The Water-Babies

Tom is a little chimney sweep, beaten and overworked by his cruel master Grimes, who has never been taught right from wrong. After he comes down the wrong chimney into a white bedroom in a great house and is chased away as a thief, he runs to a river, falls in, and is turned into a tiny water-baby. Living among the creatures of the river and the sea, he meets the fairies Mrs Bedonebyasyoudid and Mrs Doasyouwouldbedoneby, who teach him, step by step, to become good.

Charles Kingsley (1819–1875), a clergyman, naturalist and reformer, published the story in 1863. Part fairy tale, part satire and part sermon, it joins in the debates of its age, including Darwin's theory of evolution, which Kingsley accepted, and it helped bring about laws against sending boys up chimneys. It also contains prejudices of its time that modern readers find offensive.