them to pieces and the storms wreck them?"

"Watch and see!" answered the mermaids, well pleased at her delight; and
as a gust blew by every silken sail was furled, the lovely colors
vanished, and the fairy boats sank out of sight safely to the bottom of
the sea.

"Our sailors can't do that," said Nelly; "and when our ships go down
they never come up again."

Just then some fish flew over their heads and splashed down again, while
the gulls snapped at them in vain.

"Those are our birds, and here are our horses. People call them
porpoises, but we call them dolphins, and have many a fine gallop on
their backs," said Goldfin, as a school of great creatures came
gambolling by.

Up sprang the mermaids, and went swiftly dashing through the water with
high leaps now and then, as their sea-horses reared and plunged, tossing
their tails and waving their fins as if they enjoyed the frolic. Nelly
did, and wished to ride longer; but a whale appeared, and her playmates
went to climb on his back and hear the news from the North Sea. It was
like a moving island, and they sat under the fountain as he spouted
water and rolled about lazily basking in the sun after his cold voyage.

"Don't we have good times?" asked Silver-tail, when they slid down the
slippery sides of the monster and climbed up again as if coasting.

"Splendid! I like to be a mermaid and have no lessons to study, no work
to sew, no nurse to scold me, and no mamma to forbid my swimming as much
as I choose," said naughty Nelly; but as she spoke and looked toward the
land now far away, a little pain went through her heart to remind her
that she was not a real mermaid, and still had a conscience, though she
would not listen to it.

They played all the afternoon, had an oyster supper, and went early to
bed to get a good nap before midnight, because the moon was full and
they hoped the Wonder-tree would bloom before morning.

Nelly liked the quiet now; and the soft song of the sea lulled her to
sleep, to dream of sailing in a nautilus boat till a dreadful
cuttle-fish came after her and she woke in a fright, wondering to find
herself lying on a bed of wet weeds in a great shell.

"Come away; it is time, and a lovely night," called the mermaids, and
with several new friends they all hurried up to watch the buds open when
the moon kissed them.

The sea shone like silver; the stars seemed to float there as well as
in the sky, and the wind blew off the shore bringing