Page 236 - Adventures in shadow-land

the wooden nymph stood up in her place, holding
out her silver vase in both hands and looking over

the sea with her painted eyes.
“ What a lovely creature!7’ thought the mer­

man. ef She is looking at me; she holds her vase
toward m e,”

She was doing no such thing, of course— the
wooden image— but he thought she was. He did

not know that she would have looked just the
same way if he had been an old porpoise instead

of a young merman. He swam closer and closer.

The moon shone on the painted face. The ship
moved gently on the water. The merman thought

the lady had inclined her head. In one moment
he fell desperately, helplessly, in love with the

oaken nymph. It certainly must have been the
doing o f the old W itch of the Sea. Som e influence

of the kind must have been at work, or else a mer­
man who had been to college would surely have

had more sense than to become enamored of an
oak block. But whether it was the witch’s work,

or whether it was the drop of human blood in his

veins, or whether it waa fate, that is just what he
did— he fell in love with a wooden image. He