He had nothing to do now but enjoy himself , and look at all the pretty things which are to be seen in the cool clear water-world , where the sun is never too hot , and the frost is never too cold . And what did he live on ? Water-cresses , perhaps ; or perhaps water - gruel , and water-milk ; too many land-babies do so likewise . But we do not know what one-tenth of the water-things eat ; so we are not answerable for the water-babies . Sometimes he went along the smooth gravel water-ways , looking at the crickets which ran in and out among the stones , as rabbits do on land ; or he climbed over the ledges of rock , and saw the sand - pipes hanging in thousands , with every one of them a pretty little head and legs peeping out ; or he went into a still corner , and watched the caddises eating dead sticks as greedily as you would eat plum-pudding , and building their houses with silk and glue . Very fanciful ladies they were ; none of them would keep to the same materials for a day . One would begin with some pebbles ; then she would stick on a piece of green wood ; then she found a shell , and stuck it on too ; and the poor shell was alive , and did not like at all being taken to build houses with : but the caddis did not let him have any voice in the matter , being rude and selfish , as vain people are apt to be ; then she stuck on a piece of rotten wood , then a very smart pink stone , and so on , till she was patched all over like an Irishman 's coat . Then she found a long straw , five times as long as herself , and said , `` Hurrah ! my sister has a tail , and I 'll have one too ; '' and she stuck it on her back , and marched about with it quite proud , though it was very inconvenient indeed . And , at that , tails became all the fashion among the caddis-baits in that pool , as they were at the end of the Long Pond last May , and they all toddled about with long straws sticking out behind , getting between each other 's legs , and tumbling over each other , and looking so ridiculous , that Tom laughed at them till he cried , as we did . But they were quite right , you know ; for people must always follow the fashion , even if it be spoon-bonnets . Then sometimes he came to a deep still reach ; and there he saw the water-forests . They would have looked to you only little weeds : but Tom , you must remember , was so little that everything looked a hundred times as big to him as it does to you , just as things do to a minnow , who sees and catches the little water-creatures which you can only see in a microscope . And in the water-forest he saw the water-monkeys and water - squirrels -LRB- they had all six legs , though ; everything almost has six legs in the water , except efts and water-babies -RRB- ; and nimbly enough they ran among the branches . There were water-flowers there too , in thousands ; and Tom tried to pick them : but as soon as he touched them , they drew themselves in and turned into knots of jelly ; and then Tom saw that they were all alive -- bells , and stars , and wheels , and flowers , of all beautiful shapes and colours ; and all alive and busy , just as Tom was . So now he found that there was a great deal more in the world than he had fancied at first sight . There was one wonderful little fellow , too , who peeped out of the top of a house built of round bricks . He had two big wheels , and one little one , all over teeth , spinning round and round like the wheels in a thrashing-machine ; and Tom stood and stared at him , to see what he was going to make with his machinery . And what do you think he was doing ? Brick-making .
With his two big wheels he swept together all the mud which floated in the water : all that was nice in it he put into his stomach and ate ; and all the mud he put into the little wheel on his breast , which really was a round hole set XXXXX teeth ; and there he spun it into a neat hard round brick ; and then he took it and stuck it on the top of his house - wall , and set to work to make another .
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