WET MAGIC. 
It is not well for the earth-people to know too 
much of the dwellers in the sea. There is a 
sacred vessel which has long been preserved 
among the civic plate. I propose that this 
vessel should be conferred on our guests as 
a mark of our esteem ; that they should bear 
it with them, and drink the contents as soon 
as they set foot on their own shores. 3 ’ 
He was at once sent to fetch the sacred 
vessel. It was a stone ginger-beer bottle. 
There were farewells to be said, a very 
loving farewell to the Princesses, a very 
friendly one to the fortunate Ulfin, and then 
a little party left the palace quietly, and for 
the last time made the journey to the quiet 
spot where the King of Merland had so 
long professed Conchology. 
Arrived at this spot, the King spoke to the 
King and Queen of the Underfolk. 
“ Swallow this charm,” he said, “ in equal 
shares, then rise to the surface of the lake 
and say the charm which I perceive the earth- 
children have taught you as we came along. 
The rest will be easy and beautiful. We shall 
never forget you. Farewell.” 
The King and Queen rose through the 
waters and disappeared. 
Next moment a strong attraction like that 
which needles feel for magnets drew the 
children from the side of the Mer-King. 
They shut their eyes, and when they 
opened them they were on dry land, in a 
wood by a lake, and Francis had a ginger- 
beer bottle in his hand. 
“ Tt works more slowly on land, the 
Astrologer said,” Reuben remarked. “Before 
Vr>l, xlvi.— 30. 
235 
we drink and forget every- 
thing 1 want to tell you that 
1 think you’ve all been real 
bricks to me. And if you 
don’t mind, I’ll take off these 
girl’s things.” 
He did, appearing in shirt 
and trousers. 
“ Good-bye,” he said, shak- 
ing hands with everyone. 
“ But aren’t you coming 
home with us ? ” 
“ No,” he said. The 
Astrologer told me the first 
man and woman I should 
see on. land would be my long- 
lost father and mother. And 
I was to go straight to them 
with my little shirt and my 
little shoe that Fve kept all 
this time, and they'd know 
me, and I should belong 
to them. But 1 hope we’ll 
meet again some day. Good-bye.” 
With that they drank each a draught 
from the ginger-beer bottle, and then, making- 
haste to act before the oblivion -cup should 
blot out, with other things, the Astrologer’s 
advice, Reuben went out of the wood into 
the sunshine and across a green turf. They 
saw him speak to a man and woman in blue 
bathing-dresses, who seemed to have been 
swimming in the lake, and were now resting 
on the marble steps that led down to it. 
He held out the little shirt and the little 
shoe, and they held their hands out to him. 
And as they turned the children saw that 
their faces were the faces of the King and 
Queen of the Underfolk, only now not sad 
any more, but radiant with happiness. 
And then the oblivion - cup took effect, 
and they forgot, and forgot for ever, the won- 
derful world that they had known under-seas. 
But Reuben, curiously enough, they did 
not forget ; they went home to tea with 
a pleasant story for their father and mother 
of a spangled boy at the circus who had run 
away and found his father and mother. 
And two days after a motor stopped at 
their gate and Reuben got out. 
“ 1 say,” he said, “ I’ve found my father 
and mother, and we've come to thank you 
for the plum-pie and things. Come and see 
my father and mother,” he ended, proudly. 
The children went, and looked once more 
iii the faces of the King and Queen, but now 
they did not know those faces, which seemed 
to them only the faces of some very nice 
strangers. 
