"I thank you so very much!" said the child. "I was not naughty, was I?"
"Not naughty, only foolish; but that does just as much harm sometimes."
"But I was doing right things!" said the child.
"But you were doing them in the wrong way!" said the Angel. "It is good to do an errand, and it is good to go to school, but when you have a skein to wind you must sit still."
Once I saw a little boat, and a pretty, pretty boat, When daybreak the hills was adorning, And into it I jumped, and away I did float, So very, very early in the morning.
And every little wave had its nightcap on, Its nightcap, white cap, nightcap on. And every little wave had its nightcap on, So very, very early in the morning.
All the fishes were asleep in their caves cool and deep, When the ripple round my keel flashed a warning. Said the minnow to the skate, "We must certainly be late, Though I thought 't was very early in the morning."
For every little wave has its nightcap on, Its nightcap, white cap, nightcap on. For every little wave has its nightcap on, So very, very early in the morning.
The lobster darkly green soon appeared upon the scene, And pearly drops his claws were adorning. Quoth he, "May I be boiled, if I'll have my slumber spoiled, So very, very early in the morning!"
For every little wave has its nightcap on, Its nightcap, white cap, nightcap on, For every little wave has its nightcap on, So very, very early in the morning.
Said the sturgeon to the eel, "Just imagine how I feel, Thus roused without a syllable of warning. People ought to let us know when a-sailing they would go, So very, very early in the morning."
When every little wave has its nightcap on, Its nightcap, white cap, nightcap on. When every little wave has its nightcap on, So very, very early in the morning.
Just then up jumped the sun, and the fishes every one For their laziness at once fell a-mourning. But I stayed to hear no more, for my boat had reached the shore, So very, very early in the morning.
And every little wave took its nightcap off, Its nightcap, white cap, nightcap off. And every little wave took its nightcap off, And courtesied to the sun in the morning.
"I have come to speak to you about your work," said the Angel-who-attends-to-things. "It appears to be unsatisfactory."