister, and I want\nyou to come and be best man. The girls are breaking their hearts about\nyou.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, I dare say,\u201d said the merman with a sneer. He had always been a\nmost affectionate brother, but now he had no room in his heart for\nanything but his wooden image.\n\n\u201cAnd there\u2019s a dear little girl next door that will be glad to see you.\nShe\u2019s to be bridesmaid, of course. It\u2019s my belief she likes you. The\nsweetest mermaid in the sea, she is, except your sister.\u201d\n\n\u201cShe\u2019s well enough for a mermaid,\u201d said the merman, impatiently, for the\nship was going farther and farther away.\n\n\u201cI think you ought to be ashamed of yourself,\u201d said his friend, growing\nvexed at last. \u201cI shall really think that absurd story of Moby Dick\u2019s\nwas true when he said you were in love with a wooden statue of a human\nbeing.\u201d\n\n\u201cShe\u2019s not human,\u201d snapped the merman, coloring scarlet; \u201cshe\u2019s a nymph,\nan immortal.\u201d\n\n\u201cLet\u2019s have a look at her,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cYou are not worthy to behold her perfections,\u201d said the merman.\n\n\u201cWhy, a catfish may look at a congressman,\u201d said his friend, quoting a\nsea proverb. \u201cIs she on board that ship off there? Come on;\u201d and away he\nwent and our merman after him. They came up with the ship, and there, as\nusual, stood the wooden image staring over the water.\n\n\u201cShe\u2019s watching for me,\u201d said the merman.\n\nThe friend said nothing. He swam round and round, and looked up at the\nfigure-head through his eye-glass.\n\n\u201cIsn\u2019t she a goddess?\u201d asked our merman, impatiently.\n\n\u201cGoddess!\u201d said the other. \u201cMy dear fellow, it\u2019s only wood as sure as\nyou are alive.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo merman shall insult me,\u201d said our merman, in a passion.\n\n\u201cWho wants to? Do open your eyes, my dear boy, and see for yourself.\u201d\n\n\u201cI do; I see how she looks at me and holds out her silver vase.\u201d\n\n\u201cShe\u2019ll do as much for me,\u201d said his friend, swimming before the ship.\nOur merman was wild with rage and jealousy, for he could not help seeing\nthat she did. He drew his sword (for he wore one), made of a sword-fish\nblade, and flew at his friend. \u201cDefend yourself,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cNonsense,\u201d said the other. \u201cA likely story, I am going to fight you\nabout a wooden stick. As for looking at me, she\u2019d do the same for any\nold turtle.\u201d\n\nThe merman couldn\u2019t but feel that this was true. But he only grew more\nangry. He struck his friend with all his might. There was a dark stain\non the sea.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m not going to fight you,\u201d said the other, turning very pale, \u201cfor\nyou are _her_ brother, but I think you\u2019ll be very sorry for this some\ntime;\u201d and he turned round and swam away as well as he could.\n\nFortunately, after a little he met Moby Dick.\n\n\u201cHallo!\u201d said the whale in a tone of concern. \u201cWhat\u2019s the matter?\u201d\n\n\u201cNothing much,\u201d said the other, for he wouldn\u2019t tell the story.\n\nThe whale suspected the truth. He sniffed and wiped his eyes with his\nflipper, for he was a soft-hearted monster.\n\n\u201cCome with me,\u201d said he; \u201cI\u2019ll take you to a surgeon.\u201d\n\nHe carried the wounded merman to an old sea-owl who lived in a cave\nunder the rock of Gibraltar. The old sea-owl was sitting in his door\nreading the newspaper when Moby Dick came rushing toward him, supporting\nin his flipper the hurt merman, who was too faint to swim.\n\n\u201cThis young gentleman has met with an accident,\u201d said the whale to the\nsea-owl; \u201cI want you to cure him.\u201d The sea-owl laid down his paper and\ntook off his spectacles.\n\n\u201cWhat concern is it of yours?\u201d said the sea-owl.\n\n\u201cThat is none of your business,\u201d said Moby Dick. \u201cTake him into the\nhouse and take care of him.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou are weakly sentimental,\u201d said the sea-owl. \u201cI perceive that you\nbelong to the rose-water class. What is suffering? A mere thrilling of a\ncertain set of nerves. It creates a sensation which we call pain. It is\ndisagreeable. Suppose it is. Are we sent into the world only to enjoy\nourselves? Enjoyment is contemptible; the desire of happiness is base,\nunworthy a rational being. Let us rise to more exalted feelings; let us\nglorify ourselves in discomfort; and if we see any one basely\ncomfortable, let us make ourselves as disagreeable as possible, and\nraise him to our own platform. What possible difference does it make\nwhether we live or die, or are cold and hungry? What odds does it make\nin this huge universe? Are we nothing but vultures screaming for prey?\nLet us cultivate silence, that I may have the talk all to myself;\u201d and\nthe sea-owl looked at Moby Dick in the most impressive and superior\nmanner. \u201cWhat difference, I repeat, does our happiness or misery make in\nthe huge sum of the universal\u2014?\u201d\n\n\u201cLook here!\u201d said Moby Dick, \u201cif you don\u2019t quit talking and tend to this\nyoung man, I\u2019ll swallow you. I don\u2019t know as that will make much\ndifference in the universe, but it\u2019ll make a sight of difference to\n_you_;\u201d and the whale opened his tremendous jaws wide and showed all his\nteeth.\n\nThe sea-owl took the merman into his office on the instant. He bound up\nhis wound and attended him very carefully, for he was by no means such a\nfool as you would imagine from his conversation. The merman was cured\nbefore long, and made the sea-owl a handsome return for his services.\nThe owl was just as much pleased as though the money had been a large\nitem in the sum of the universe. He gave the merman a present of his own\npoems neatly bound in shark skin. He had several hundred copies in his\noffice, for he had issued them at his own expense. They had been much\npraised, but some way they did not sell. The sea-owl said it was because\nall the people in the sea were \u201cPhilistines.\u201d No one knew just what he\nmeant, but when he called people by that name most all of them\nexperienced a sort of crushed feeling, and pretended to admire the\npoems. Sometimes they would even buy them, but not often. Moby Dick\naccompanied the young merman home, and they made up a story that his\nhurt had been caused by a sword-fish, against whom he had run in the\ndark. Nobody believed him, for some way every one knew the truth, but\nall the members of the family\u2019s own circle pretended to believe the\ntale, for they were all very high-bred people.\n\nIt had been intended that the wedding of the professor\u2019s granddaughter\nshould be a very brilliant affair, but they felt so unhappy about the\ngrandson that they resolved to invite only a few intimate friends. Moby\nDick, of course, was among the number. He was too huge to come into the\nhouse, but he put his nose to the window and ate ice cream with a fire\nshovel for a spoon. The beautiful mermaid from next door was bridesmaid,\nand looked most lovely. She seemed in better spirits than any one else,\nand never said a word about her old playmate. Toward the end of the\nevening she went out into the garden that was all glittering with sea\nphosphorescence. She swam up to Moby Dick and said it was warm weather.\n\n\u201cSo it is, my dear,\u201d said the whale, and looking with admiration at the\nbridesmaid, who wore white lace and emeralds.\n\n\u201cYou came from Gibraltar, didn\u2019t you?\u201d said the mermaid, playing with\nher looking-glass, which the sea ladies carry as ours do their fans.\n\n\u201cYes, where the bridegroom and I went to see after that bewitched\nbrother-in-law of his,\u201d said the whale, for he was vexed at the merman.\n\n\u201cDo you think he is bewitched?\u201d said the bridesmaid.\n\nThe whale scratched his head, which is not vulgar in a whale.\n\n\u201cI never thought of it before,\u201d he said; \u201cbut now you speak of it I\nshouldn\u2019t wonder if it was so.\u201d\n\nThe bridesmaid whispered in the whale\u2019s ear.\n\n\u201cI wish you\u2019d come with me to the old Witch of the Sea,\u201d she said.\n\u201cWon\u2019t you, please?\u201d\n\n\u201cI\u2019ll go to the ends of the ocean with you, miss, if you want me to,\u201d\nsaid Moby Dick; \u201cbut what for?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh,\u201d said the bridesmaid, looking straight in the eye which happened to\nbe that side of the whale\u2019s head, \u201cI\u2019m a friend of the family, you know.\nI\u2019m very much attached to the girls and very fond of the professor. I\nshould like to help them if I could, and I think the witch is a wise\nwoman, and it wouldn\u2019t do at all for the professor to go to her in his\nposition, but it won\u2019t make any difference to me and you. Will you come\nnow? It isn\u2019t far.\u201d\n\n\u201cOf course I will,\u201d said the whale. \u201cJust sit on my head, and I\u2019ll take\nyou there in no time.\u201d\n\nJust then the bride\u2019s sister came out into the garden.\n\n\u201cAre you going, dear?\u201d she said to the bridesmaid.\n\n\u201cYes, I think I shall. Mr. Dick will see me home,\u201d said the other\nmermaid.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s been rather forlorn,\u201d sighed the bride\u2019s sister. \u201cTo think of his\nloving a wooden thing!\u201d\n\n\u201cI suppose he had a right to if he chose,\u201d said the mermaid a little\nhastily. \u201cI\u2019m sure it\u2019s nothing to me.\u201d\n\nThe bride\u2019s sister was not angry at all. She kissed her friend\ngood-night, and when she and Dick had gone sat down and cried a little.\n\n\u201cThe poor dear!\u201d she said.\n\nMeanwhile Moby Dick and the bridesmaid were on their way to the old\nWitch of the Sea. She lived in a cave in a thick dark grove of seaweed.\nShe was sitting before the door talking with a gossip of hers, one of\nthe Salem witches, whose broomstick would carry her through the water as\nwell as through the air. The broomstick, which was a spirited young one,\nwas standing hitched at the door, impatiently stamping its stick part on\nthe ground and switching the broom part about to keep off the little\ncrabs.\n\n\u201cHo! ho!\u201d said the Salem witch. \u201cHere\u2019s a dainty young maiden indeed!\nI\u2019m a great mind to stick a few pins in her.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou better hadn\u2019t,\u201d said Moby Dick, grimly, for he was not at all\nafraid of witches. \u201cAsk the old lady any questions you like, my dear;\nnothing shall hurt you.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: \u201c\u2018Ho! ho!\u2019 said the Salem witch. \u2018Here\u2019s a dainty young\nmaiden indeed!\u2019\u201d]\n\n\u201cIf you would be so good,\u201d said the mermaid, taking off her jeweled\nnecklace and zone and holding them out to the witches, \u201cwill you tell me\nwhere the professor\u2019s grandson is, and whether he cannot be induced to\ncome home?\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd what\u2019s your interest in _him_?\u201d said the Witch of the Sea, taking\nsnuff and looking at her sharply.\n\n\u201cI am his sister\u2019s friend,\u201d said the mermaid, steadily; \u201cotherwise it is\nnot a matter of consequence to me whether he spends his life in the\nchase of a wooden image; but I am very fond of the professor, and I\nthink it a very sad thing that he should be left alone in his old age.\u201d\n\n\u201cUmph!\u201d said the Salem witch. \u201cJust the same, fish-tailed or two-legged,\nin the sea or out of it. There\u2019s a girl in our town as like her as two\npeas.\u201d\n\n\u201cYoung lady,\u201d said the Witch of the Sea, \u201cI haven\u2019t had any hand in this\nmatter.\u201d (But of course I can\u2019t say this was true. I incline myself to\nthink she had had her finger in the pie.) \u201cI can\u2019t undo the spell\u2014not\nnow. If you want to find your friend\u2019s brother, you must go West toward\nthe coast.\u201d\n\n\u201cTake a bee line,\u201d said the Salem witch.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t know what that is,\u201d said the mermaid, who didn\u2019t know what a\nbee was.\n\n\u201cAs the crow flies,\u201d said the Salem witch.\n\n\u201cCrow?\u201d said the mermaid, perplexed.\n\n\u201cAs the mackerel swims,\u201d said the sea witch.\n\n\u201cOh, I see,\u201d said the mermaid. \u201cThank you very much. Pray keep the\nstones. Good-night;\u201d and she turned to Moby Dick. \u201cYou\u2019ll go with me?\u201d\n\n\u201cTo be sure,\u201d said the whale. \u201cThat\u2019s rather a dangerous coast for me,\u201d\nhe thought to himself. \u201cBut never mind; if they come after me I can sink\na whaler as easy as nothing. I\u2019ll go with her. She reminds me of a\nwhaless I used to go to school with;\u201d and Moby Dick looked at the little\nslim mermaid in her bridesmaid\u2019s dress, and heaved a sigh about a\nquarter of an acre in extent. \u201cI\u2019m your whale,\u201d he said, cheerfully; and\naway they dashed at the rate of a hundred miles an hour.\n\n\nEvery one in the sea knew that the professor\u2019s grandson had fallen in\nlove with a wooden image, and was following it about the world. The very\nporpoises talked about it to each other. The whole family were\ndreadfully mortified.\n\n\u201cSuppose he marries her!\u201d said his sisters.\n\n\u201cWe never can take her into society. A real human being would be bad\nenough, but a wooden one\u2014\u201d\n\n\u201cI disown him,\u201d said the old mer professor. \u201cI desire that no one will\nmention him in my hearing. If he would only come home, the poor dear\nboy!\u201d\n\nThere was universal sympathy with the family. The very sophomores\nbehaved like gentlemen for as much as a week, they were so touched with\nthe old mer professor\u2019s trouble.\n\n\n\n\n                               CHAPTER V.\n                           _THE SEA-NYMPHS._\n\n\nAfter his friend had left him, our merman swam once more after The\nSea-nymph. He felt wicked, ashamed, remorseful and very miserable, but\nfor all that he followed his wooden goddess. He was so worn out with his\nlong journeying and with trouble of mind that he could not keep up with\nthe ship\u2014he who had once beaten a fin-back whale in a race. He had lost\nsight of the brig before she went into the harbor of Syracuse, but he\nknew where she was going, and he followed in her track. It was a\nbeautiful moonlit night. The water was all golden ripples. The ruins of\nthe ancient town stood up white, still and solemn in the flood of silver\nlight. The modern city did not look dirty as it does by sunlight, but\nwhite and cool and still. Only a bell rung at intervals from the tower\nof a convent.\n\nOn a fragment of a broken capital that lay in the water near the island\nshore of Ortyggia sat three lovely ladies. They looked young and\nbeautiful as the day, but they were very, very old. They had known the\nplace before the first Greek ship bore the first Greek colonists to\nSicily. The broken capital was the last bit of a temple that had been\nreared in their honor ages ago, for these were the real sea-nymphs. They\nhad come back from the unknown countries where they went when men forgot\nthem, and the monks shattered their beautiful marble statues to replace\nthem with waxen virgins dressed in tinsel. They were taking a journey\njust to see what sort of a place this world had grown to be. They were\nall three rather low-spirited\u2014as much so as sea-nymphs can be.\n\n\u201cThis is all so different,\u201d said Arethusa. \u201cIt was hardly sadder in the\ngreat siege; I could hardly find the place where my fountain was once.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd nothing of Alpheus?\u201d said Cymodoce with a little smile.\n\n\u201cNo, thank Heaven!\u201d said Arethusa; \u201cthe stream is there, but it has\nanother name. I wonder what has become of the old gentleman? My dears,\nyou can\u2019t think what a torment he was. I really don\u2019t know what I should\nhave done but for Diana.\u201d\n\n\u201cMaybe you would have married him,\u201d said Panope. \u201cHe was very devoted to\nyou.\u201d\n\n\u201cNot he,\u201d said Arethusa. \u201cHe was determined to have his own way, but he\ndidn\u2019t get it.\u201d\n\n\u201cSing something,\u201d said Cymodoce. \u201cWhat concerts we used to have on this\nvery shore! Oh dear!\u201d\n\nArethusa began to sing. I only wish you had been there to hear her.\n\n  \u201cYears ago when the world was young,\n    And this weary time was yet to be,\n  A little bay lay the hills among\n    Where the hills slope down to the sand and sea.\n\n  \u201cThe shepherd came down to the cool seashore,\n    Fearless and tall and fair was he;\n  Careless the cornel spear he bore,\n    As he paced the sand along the sea.\n\n  \u201cLow in the sky the red moon hung,\n    The wind went wandering wild and free;\n  To and fro the foam-bells swung\n    Off from the sand into the sea.\n\n  \u201c\u2018Come up, my love,\u2019 he called, \u2018oh come!\n    Give, oh goddess, once more to me\n  That fairest face in the whitening foam,\n    On the pebbly marge \u2019twixt the sand and sea.\u2019\n\n  \u201cThe sunset faded like smouldering brand,\n    And never the nymph again saw he;\n  The shadow sloped from the tall headland\n    Off from the sand, out o\u2019er the sea.\n\n  \u201cHis was a being that, born to-day,\n    Grows old to-morrow and dies, and she\n  Lived on for ages as fair alway,\n    To sing on the shore \u2019twixt the sand and the sea.\n\n  \u201cYet oh, my lover, by this right hand,\n    It was fate, not I, that was false to thee;\n  For thine was the life of the solid land,\n    And I was a thing of the restless sea.\u201d\n\nAs Arethusa finished her song, the merman came swimming wearily toward\nthe three nymphs. If he had been a human being, he would not have seen\nthem, but as it was they were revealed to his eyes. He knew what they\nwere in a moment. They were dressed like his wooden nymph, and Arethusa\ncarried a little silver vase in her hand, but they were not like the\nfigure-head, for they had sweet, kind faces, and could laugh and cry.\nThe merman made a most respectful bow, for he knew how to do it.\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said Panope, kindly, \u201ccan we do anything for you?\u201d\n\n\u201cLovely nymphs,\u201d said the merman, \u201chave you seen a ship pass this way\nwith one of your fair sisters on its prow?\u201d\n\n\u201cOne of _our_ sisters?\u201d said Arethusa, a little haughtily. \u201cThat seems\nvery unlikely.\u201d\n\n\u201cI assure you she is, my lady,\u201d said the merman, reverently but firmly.\n\u201cShe has her name, The Sea-nymph, written below her.\u201d\n\n\u201cHe has lost his wits,\u201d said Panope, sighing.\n\n\u201cWhat a pity! Such a handsome youth!\u201d\n\n\u201cYou don\u2019t mean that wooden figure-head?\u201d cried Arethusa.\n\n\u201cSurely she is your sister,\u201d said the merman, looking at Cymodoce, who\nwas more like the wooden nymph than the other two, and whose manners\nwere always a little stiff and prim.\n\n\u201cMy sister!\u201d cried Cymodoce, quite bristling. \u201cAm I related to a log of\nwood?\u201d\n\nHere Arethusa slyly pinched Panope behind Cymodoce\u2019s back, for the truth\nwas Cymodoce had once been a wooden ship, and had been made into a nymph\nto save her from a conflagration. She never would allow, however, that\nthis was a true story.\n\n\u201cNo, of course there is nothing wooden about you, dear,\u201d said Panope,\nsoothingly. \u201cDon\u2019t be vexed. Let us help the poor boy if we can.\u201d\n\n\u201cHe\u2019s very like a Triton I used to know,\u201d said Arethusa, aside.\n\n\u201cI saw a ship pass,\u201d said Panope, looking down at him with her kind blue\neyes. \u201cSuch a big ship! Not like the ones I used to see here years ago,\nand it certainly had a wooden statue on the prow, but it was only a\nwooden image; it was not alive.\u201d\n\n\u201cHow strange it is,\u201d thought the merman to himself, \u201cthat these three\ngoddesses should be jealous of my beauty\u2014just like three mortal\nmermaids.\u201d\n\n\u201cJealous of that stick indeed!\u201d cried Cymodoce, answering his thought.\n\n\u201cMen!\u201d said Arethusa. \u201cPanope, my darling, they are just the creatures\nthey always were in the water or out of it.\u201d\n\n\u201cSo it seems,\u201d said Panope, playing in the sand with her little pink\ntoes like a mortal girl.\n\n\u201cI assure you, sir,\u201d said Cymodoce, gravely, \u201cthat you are under a\nserious mistake. That figure is a mere painted figure-head, quite\nincapable of a rational thought or instructive conversation.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat we admire in woman is her affections, not her intellect,\u201d said the\nmerman.\n\n\u201cLook at me!\u201d said Arethusa; and the tall nymph stood up before him in\nall her immortal beauty and shook down her golden hair till it swept her\nankles.\n\n\u201cMy dear Arethusa,\u201d said Cymodoce, \u201clet me ask you to consider if this\nis quite proper?\u201d\n\nPanope only smiled, and Arethusa took no sort of notice.\n\n\u201cLook at me,\u201d she said, \u201cand compare me with that wooden thing. Don\u2019t\nyou see the difference?\u201d\n\nA difference there certainly was. The merman felt a cold chill go to his\nheart. For one instant his eyes were opened; for one instant he knew he\nhad been worshiping a stick. Then he would _not_ see or feel the truth.\n\n\u201cFarewell!\u201d he cried, desperately; \u201cI will follow her to the ends of the\nearth, whether she is alive or not;\u201d and he swam away.\n\n\u201cPoor fellow!\u201d said Arethusa.\n\n\u201cHe looks a good deal like the pious \u00c6neas,\u201d said Cymodoce, who often\nmentioned that gentleman.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t see it,\u201d said Panope, almost sharply. \u201cHe may be a goose, but\nhe is not a prig. I do wish you ever could talk about any one else,\nCymodoce! I am tired to death of the pious \u00c6neas.\u201d\n\n\u201cSo am I,\u201d said Arethusa; \u201che was a humbug if ever there was one.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat an expression!\u201d said Cymodoce.\n\n\u201cNever mind,\u201d said Arethusa; \u201csuppose we do this poor merman a good\nturn, and get Aphrodite to make his wooden thing a live creature. Don\u2019t\nyou think she would do as much for wood as she did for marble?\u201d\n\n\u201cWe could ask her,\u201d said Cymodoce. \u201cI have some influence with her. I\nwas so well acquainted with her son, the pious\u2014\u201d\n\n\u201cOh bother _him_!\u201d said Arethusa, who had been a mountain nymph\noriginally, and was apt to be a little brusque.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t believe she\u2019d be good for much if she did come alive,\u201d said\nPanope, looking down. \u201cI\u2019ve heard that match of Pygmalion\u2019s didn\u2019t turn\nout very well. I saw the marble woman once. She was pretty enough, but\n_so_ stiff, and she walked as though she weighed a ton, and hadn\u2019t a\nword to say for herself. And as for this wooden thing, the woodenness\nwould always remain in her mind and manners. But we can try. Come, if\nyou like;\u201d and the three slipped into the sea and went swimming after\nthe merman, but he never saw them. He had caught sight of his wooden\ngoddess, and had no eyes for the real ones. He thought he had never seen\nhis idol looking so beautiful, so lifelike. \u201c_She_ wood!\u201d he thought as\nhe leaned back in the water and looked up in her face. Meanwhile, some\nstrange influence was at work upon the wooden image. A kind of thrill\nran over it. It began slowly to breathe.\n\n\u201cDear me!\u201d thought the wooden creature, for it could think a little now.\n\u201cI must be coming alive! How very disagreeable! I can see\u2014even feel. I\ndon\u2019t like it. It\u2019s too much trouble. What is that thing in the sea\nstaring at me?\u201d and she actually bent her head and looked down.\n\nThe merman, of course, was in ecstasies, for he thought she was coming\nto him.\n\n\u201cI certainly am growing alive,\u201d thought the wooden thing. \u201cI won\u2019t come\nalive; I was made wood, and wood I\u2019ll stay; I won\u2019t go out of my sphere;\nI\u2019m sure it\u2019s not proper;\u201d and she stiffened herself as stiff as she\ncould. \u201cI will be wood,\u201d she thought, and wood she was, for even a\ngoddess can\u2019t make a thing alive against its own will. \u201cYes, this is\nmuch the best way,\u201d was the wooden image\u2019s last thought, as the breath\nof life went away from her and left her more wooden than ever.\n\n\u201cLet it go, the stupid thing,\u201d said Arethusa in a pet which was scarcely\nreasonable, as the image was wood in its nature. \u201cCome, my dears, let us\ngo from a world where no one cares for our gifts. Don\u2019t cry, Panope\ndear. There are just as many fools in the world as ever there were, for\nall they pretend to be so much wiser.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is strange too,\u201d said Cymodoce, \u201cconsidering how long they have had\nbefore them the example of the pious \u00c6neas\u2014\u201d\n\n\u201c_He_ never lost sight of his interest,\u201d said Panope. \u201cI wish we could\npersuade that poor merman, but I know very well that the twelve great\ngods couldn\u2019t do it;\u201d and the three vanished and were seen no more.\n\n\nThat night there came up a terrible storm. There was wind and rain and\nthunder such as the merman had never heard. From far away came a thick\nsulphurous cloud of smoke, and in the air was a dull red glare. The land\nshook and trembled, for \u00c6tna was feeding his hidden fires, filling his\ninmost furnaces. The gale blew fiercely from land. The Sea-nymph snapped\nher cable, and drove out of the harbor before the tempest. The merman\nfollowed her. By the glare of the lightning he could see that the figure\nstood in its old place holding out her silver vase. \u201cWhat wonderful\ncourage!\u201d he thought, for he did not know it was nailed there. The masts\nwent crashing into the sea. The sailors threw overboard everything they\ncould to lighten the ship. One of them sprang forward with an axe and\nbegan to cut away the figure-head. The merman swam, balancing himself on\nthe crest of the waves; every one was too busy to notice him; he could\nnot hear the blows of the axe in the noise of the wind and thunder; he\ndid not see what the sailor was doing; he saw the image quiver under the\nstrokes of the axe, and thought that at last she was coming down to him.\n\u201cOh come, come,\u201d he cried, swimming directly below and holding out his\narms. The wooden image quivered and shook; it bent forward; the next\ninstant the solid heavy oak fell with a plunge and struck the poor\nmerman in its fall. He felt that he was dying, but he did not know what\nhad hurt him. \u201cMy own love, my sea-nymph,\u201d he murmured; and he put his\narms round the figure-head that was bobbing up and down in the sea quite\nunconcernedly. He kissed the painted lips. Then at length he knew that\nhis idolized nymph, for whom he had given his life, was nothing but a\ncarved log. It was well for him that his next breath was his last.\n\n\n\n\n                              CHAPTER VI.\n                        _LUCY PEABODY\u2019S DREAM._\n\n\nMoby Dick went on his way, \u201cemerging strong against the tide.\u201d A\nNantucket ship saw him as he blew, and her boats put out after him.\n\n\u201cJust get off a minute, my dear,\u201d said he to the little mermaid whom he\ncarried. She did so, and then, instead of swimming away from the boats,\nhe put down his enormous head and went straight at them.\n\n\u201cThe white whale!\u201d cried the sailors; and they did not throw the\nharpoon, but went meekly back to the ship. They were bold enough, but\nthey were afraid of the white whale, for Moby Dick had sunk two or three\nships in his time and entirely reversed the whalers\u2019 programme.\n\nMoby Dick executed a huge frisk on the surface of the sea, flapped his\ntail on the water with a noise like thunder, and then dived down to\nrejoin the mermaid.\n\n\u201cAll right, my dear,\u201d he said, cheerfully.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m so glad you are safe,\u201d said the mermaid, patting him with her\nlittle hands.\n\nOn they went through the water, and the coast was soon in sight. It was\ngrowing dusk, and the lighthouse showed its red star over the sea. The\nmermaid was silent, and Moby Dick did not trouble her to talk.\n\nSuddenly a beautiful woman appeared to them on the crest of a long\nrolling billow. She made no effort; she did not swim, but moved through\nthe water by her will alone. She seemed a part of the sea, like a wave\ncome alive.\n\n\u201cThat is not a human being, surely,\u201d said the mermaid, startled.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s very like that\u2014you know\u2014that wooden thing\u2014that _he_ ran after,\u201d\nsaid Moby Dick in a gigantic whisper, \u201conly it\u2019s alive.\u201d\n\n\u201cShe don\u2019t seem as though she could ever have been wood,\u201d said the\nmermaid. \u201cShe looks kind. I don\u2019t feel as though she were that\u2014that\nperson. Please ask if she has seen our friend.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes; my dear child,\u201d said Panope\u2014for she it was\u2014answering the mermaid\u2019s\nthought, \u201cI have seen him;\u201d and the immortal sighed.\n\n\u201cHis family are very anxious about him, my lady,\u201d said the whale, who\nwas conscious of an awe he had never known before, though he felt he\ncould trust the Sea-Nymph.\n\n\u201cThey need be anxious no more,\u201d said Panope, gently and sadly.\n\n\u201cWhat has happened?\u201d asked the mermaid, turning pale, but keeping\nherself very quiet.\n\nPanope went to her, and the immortal daughter of the sea put her white\narms round the mermaid and held her in a close and soft embrace.\n\n\u201cMy dear,\u201d she said, very gently, \u201cyour old playmate is dead.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: \u201c\u2018My dear,\u2019 she said, very gently, \u2018your old playmate is\ndead.\u2019\u201d]\n\n\u201cYou don\u2019t say so, ma\u2019am!\u201d said Moby Dick, with a great sigh; and then\nhe swam away to a little distance and left the mermaid to the care of\nthe Sea-Nymph, for he was a whale of very delicate feelings.\n\nThe mermaid looked into the blue eyes of the Goddess, and felt that the\ncountless ages of her being had but made her more wise and kind. She hid\nher face on the immortal maiden\u2019s bosom.\n\n\u201cMy sweet child,\u201d said Panope, after a little while, \u201cI cannot bring\nyour friend to life\u2014it is beyond my power\u2014but if you will, I can give\nyou an immortality like my own. I can carry you with me to a world where\ndeath or pain has never come, and keep you young and lovely for ever.\u201d\n\nThe mermaid was silent a moment. Then she looked up into Panope\u2019s face.\n\n\u201cYou will not be angry with me?\u201d said she.\n\n\u201cAngry, my poor darling!\u201d\n\n\u201cThen, my friends that I have loved have all been mortal. My mother is\ndead, my twin brother was killed in the war, and now my old\ncompanion\u2014and I have known him so long! I think I should rather not be\nso very different, but go to them when my time comes.\u201d\n\nPanope caressed her hair with a soft hand.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t know but you are right. Sometimes,\u201d said the Goddess, with a\nsad, tired look in her eyes, \u201cI think I would be glad to be mortal\nmyself, except that I am glad to be a little comfort to you. I am sorry\nI came back. Either the world has grown a sad place, or else I had\nforgotten what it used to be. But I don\u2019t know; I almost broke my heart\nover Prometheus when I was quite a young thing. I could have helped him\ntake care of his beloved human race a great deal better than Asia, but\nhe never cared anything for me. It is all over long ago. Is there\nnothing that I can do for you, my dear?\u201d\n\nThe mermaid was silent a minute. Then she said:\n\n\u201cI think I should like to take him home to his friends. I know they\nwould wish it should be so.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt shall be,\u201d said Panope. \u201cWait here, and I will bring him to you.\nBut, my dear child, you are so quiet. All the mortal women I ever knew\nin the old days, in the sea or out, would have torn their hair and\nscreamed, but you are so different.\u201d\n\nThe mermaid looked up with a little ghost of a smile, half proud, half\npitiful. \u201cI suppose it is because I was born in American waters,\u201d she\nsaid.\n\n\u201cWait but a little,\u201d said Panope. \u201cThe whale will take care of you. He\nis a good creature. His great-grandfathers were pets of mine long ago. I\nwill soon come back again;\u201d and the Nymph was gone.\n\n\nSome time after the news had come to Salem of the total loss of the brig\nSea-nymph, Lucy Peabody was walking alone along the sands. She felt\nweary, and sat down under the shadow of a rock to rest. The sun was just\nsetting, the west was suffused with a golden glow, the water lay, hardly\nrippling to a low whispering wind, a sea of fire and glass. Lucy leaned\nher head against the rock, and sitting there, she dreamed a dream. Along\nthe sands toward her came old Goody Cobb, whom everybody suspected of\nwitchcraft. She appeared so suddenly that Lucy in her dream thought she\nhad come out of the sea.\n\n\u201cHo! ho!\u201d said Goody Cobb, with a cracked laugh; \u201cso here is Madam\nPeabody\u2019s lady daughter come out to cry over her disappointment all by\nherself? The man was a fool, sure enough, but I wouldn\u2019t mind. Just let\nme write your name down in a little book I keep, and you shall see our\nfine young madam dwine away like snow in spring-time, and then we shall\nsee\u2014\u201d\n\n\u201cYou are out of your mind, Goody,\u201d said Lucy in her dream; \u201cbut such\ntalk as that is not safe, for there are those in town who are silly\nenough to believe witch stories, and you might get yourself into\ntrouble.\u201d\n\n\u201cSilly, are they!\u201d cried Goody Cobb, growing angry. \u201cBut never mind.\nJust let me have your name, and we shall see what we shall see. Look at\nthe pretty necklace I will give you;\u201d and she drew from her pocket a\nchain of shining green stones and held it up before the girl\u2019s eyes.\n\n\u201cI will have nothing to say to you or your gifts,\u201d said Lucy, steadily.\n\u201cPass on your way, Goody, and leave me alone.\u201d\n\n\u201cSo you think yourself too good for me!\u201d said the witch in a rage. \u201cLet\nme tell you that my family is as good as yours, and better. My\ngrandfather was a minister\u2014ay, and a noted one\u2014while yours was selling\nclams round the streets.\u201d\n\nIt was a very odd thing that while Goody Cobb had become a witch,\nrenounced her baptism and sold herself to the enemy of mankind, she was\nyet very proud of the eminent divine, her grandfather.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ll be the death of you! I\u2019ll stick pins in you, and set my imps to\npinch you black and blue!\u201d screamed Goody Cobb, with the look of a\npossessed woman, as she was.\n\nSuddenly, as Lucy dreamed\u2014so suddenly that she seemed to grow out of the\nair\u2014there stood on the sand between herself and the witch a tall and\nbeautiful woman in shining raiment of green and silver, with golden hair\nthat fell loosely to her ankles. She gazed sternly on the witch; a\ndivine wrath made her blue eyes awful.\n\n\u201cYou earth-born creature!\u201d she cried as she caught the green necklace\nfrom the old woman\u2019s trembling hand. \u201cThis girl is a child of the ocean,\nand is in my care;\u201d and Lucy dreamed that she felt glad to remember how\nshe had been born on the voyage her mother made with her father to\nCalcutta. \u201cStay where you are for ever!\u201d continued the stranger lady,\nraising her white hand with a gesture of command. \u201cYou will wreck no\nmore ships\u2014you, nor your sister witch.\u201d And then as she stood Goody Cobb\nstiffened into stone and became a black rock.\n\n\u201cYou need not be afraid of me, my dear,\u201d said the dream lady to Lucy. \u201cI\nnever hurt any one in my life. I am only an innocent Sea-Nymph, and I\nam\u2014or I was\u2014the helper of all the sailor-folk, and your father is a bold\nseaman.\u201d\n\nLucy dreamed that she was very much surprised, which was curious, for in\na dream the more remarkable a thing is, the less it astonishes the\ndreamer.\n\n\u201cBut I thought there never were any nymphs,\u201d she said, perplexed.\n\nThe sea-maiden smiled a queer little smile\u2014half sad, half amused.\n\n\u201cDo you know,\u201d she said, \u201cthat since men left off believing in them and\nbuilding temples, the gods all declare that there never were such things\nas human creatures, and that it was all a delusion of ours? Keep this;\u201d\nand she dropped the necklace into Lucy\u2019s lap. \u201cIt belonged to one who\nwill not care to wear it now. Farewell;\u201d and the goddess bent down and\nlightly kissed the girl\u2019s forehead, and the next instant Lucy was alone.\nShe woke up, as she thought, and sat still for a moment.\n\n\u201cWhat a singular dream!\u201d she said to herself. Then she looked round, and\nsaw a black rock standing beside her, \u201cWas that rock there? I don\u2019t\nremember it, but of course it must have been.\u201d She rose to her feet.\nSomething fell glittering on the sand. She picked it up. It was a long,\nshining necklace of green stones.\n\n\u201cThis is very strange!\u201d said Lucy, thoughtfully. \u201cBut I suppose I had\nbetter take them home. They must have been washed up from the sea and\ncaught to my gown some way. How pretty they are! I wonder if they\nbelonged to some one who is drowned?\u201d\n\nShe put the necklace into her pocket, and turned to go home. She had\ngone but a little way when she met Job Chippit.\n\n\u201cUncle Job,\u201d she said, \u201cI have found something on the sand. Do you think\nany one in town has lost it, or that it was washed up by the sea?\u201d\n\nJob examined closely the emerald necklace. \u201cThis never belonged to\nanyone in our town, Lucy,\u201d he said; \u201cmost likely the tide washed it up\nin the last storm. Yours it is by all right if no one comes to claim it;\nand be keerful of it, for I expect it\u2019s awful valuable. But what\u2019s\nhappened to you?\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy?\u201d\n\n\u201cYou\u2019ve got an odd look about you, some way, but I never see you look so\npretty. Has anything happened?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d said Lucy, quietly, \u201conly I sat down to rest and fell asleep, and\nhad a very strange dream. Good-night, Uncle Job.\u201d From that evening\nGoody Cobb was never seen in Salem town.\n\nJob Chippit continued his walk, thoughtfully whittling a little stick.\nBefore long he overtook Master Isaac Torrey, who was walking along the\nshore with his head down, seeming to notice nothing but the sand at his\nfeet. Master Torrey had quite left off his wild ways. He made no more\nfoolish, fanciful speeches about nymphs and goddesses, and such\nnonsense. \u201cAnna Jane had made a sensible man of him,\u201d said his\nfather-in-law. \u201cHe was greatly improved,\u201d said every one, with the\nexception of Ichabod Sterns and Job Chippit.\n\nMaster Torrey had avoided the wood-carver since his marriage. His\nfather-in-law thought it a good sign. \u201cHe had been quite too familiar\nwith that person,\u201d thought the colonel. But this night Master Torrey did\nnot avoid him, though he only nodded without speaking in answer to Job\u2019s\n\u201cGood-evening,\u201d and then the two walked on in silence.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s an odd-looking thing on the beach,\u201d said Job at last.\n\nThey went up to the dark mass Job had pointed out. There on a heap of\nweed, thrown up by the late storm, lay the wooden nymph, the paint\nalmost washed away, and there, with its arms tightly clasped about her\nneck, lay a strange creature, half fish, half human.\n\n\u201cAs sure as the world, it\u2019s a merman!\u201d said Job; \u201cand there really are\nsuch critters, after all! Poor fellow! The human part of him was pretty\ngood-lookin\u2019 when he was alive. See what a dent he\u2019s got in his head!\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd this is the figure-head of The Sea-nymph,\u201d said Master Torrey.\n\u201cDon\u2019t you know it?\u201d\n\n\u201cTo be sure! Well, it does beat all! What shall we do with the merman?\nI\u2019d kind of hate to make a show of him. He\u2019s a sort of man, and I \u2019spose\nhe had his feelings anyhow. Look at the empty scabbard and the\nsword-belt; and he\u2019s got a ring on his finger.\u201d\n\nJob bent down and tried to unfold the dead hand from its close clasp. At\nthat moment, though it was very calm, a huge wave rose from the sea, and\ncame thundering up the beach, covering the two men with spray. When it\nretreated the dead merman and the figure-head were gone, and up from the\nsea came a low sobbing sound.\n\nMaster Torrey and Job stood watching, surprised and startled. Another\nminute, and up came a second huge wave, bearing upon its crest the oaken\nsea-nymph. On it rolled\u2014a mountain of water. It dashed its burden upon\nthe jagged rocks once, twice, thrice, and strewed the shattered\nfragments over sea and sand. Job drew a long breath.\n\n\u201cWaal,\u201d said he, \u201cthere goes the best piece of wood I ever chipped. Tell\nye what, philosophy won\u2019t explain everything. \u2019Tain\u2019t best to be too\nrational if you want to have any insight into things in _this_ world. If\nthat wa\u2019n\u2019t done a-purpose, I never see a thing done so!\u201d\n\nThey turned back and walked toward the town. Far away in the offing a\nwhale sent up an enormous jet, a sea-gull screamed wildly above their\nheads.\n\n\u201cGoing to say anything about this?\u201d said Job at last.\n\n\u201cWhat would be the use?\u201d said Master Torrey, sharply. \u201cHalf of them\nwould not believe you; and who wants to set all the fools in the place\nchattering?\u201d\n\n\u201cNot I! I\u2019m not over-fond of answering questions. I\u2019d rather ask \u2019em,\u201d\nsaid Job. \u201cDo you know, putting this and that together, and the story of\nthe queer fish that hung round the ship, I\u2019ve got a notion that poor\nfishy thing fell in love with that figger-head of ourn? You couldn\u2019t\nexpect such a critter as he was to have more sense than a landsman, and\nI expect the log fell on him when the brig went to pieces and killed\nhim.\u201d\n\n\u201cSo much the better for him if he had given his soul to a wooden image,\u201d\nsaid Master Torrey, bitterly. \u201cGood-night;\u201d and he left Job and walked\nslowly back to his handsome new house. Job looked after him wistfully.\nJust then old Ichabod came up and saluted the wood-carver.\n\n\u201cDo you know, Ichabod,\u201d said Job, \u201cthat Master Torrey and I just found\nthe figure-head of the poor Sea-nymph, all shattered to bits on the\nrocks? The waves brought her all this way to smash her at last.\u201d\n\n\u201cI wish they had smashed her at first,\u201d said Ichabod.\n\n\u201cWhy?\u201d said Job, with a curious look.\n\n\u201cBecause,\u201d said Ichabod, \u201cshe was an unlucky creature from the first.\nShe was too much alive for a wooden image, and too wooden to be a live\nwoman, much less a goddess.\u201d\n\n                                _FINIS_\n\n\n\n\n                          Transcriber\u2019s Notes\n\n\n--Copyright notice provided as in the original\u2014this e-text is public\n  domain in the country of publication.\n\n--Silently corrected palpable typos; left non-standard spellings and\n  dialect unchanged.\n\n--In the text versions, delimited italics text in _underscores_ (the\n  HTML version reproduces the font form of the printed book.)\n\n--Released the other part of this printed volume, Eva\u2019s Adventures in\n  Shadow-Land, as a separate Gutenberg edition, but retained the\n  original combined title-page as a bibliographic record.","title":"The Merman and the Figure-Head","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":20516}