"How would you like to take a look under the deep water and see all the strange creatures that live there?" asked their father.
"Oh, that would be wonderful! But how can we do it?" asked Molly.
"We can do it easily when we get to the park," said her father.
"Let's do it the very first thing. Just think of seeing how all the big and little fish live 'way down in the deep, deep ocean!"
"I am afraid we shall be drowned," said May. "I think I shall not like to go under the deep water any better than I liked to walk on top of the volcano."
"Why, it will be as easy as walking on this path," said their father. "Here we are at the door already. Shall we open it and take a look into the fish world?"
"Oh, dear! I feel as if I were Alice in Wonderland," said May. "Is this the door into the long, dark tunnel? I wonder if we shall fall down, down, down the tunnel just as Alice did. O father! Will the fish talk with us, the same as the rabbit and all the other animals talked with Alice?"
"If you should happen to fall asleep, as Alice did, the fish will probably tell you all their secrets," said her father. "But there is no long, dark tunnel here down which you must fall. We will each pay this man at the door two lire, then he will open the door and let us go in."
In another moment the door closed behind them, and they stood in the strangest place they had ever seen. It looked like the bottom of the great ocean, with ragged rocks and slippery seaweed everywhere, and many kinds of strange fish swimming quietly about them.
And yet, the water did not wet the children, and they could not touch the fish. A strong glass wall held back both the water and the fish.