It was clear as crystal, except a little purple colouring in rings at the edge. When the Child touched it with his foot it made a slight plaintive moan, and murmured, "I am alive; be gentle to me."
"How could I know that?" said the Child; "I would not hurt you for the world; I thought you were only a bit of something."
"If you had only seen me last evening," sighed the Medusa. "We were sailing, a fleet of us, far out in the deep sea; we thought it was to be calm, and we came up from the dark depths, to bask in the sunshine. And now I am separated from all my companions, and left to die here."
"How did you come here?" said the Child kindly; "may you not return by the same way?"
"How can I tell how I came here?" sighed the Medusa; "there was darkness, and thunder, and confusion,—waves hurling one another about, until sea and sky were all mixed, and the surface was as dark as the caves below. And I was like a bubble on the breakers, until one dashed me in beyond the reach of the others, and I am left here to die."
"You shall not die," said the Child. And gently taking up the shapeless mass in both his little hands, he carried it to the edge of a rock, which rose perpendicularly out of a deep creek, and there he threw it into the sea.
The Medusa stretched her crystal body joyously,—the receding waves bore her out to sea before she could thank the Child; but he rejoiced in her happiness, and turned back with a light heart to rest in his own little dwelling. For the sun was approaching the west, and crimson rays began to tint the upper surfaces of the waves, while their shadows became blue and dark. And as he climbed the little path, and rested on his little bed that night, he thought, "How glorious it must be far out in the deep sea!"
CHAPTER III.
The next morning, when the Child came down on the beach, the sea lay calm and bright, as if the world were opening her blue eyes, and gazing full into the heavens and drinking in their smiles.
The Child found little to set right; all the creatures were so busy at their various employments that none but the waves had time to play with him; and even they crept lazily in, as if they were half asleep, and hardly took the trouble to chase him when he ran from them. So the sunshine and the quiet stole also into the merry heart of the Child, and he seated himself beside the transparent rock-pool to watch and listen.