"To-night we will go down to the sea." said my fairy friends, "and we must prepare, you for the trip." Then Verita reached up into the air and pulled down a gorgeous suit of glove-fitting clothes, woven from radiant sea-bows, so that the pressure of the water would not hurt me, for you know light has a reflecting and resisting power of its own. After the suit was donned she gave me a pair of magic boots, with which I could travel as fast as they could, either on top of the water or underneath it, and then she held the daintiest kind of perfume to my nose and the fragrance went down to my lungs and made them waterproof, so that I would have no trouble about breathing while in the water.
When all was ready we slipped down to the beach and skipped over the water, past the lighthouse and away out of sight of the land. Then we seemed to be in the middle, of a great basin of water, the rim extending high on every side, and right at that point we said good-by to the air and sank below the surface. A great many fishes were attracted by the light from my clothes and the pearl lights of the fairies, but we went so fast they didn't have much chance to see who we were.
It seemed hardly a moment until we were on the bottom of the ocean, with six miles of water above us. There were hills and valleys and plains and mountains. Where we struck ground again the soil was whitish and rather bare, but there was some shrubbery, with rather heavy trunks, looking like trees that forgot to throw out branches and put all their energy to getting as big around as they could. Then there were other plants that seemed to be part fish, and the fairies told me that the blossoms on some of the plants did grow into fish, and after they got big enough they broke loose from the stem and swam away. But at that depth there was not so much life as higher tip on the ocean bed.
"It is because, of the quietness that the nymphs chose the very bottom of the sea as a retreat for rest and revel," said Purita, "and here we are at the great palace of the sea fairies." It wasn't a place where one would suspect there was a palace, unless he knew of it before, for we were now at the bottom of a great chasm, the walls extending high on either side, but before I had time to think much we went around a huge boulder and into a flood of light which came through a beautiful triumphal arch. We were welcomed with the sweetest, bell-like music you can imagine, and which made the water ring and tingle with its sound. Then a multitude of mermaids swan; to us singing a welcome, and they were followed by the mermen, for in the sea the mermaids go first.
The nymphs sent messengers ahead, and when we arrived at the royal reception room the Queen was seated on her throne of brilliant green, surrounded by a host of courtiers. After presentation to Her Majesty, which was not nearly so formal as presentation to a human queen. my guides told her I would like to know all about the water world and its people, and so the court story teller came forward and this is what he said:
"Floating around up in the sky there, are great oceans of water, without any land to make them muddy or to soak up and waste the water. We came from one of those oceans, but most of our folks live there yet. Once our ocean bumped against the earth and a lot of the water spilled out and many of us came with it. Then, too, the water of that ocean evaporated and some of the sprites go up in the vapor and slide down to the earth on raindrops, so more and more of our people are coming here all the time."
This settles the question of the flood, for the nymphs came with it and remember it.
"The water sprites," he continued, "are always eager for adventures, and are traveling almost constantly. It has been charged by humans that we were deceitful and always trying to lure sailors to destruction, but this is not so. Our work is to keep the waves placid and gentle, and to help people to be joyous and lively. But, like all beings on the earth, we are affected by human thoughts, and when those thoughts are evil they overpower us sometimes and compel us, against our own will, to cause storm and wreck."
The Queen of the Nymphs interrupted him and said I must carry a secret from her to the Lotus Buds. It is a real secret, for no one can understand it except the Lotus Buds, or some one in sympathy with them; and here it is:
"Tell those children of the Earth, for me, that the future happiness of all the creatures of the Earth is in their keeping, and if they will keep their minds pure and sweet then all the rest of humanity and all the other kingdoms will be compelled to think good thoughts, and when all envy, ambition, avarice and passion shall have disappeared the people of the sea can mingle with the children of earth and air and fire in completest harmony. They are the masters, we the servants, and although humanity compelled us to rebel against the wrongs indicted, we would far rather have good masters and render the homage of love. Tell the children that they have it in their power to help the mermaids and mermen to become conscious servants of Truth."