The Water Babies
“The Water-Babies (1863), A Fairy Tale for a Land Baby by Reverend Charles Kingsley is a children’s novel which was “was written as part satire in support of Charles Darwin’s The Original Species. The protagonist is Tom, a young chimney sweep, who falls into a river after encountering an upper-class girl named Ellie and being chased out of her house. There he drowns and is transformed into a "water baby", as he is told by a caddisfly —an insect that sheds its skin—and begins his moral education The story is thematically concerned with Christian redemption, though Kingsley also uses the book to argue that England treats its poor badly, and to question child labour, among other themes. Tom embarks on a series of adventures and lessons, and enjoys the community of other water babies once he proves himself a moral creature. The major spiritual leaders in his new world are the fairies Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby (a reference to the Golden Rule), Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid, and Mother Carey. Weekly, Tom is allowed the company of Ellie, who drowned after he did.” (Citation from Wikipedia: The free Encyclopaedia)
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