Ah! the Zephyr was a kind teacher, and took such pains with the little ripples in her class, that in a week they were ready to go into the Upper School.
They had good playtimes, too. The old Tide let them play sea-horses on his back. Then there was "Hide and Seek" round the rocks, "Hunt the Cockle," and "Ripple-Chivy." It is no use telling you how to play those games, for children cannot play them.
One of their favourite sports was to race up the sand and see who could get farthest; Undine was very clever at that game. One day when they were doing this, a little boy and his elder sister were paddling in the water, sailing a boat. He was a bonny, little fellow, about four years old, and when Undine came running up the sand, rocking his toy boat and splashing the sails, he clapped his hands and cried out, "Look at that great, big, lovely wave!"
Undine could not help laughing at the little fellow's glee, but she liked to be called a big wave.
At that moment a nasty, rough ripple who was quite big enough for the billow class—came rushing along, and the little boy got in his way and spoiled his run up the sand.
"Knock him over!" shouted a lot of the bigger ripples. "He is spoiling the game!"
"Leave him alone," cried Undine, as she floated gracefully back again.
But several of the bigger ripples rushed up at the same time, and, knocking over the little fellow, rolled him in the wet.
"Undine! Undine!" he called out in his terror, as they tumbled over him.
Undine rushed back to help him, but she was not strong enough. He knew nothing of Undine, the ripple. It was his sister, who was also named Undine, for whom he was calling; and she had run into the water at his first cry, and, picking him up in her arms, had carried him out onto the dry sand. But the nasty, little ripples had now caught hold of his boat, and were pushing it out to sea.