Water Babies, The

Fantasy by English author Charles Kingsley, published in England in 1863. Tom, an orphan child who works as a chimney sweep, inadvertently frightens a girl, Ellie, and runs away. He drowns and is immortalized as an amphibious ‘water baby’. After redeeming his moral character by the instruction of Mrs Bedonebyasyoudid and Mrs Doasyouwouldbedoneby, Tom is reunited with Ellie, who strikes her head on the rocks after a fall at the seashore. She dies a few days later, joining Tom as a water baby.