The Water-Babies by Charles Kingsley — bedtime book: extract, author and a journey to the places

Late in the evening, by water, it is good to read a book that flows like a river — and The Water-Babies is exactly that. It is a strange, tender, very Victorian fairy tale about a little chimney-sweep called Tom, who runs away from his cruel master, falls into a northern river and becomes a “water-baby.” Charles Kingsley wrote it in 1863 for his youngest son and poured everything into it at once: adventure, satire, a lesson in kindness and a real love of streams and creatures. The result is sweet and eccentric in equal measure — and useful, too: the book helped finish off the shameful trade of sending children up chimneys. Today it is read both as a bedtime story and as a monument to its age.

An extract: how the book begins

The tale opens not with the river but with Tom himself — a line you cannot forget. The first sentences:

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“Once upon a time there was a little chimney-sweep, and his name was Tom. That is a short name, and you have heard it before, so you will not have much trouble in remembering it.”

Our translation (for our Russian readers) keeps the plain, friendly voice of the original. And here is what grown-ups remember the book for: the two fairies who rule the underwater world are named Mrs Bedonebyasyoudid and Mrs Doasyouwouldbedoneby. Their names carry the whole moral of the book, folded into a single word.

Full English text, free and legal, in the public domain: Project Gutenberg, eBook #1018.

Why it is worth reading tonight

The Water-Babies pretends to be a simple story about a boy who turns into a water creature, but inside it is an extraordinary mixture: adventure, satire on prim adults, a lesson in conscience and a primer of natural history by a clergyman who adored rivers. Underwater, Tom is taught not cruelty but that you should treat others as you would be done by — and the other way round. In Kingsley’s hands this is no dull sermon but two living fairies with absurd, long names. The first chapter — Tom’s flight and his fall into the river — takes about fifteen minutes to read aloud and sets the tone at once: now funny, now a little frightening, now heart-breakingly sorry for the grubby boy. How the transformation ends we will not reveal; we will only say that, for such a strange book, the ending is surprisingly bright.

About the author

Charles Kingsley was born on 12 June 1819 at Holne, Devon, and died on 23 January 1875 at Eversley, Hampshire — more than seventy years ago, so his writing is now in the public domain. Three things about him. First, he was a country clergyman: he served thirty-one years as Rector of Eversley and is buried there. Second, he combined the cassock with real learning and literature — Regius Professor of Modern History at Cambridge (from 1860) and Canon of Westminster (from 1873) — while his fame rested on the historical novels Westward Ho! and Hereward the Wake. Third, Kingsley was a Christian Socialist and reformer who campaigned for sanitation in the slums and against child labour; The Water-Babies is part of that fight, not only a fairy tale.

A journey to the places

Kingsley’s route runs from a quiet Hampshire parish to the high Yorkshire lake where the book was born. The details below were checked today.

St Mary’s Church, Eversley, Hampshire. Here Kingsley was Rector for thirty-one years, and here is his grave — a white stone Celtic cross on two steps, with the Latin motto “AMAVIMUS AMAMUS AMABIMUS” (“we have loved, we love, we shall love”) and the name of his wife, Fanny; the tomb is listed by Historic England (Grade II). It is a working village church on a quiet country lane; the churchyard is open and you can see the grave free of charge.

Malham Tarn and Tarn House, Yorkshire Dales (near Settle, BD24 9PU). England’s highest lake and, according to the National Trust and Historic England, the place where the book was born: Kingsley stayed at Tarn House with the philanthropist Walter Morrison and is thought to have conceived The Water-Babies here. The limestone dales and becks around it are Tom’s underwater world in real life. The moor and the lake shore are open for walking, free, at any time; parking is at the Waterhouses, Quarry or Watersinks car parks. Tarn House itself has stood empty since autumn 2023 and is not open inside.

Westminster Abbey, Poets’ Corner, London. Here stands a white marble bust of Kingsley by the sculptor Thomas Woolner (1876); in 2014 it was moved to Poets’ Corner, by Chaucer’s monument, inscribed “Charles Kingsley, Canon of Westminster.” The Abbey is open Monday to Saturday, 9.30am–3.30pm; admission is £32 for an adult, £29 for 65+ and students, £14 for children 6–17 and free under 6 (prices checked today on the Abbey’s site).

Where to get it

Free. The full English text is in the public domain: Project Gutenberg, eBook #1018. To find it in British libraries, use the Library Hub Discover catalogue.

In print. The Water-Babies is widely available in English (Penguin Classics and Puffin editions); ordinary British bookshops keep it, and Russian-language shops in Britain — Notre Locus and Bookashka — carry Russian translations. Check stock and price on the shop’s own site.