“I will give you a home if you will come with me,” said the dolphin. “I need some one to take care of my house.”
“But I cannot live in the water; I should drown,” said Nitta.
“I would not ask you to come if you would drown,” answered the dolphin. “But you must decide for yourself whether you could keep house for a fish. There are no children to play with at the bottom of the ocean.”
“I shall starve if I stay on land, and I may find a good home,” thought Nitta as the dolphin waited for his answer.
“I’ll go with you,” she said.
“Then jump on my back,” said the dolphin, “and close your eyes; there is nothing to fear. I promise you that.”
Nitta jumped on his back and closed her eyes. Over the waves they went, and then suddenly Nitta felt the dolphin plunge under the water, and down, down they went, and then next thing she knew the dolphin stopped and said, “Here we are.”
Nitta opened her eyes, and instead of being in the water, as she thought, she was in a beautiful garden in front of a beautiful house. Up the steps the dolphin flopped, for, of course, he could not walk, having no feet, and Nitta followed him.
He led her into a big hall hung with beautiful pictures and soft carpets upon the floor upon which Nitta was almost afraid to step.
Nitta almost forgot her queer companion, she was so overcome with all the grandeur she beheld.