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The Water Babies

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The Water Babies

By: Charles Kingsley
Narrated by: Bernard Cribbins
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About this listen

Bernard Cribbins reads Charles Kingsley's much-loved tale about a little chimney-sweep who is turned into a water baby. Tom the chimney-sweep has a hard life. He is beaten by his master, the cruel Mr Grimes, and forced to climb up dark flues where he bruises his knees and elbows and gets soot in his eyes. He is always hungry, for there is never enough to eat, and always dirty, as there is nowhere for him to wash. One day, he is so tired from sweeping flues that he comes down the wrong chimney and lands in the bedroom of a beautiful young girl, where he is mistaken for a thief and runs away. He falls asleep near a river - and when he wakes up, the fairies have transformed him into a water-baby. He loves his new life swimming in the stream and having adventures, but he has no one to play with. So he sets off on a journey to the sea, to find the other water babies.

Public Domain (P)2014 Audible, Inc. Fairy Tales, Folk Tales & Myths
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My Mum used to read the water baby stories to me when I was little. I don’t remember this at all but can see why it was read now. Good ole life ethics, wrapped up in beautiful paper. It could be part of the reason I’m a decent person as an adult....

Lovely, just lovely

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This is the story of Tom who Is a chimney sweep. He dies and becomes a water baby. The moral of the story is if you are good you will reap rewards but if you are bad you will reap what you deserve. Bernard Cribbins does a good job of reading the story.

Moralistic story.

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I don’t quite know what to say hey sounded scary and then like-a schoolteacher Teaching morals to children do the jobs you don’t like to do and you will be rewarded and if you are nasty you will not be rewarded a weird way of getting that message across drowned humans dead children become water babies OK

Well What can I say

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Hi l am a big boy and I like bananas 🍌 and cOcOnuTes for breakfast lunch and tea

The weather looks great but it is still a little bit rainy and I think we will arrive late

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In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.