When Doris was a Mermaid 101

merman had gone to find out what was in
the cave, because a mermaid had told him
he would not dare, and he had never come
back. So we never went near: the cave,
though we all wanted to know what was in
it, and the big terrible arms were always
beckoning us to come. Of course I know
well enough now what must have been in
the cave: it was a big octopus. I should
think the cave must be over yonder, under-
neath St. Michael’s Mount.”

She paused, and looked across to the
Mount, dreamily. “But what did you do
for flowers, Doris?” asked the Visitor,
knowing well that even in dreams the child
could not imagine a happy world that was
not full of flowers.

“Flowers?” she cried. “ Did you
think there were no flowers down there?”
Why the weed grows in forests, waving
constantly, but never sighing as the trees
do, because it is the moving water, and not
the wind, that sets them swaying. And
there were-all sorts of flowers of all the