The Sea Fairies
1911
The Sea Fairies
1911
Trot is the kind of child who asks "why" when every sensible adult says "because." When Cap'n Bill, the old sailor with stump stories, warns her that nobody who sees a mermaid ever lives to tell the tale, she simply asks "why not?" That question propels her straight into the palace of the Sea Fairies, beneath the glittering waves of the Pacific. What begins as a conversation on a California bluff becomes a journey through coral kingdoms, where Trot and her companion meet an aristocratic codfish, befriend a bashful octopus, and are captured by a fearsome sea monster before making a daring escape. Baum's prose bubbles with the same irrepressible imagination that built Oz, but here the magic is wet and strange, lit by bioluminescent palaces and populated by creatures both beautiful and dangerous. The Sea Fairies captures something essential about childhood: the certainty that the world holds more wonders than grown-ups dare to believe. It is for readers who still ask "why not."
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“People lose a lot of time being afraid... People lose a lot of time in hating others, and there's no fun in it at all.””
— L. Frank Baum
“The learned scientists named ev'ry blamed thing they come across, an' gener'ly they picked out names as nobody could understand or pernounce.””
— L. Frank Baum
“People who are always understood are very common. You are sure to respect those you can't understand, for you feel that perhaps they know more than you do.””
— L. Frank Baum
“Courage, friends! Do not despair, for soon you will be free.””
— L. Frank Baum
“The sea maidens were as fresh and lovely as ever, while each and all proved sweet tempered and merry, even at the breakfast table”
— L. Frank Baum
“A lobster spilled some soup on Cap'n Bill's bald head and made him yell for a minute, because it was hot and he had not expected it,””
— L. Frank Baum
“Just beyond the opening the cave was higher, and as the boat floated into the dim interior they found themselves on quite an extensive branch of the sea. For a time neither of them spoke and only the soft lapping of the water against the sides of the boat was heard. A beautiful sight met the eyes of the two adventurers and held them dumb with wonder and delight. It was not dark in this vast cave, yet the light seemed to come from underneath the water, which all around them glowed with an exquisite sapphire color. Where the little waves crept up the sides of the rocks they shone like brilliant jewels, and every drop of spray seemed a gem fit to deck a queen.””
— L. Frank Baum
“Folks gener'ly gets stuck-up 'cause they don't know theirselves like other folks knows 'em.””
— L. Frank Baum
“I composed it myself!" said the Fiddler Crab. "But it's highly classical, I admit. All really great music is an acquired taste.””
— L. Frank Baum
