E. Nesbit

“ They bewitch prisoners so that they forget who they are. Of course, there's the antidote. Every uniform is made with a little antidote pocket just over the heart." He put his fin inside his scales and produced a little golden case, just like a skate's egg. "You've got them, too, of course," he added. "If you are taken prisoner swallow the contents at once."
"But if you forget who you are," said Francis, "don't you forget the antidote?"
"No charm," the Mackerel assured him, "is strong enough to make one forget one's counter-charm."
And now they were back at the Lobster-guarded gate. ”

“ Their eyes soon grew used to the gloom and they could see that the floor of the cave was of dry white sand, and that along one end was a narrow dark pool of water. Ferns fringed its edge and drooped their fronds to its smooth surface—a surface which caught a gleam of light, and shone whitely; but the pool was very still, and they felt somehow, without knowing why, very deep.
"It's no good, no earthly," said Francis.
"But it's an awfully pretty cave," said Mavis consolingly. "Thank you for showing it to us, Reuben. ”

“ If he had struggled—but no—he sank like a stone, or like a diver who means diving and diving to the very bottom.
"She's my special sister," said Bernard, and leaped.
"If it's magic it's all right—and if it isn't we couldn't go back home without her," said Mavis hoarsely. And she and Francis took hands and jumped together.
It was not so difficult as it sounds. From the moment of Kathleen's disappearance the sense of magic—which is rather like very sleepy comfort and sweet scent and sweet music that you just can't hear the tune of—had been growing stronger and stronger. ”

“ Let us join hands in peace and the love of royal brethren."
"What a dreadful noise they are making outside," said the King, and indeed the noise of shouting and singing was now to be heard on every side of the Palace.
"If there was a balcony now where we could show ourselves," suggested the King of Merland.
"The very thing," said the Queen, catching up her pet Fido-which-was-Cathay in her arms and leading the way to the great curtained arch at the end of the hall. She drew back the swinging, sweeping hangings of woven seaweed and stepped forth on the balcony—the two Kings close behind her. ”

“ He turned toward Joan of Arc with a smile and she gave him back a smile as bright as the sword she carried.
"How many women are there among you?" the Queen asked, and Joan answered:
"Queen Boadicea and Torfrida and I are but three."
"But we three," cried Torfrida, "are a match for three hundred of such women as those. Give us but whips instead of swords, and we will drive them like dogs to their red and blue cloth-bound kennels."
"I'm afraid," said the Queen, "they'd overcome you by sheer weight. You've no idea how heavy they are." ”

“ Sabrina Fair THAT going to the seaside was the very beginning of everything—only it seemed as though it were going to be a beginning without an end, like the roads on the Sussex downs which look like roads and then look like paths, and then turn into sheep tracks, and then are just grass and furze bushes and tottergrass and harebells and rabbits and chalk.
The children had been counting the days to The Day. Bernard indeed had made a calendar on a piece of cardboard that had once been the bottom of the box in which his new white sandshoes came home. ”

“ Mavis had her arm protectingly around Kathleen, and the moment the draught had been swallowed Kathleen threw off that loving arm and drew herself away. It hurt like a knife. Then she looked at her brothers and sisters, and it is a very terrible thing when the eyes you love look at you as though you were a stranger.
Now, it had been agreed, while still the captives were in the net, that all of them should pretend that the cup of oblivion had taken effect, that they should just keep still and say nothing and look as stupid as they could. ”

“ They crept around the tent till they came to the little square bulge that marked the place where the tank was and the seaweed and the Mermaid.
“They die in captivity, they die in captivity, they die in captivity,” Mavis kept repeating to herself, trying to keep up her courage by reminding herself of the desperately urgent nature of the adventure. “It’s a matter of life and death,” she told herself—“life and death.” ”

“ My brother King, my sister Queen, I greet you."
"This is most irregular," said the King.
"Never mind, dear," said the Queen, "let us hear what his Majesty has to say."
"I say—Let there be peace between our people," said the Mer King. "For countless ages these wars have been waged, for countless ages your people and mine have suffered. Even the origin of the war is lost in the mists of antiquity. Now I come to you, I, your prisoner—I was given to drink of the cup of oblivion and forgot who I was and whence I came. Now a counter-charm has given me back mind and memory. ”

“ And yet, you know, there was."
"It's like I told you about radium and things," said Bernard. "Things aren't magic because they haven't been found out yet. There's always been Mermaids, of course, only people didn't know it.
"But she talks," said Francis.
"Why not?" said Bernard placidly. "Even parrots do that."
"But she talks English," Mavis urged.
"Well," said Bernard, unmoved, "what would you have had her talk?"
And so, in pretty sunshine, between blue sky and good sands, the adventure of the Mermaid seemed to come to an end, to be now only as a tale that is told. ”

“ The three children were mounted on these, and the crowd which had collected in the street seemed to find it most amusing to see people in fetter-tails riding on the chargers of the Horse Marines. But their laughter was not ill-natured. And the horses were indeed a boon to the weary tails of the amateur seals.
Riding along the bottom of the sea was a wonderful experience—but soon the open country was left behind and they began to go up ways cut in the heart of the rock—ways long and steep, and lighted, as all that great Underworld was, with phosphorescent light. ”

“ Yet before long the fire in Torfrida’s great dark eyes seemed to scorch her adversary, she shrank before it, and shrank and shrank till at last she turned and crept back to her book and went in of her own accord, and Torfrida shut the door.
“But,” said Mavis, who had followed her, “don’t you live in the same book?”
Torfrida smiled.
“Not quite,” she said. “That would be impossible. I live in a different edition, where only the Nice People are alive. In hers it is the nasty ones.”
“And where is Hereward?” Cathay asked, before Mavis could stop her. “I do love him, don’t you?” ”

“ We've always felt there was magic right enough, haven't we? Well, now we've come across it, don't let's be silly and pretend. Let's believe in it as hard as ever we can. Mavis—shall we, eh? Believing in things makes them stronger. Aunt Dorothea said that too—you remember."
They stood up in their shoes.
"Shall we tell the others?" Mavis asked.
"We must," said Francis, "it would be so sneakish not to. But they won't believe us. We shall have to be like Cassandra and not mind."
"I only wish I knew who it is we've got to save," said Mavis. ”

“ The King raised his hand for silence.
“My people,” he said, “brave men of Merland—let there be peace, now and forever, between us and our brave foes. The King and Queen of this land agreed to make unconditional peace while they believed themselves to be victorious. If victory has for today been with us, let us at least be the equals of our foes in generosity as in valor.” ”

“ Mavis asked.
“Through the golden door,” said the Princess. “Of course they couldn’t do anything if we hadn’t read the books they’re in. That’s the worst of Education. We’ve all read such an awful lot, and that unlocks the books and they can come out if anyone calls them. Even our fish are intolerably well read—except the Porpoises, dear things, who never could read anything. That’s why the golden door is guarded by them, of course.”
“If not having read things is useful,” said Mavis, “we’ve read almost nothing. ”

“ Don't you like Aunt Enid? Isn't she kind?"
All four thought of the spades and pails and shrimping nets, and of Eric and Elsie and the other books—and all said:
"Yes."
"Then what was it?" Mother asked. And they could not tell her. It is sometimes awfully difficult to tell things to your mother, however much you love her. The best Francis could do was:
"Well—you see we're not used to her."
And Kathleen said: "I don't think perhaps she's used to being an aunt. But she was kind." ”

“ I was saying....”
“MAVIS!” called Aunt Enid.
“Yes, Aunt Enid—you were saying what?”
“I was saying, ‘Sabrina fair,’” said Francis, “do you think—but, of course, it couldn’t have been—and all dry like that, no water or anything.”
“Perhaps magic has to be dry,” said Mavis. “Coming, Aunt Enid! It seems to be mostly burning things, and, of course, that wouldn’t do in the water. What did you see?”
“It looked like Sabrina,” said Francis—“only tiny, tiny. Not doll-small, you know, but live-small, like through the wrong end of a telescope. I do wish you’d seen it.” ”

“ Everything went well, only Francis and Mavis were both astonished to find themselves much more frightened than they had expected to be. Any really great adventure like the rescuing of a Mermaid does always look so very much more serious when you carry it out, at night, than it did when you were planning it in the daytime. Also, though they knew they were not doing anything wrong, they had an uncomfortable feeling that Mother and Daddy might not agree with them on that point. And of course they could not ask leave to go and rescue a Mermaid, with a chariot, at dead of night. ”

“ They floundered and strove to push away the clinging stuff—and as they strove the Narwhals made their sortie—drove their weight against the riders and hurled them from their horses, and from the covers of the rocks the Crabs advanced with an incredible speed and caught the tails of the Sea Horses in their inexorable claws. The riders lay on the ground. The horses were rearing and prancing with fear and pain as the clouds of seaweed, each with a prickly Sea Urchin in it, flung themselves against their faces. ”

“ Francis asked as they walked out into the garden.
"Keeping the sea out of our kingdom," was the answer, "and fighting the Under Folk. We kept the sea out by trying very hard with both hands, inside our minds. And, of course, the sky helps."
"And how do you fight the Under Folk—and who are they?" Bernard wanted to know.
"Why, the thick-headed, heavy people who live in the deep sea."
"Different from you?" Kathleen asked.
"My dear child!"
"She means," explained Mavis, "that we didn't know there were any other kind of people in the sea except your kind." ”

“ Water’s a thing human beings can’t breathe, isn’t it? Well, you are breathing. So this can’t be water.”
“I see that,” said Mavis, “but the soft seaweed won’t stand up in air, and it does in water.”
“Oh, you’ve found out, have you?” said the Mermaid. “Well, then, perhaps it is water. Only you see it can’t be. Everything’s like that down here.”
“Once you said you lived in water, and you wanted to be wet,” said Mavis.
“Mer-people aren’t responsible for what they say in your world. I told you that, you know,” the Mermaid reminded them. ”

“ Why, don’t you see, all these people you’re at war with are nice. Look how kind the Queen is to Cathay—look how kind Ulfin is to us—and the Librarian, and the Keeper of the Archives, and the soldiers who lent us the horses. They’re all as decent as they can stick, and all the Mer-people are nice too—and then they all go killing each other, and all those brave, jolly soldier fish too, just all about nothing. ”

“ It was nearly dark by now, but Mavis had lighted the four dollhouse candles in the gilt candlesticks and set them on the table around the aquarium.
"Look through the side," she said; "isn't it ripping?"
"Why," said Francis slowly, "you've got water in it—and real anemones! Where on earth . . . ?"
"Not real," said Mavis. "I wish they were; they're only dahlias. But it does look pretty, doesn't it?"
"It's like Fairyland," said Kathleen, and Bernard added, "I am glad you bought it."
"It just shows what it will be like when we do get the sea creatures," said Mavis. ”

“ The four children stood up and looked at each other.
“I wish Reuben was here,” said Cathay. “He’d know what to do.”
“He wouldn’t know any more than we do,” said Francis haughtily.
“We must do something,” said Mavis. “It’s our fault again.”
“It’s mine,” said Cathay, “but I couldn’t help it.”
“If you hadn’t, one of us would have,” said Bernard, seeking to console. “I say, why do only the nasty people come out of the books?”
“I know that,” said his Porpoise, turning his black face eagerly toward them. “The stupidest people can’t help knowing something. ”

“ So the Mermaid they had rescued was a Queen's daughter!
"I didn't know you were a Princess," said Mavis, as they followed the Queen along a corridor.
"That's why they have made such a fuss, I suppose," said Bernard.
"Oh, no, we should have given the ovation to anyone who had saved any of us from captivity. We love giving ovations. Only we so seldom get the chance, and even ordinary entertaining is difficult. People are so prejudiced. We can hardly ever get anyone to come and visit us. I shouldn't have got you if you hadn't happened to find that cave. ”

“ Arrived at this spot the King spoke to the King and Queen of the Under Folk.
"Swallow this charm," he said, "in equal shares—then rise to the surface of the lake and say the charm which I perceive the Earth children have taught you as we came along. The rest will be easy and beautiful. We shall never forget you, and your hearts will remember us, though your minds must forget. ”

“ At a circus, of course, the horses and things aren't near enough for you to stroke them, so this time they might not be asked to promise. If Mother came with them her presence, though agreeable, would certainly add to the difficulties, already quite enough—as even Mavis could not but see—of rescuing the Mermaid. But suppose Mother didn't come with them.
"Suppose we have to promise we won't touch any of the animals?" suggested Cathay. "You can't rescue a person without touching it."
"That's just it," said Mavis, "a Mermaid isn't an animal. She's a person." ”