Does not each of us , in coming into this world , go through a transformation just as wonderful as that of a sea-egg , or a butterfly ? and do not reason and analogy , as well as Scripture , tell us that that transformation is not the last ? and that , though what we shall be , we know not , yet we are here but as the crawling caterpillar , and shall be hereafter as the perfect fly . The old Greeks , heathens as they were , saw as much as that two thousand years ago ; and I care very little for Cousin Cramchild , if he sees even less than they . And so forth , and so forth , till he is quite cross . And then tell him that if there are no water-babies , at least there ought to be ; and that , at least , he can not answer . And meanwhile , my dear little man , till you know a great deal more about nature than Professor Owen and Professor Huxley put together , do n't tell me about what can not be , or fancy that anything is too wonderful to be true . `` We are fearfully and wonderfully made , '' said old David ; and so we are ; and so is everything around us , down to the very deal table . Yes ; much more fearfully and wonderfully made , already , is the table , as it stands now , nothing but a piece of dead deal wood , than if , as foxes say , and geese believe , spirits could make it dance , or talk to you by rapping on it . Am I in earnest ? Oh dear no ! Do n't you know that this is a fairy tale , and all fun and pretence ; and that you are not to believe one word of it , even if it is true ? But at all events , so it happened to Tom . And , therefore , the keeper , and the groom , and Sir John made a great mistake , and were very unhappy -LRB- Sir John at least -RRB- without any reason , when they found a black thing in the water , and said it was Tom 's body , and that he had been drowned . They were utterly mistaken . Tom was quite alive ; and cleaner , and merrier , than he ever had been . The fairies had washed him , you see , in the swift river , so thoroughly , that not only his dirt , but his whole husk and shell had been washed quite off him , and the pretty little real Tom was washed out of the inside of it , and swam away , as a caddis does when its case of stones and silk is bored through , and away it goes on its back , paddling to the shore , there to split its skin , and fly away as a caperer , on four fawn-coloured wings , with long legs and horns . They are foolish fellows , the caperers , and fly into the candle at night , if you leave the door open . We will hope Tom will be wiser , now he has got safe out of his sooty old shell . But good Sir John did not understand all this , not being a fellow of the Linnaean Society ; and he took it into his head that Tom was drowned .
When they looked into the empty pockets of his shell , and found no jewels there , nor money -- nothing but three marbles , and a brass button with a string to it -- then Sir XXXXX did something as like crying as ever he did in his life , and blamed himself more bitterly than he need have done .
David Huxley John Owen foxes husk merrier night sea-egg water-babies