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9. The Maiden is willing to marry the Drummer but is satisfied with his presents instead.

III.

The Good and the Bad Characters.

1. The Drummer was brave, kind to his parents and loved the princess, but he tricked the two quarreling men, and disobeyed and forgot the princess. 2. The King's Daughter was always helpful, faithful and lovable.

3, 4 and 5. The Three Giants were usually cruel but were afraid of the Drummer and so behaved very well.

6. The Two Men were very unwise to quarrel and perhaps deserved to lose their saddle.

7. The Witch was cruel, deceitful and always bad, deserving her awful fate.

8. The Drummer's Parents were good people, for they knew nothing of the princess when they tried to marry their son to another.

9. The Maiden was a commonplace person who did not really love the Drummer.

IV. The Unreal and Magical Things.

1. There are no glass mountains, but an iceberg resembles one.

2. There never were giants as big as fir trees. 3. There never was a saddle that could itself carry anyone anywhere.

4. There never was an old woman who could enchant a maiden.

5. There never was a magic ring that could grant wishes. Fish never jumped from water and sorted themselves, wood never cut itself nor piled itself.

6. Never was a princess enchanted into a log and no log ever became a king's beautiful daughter.

7. It never made any difference in a young man's fortunes if he did kiss his parents on the right instead of the left cheek.

8. No castle such as this was ever built in a day. V. Things that Happen in Threes.

How absurd it is that in fairy stories things so often happen in sets of three! In this one short story we find:

1. The Drummer saw three pieces of white linen.

2. The Drummer met three giants.

3. The mountain looked as high as if three mountains had been placed one upon another.

4. On the plain are three things, an old stone house, a large fish pond and a dark, dreary forest. 5. The Witch did not appear till the Drummer had knocked three times.

6. The Drummer wanted three things, admission, food and a night's lodging.

7. The Witch assigned three tasks.

8.

There were three conditions to the first task, to scoop out the water, sort the fish, and finish by night.

9. There were three parts to the second task, to cut the trees, to split them into logs and to stack them.

10. The Witch gave the Drummer three tools with which to accomplish the second task, an ax, a chopper and a wedge.

11. In the third task there were three steps, to place the wood in a heap, to set fire to it and to burn it.

12. The Drummer supposed he had been gone three days but it was three years.

13. The wedding was to take place in three days.

14. The princess sang her song three times.

Tom, the Water Baby

(Volume II, page 215)

"This is all a fairy tale, and only fun and pretense; and therefore, you are not to believe a word of it, even if it is true."

But what a wonderful tale it is; so interesting a story, such a mixture of fact and fancy, so brimming full of fun and laughter, so touching in pathos, and so rife with good lessons. Though "you are not to believe a word of it, even if it is true," there is so much truth in it that you really cannot keep from believing a great deal of it.

A better comprehension of Tom, the Water Baby among parents will mean a greater popularity for it among children. The tale is too long for a full interpretation, but we can offer an analysis which will help to keep the story in mind, and some illustrations of different meritorious features.

I. Analysis. At first Tom is a real boy, a little grimy, ignorant chimney sweep, next a water baby or eft, in which character, under the tutelage of the fairies, he gains his education. Briefly at the end he is a man, an engineer, but all that is delightfully vague, for he has ceased to be the little Tom we like so thoroughly.

Chapters I and II.

Tom, the Chimney Sweep,

Works for Mr. Grimes;

Summoned to sweep the chimney at Hartover
Place;

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