nds the approach of a storm.

There is a suggestion of Sir Ralph the Rover in this legend; but,
indeed, the superstitions of those connected with the sea are so
interwoven, that it is not easy to disentangle them, and they are
numerous enough to need a book to themselves. No doubt our mariners
derived many of them from the old Spanish navigators who once swayed the
main, for the Spaniards are one of the most superstitious peoples in the
world.

CHAPTER VII.

MOTHER CAREY AND HER CHICKENS.

Who was Mother Carey the appearance of whose 'chickens' is supposed by
the mariner to foretell a coming storm? This question is often asked,
but seldom answered, and so a little light on the subject is desirable.

Charles Kingsley gives a very vivid picture of her. In his charming book
about The Water-Babies, he tells how little Tom, in search of his old
master, Grimes, is instructed to find his way to Peacepool and Mother
Carey's Haven, where the good whales go when they die. On his way he
meets a flock of petrels, who invite him to go with them, saying: 'We
are Mother Carey's own chickens, and she sends us out over all the seas
to show the good birds the way home.' So he comes to Peacepool at last,
which is miles and miles across; and there the air is clear and
transparent, and the water calm and lovely; and there the good whales
rest in happy sleep upon the slumbering sea.

In the midst of Peacepool was one large peaked iceberg. 'When Tom came
near it, it took the form of the grandest old lady he had ever seen--a
white marble lady, sitting on a white marble throne. And from the foot
of the throne there swam away, out and in, and into the sea, millions of
new-born creatures, of more shapes and colours than man ever dreamed.
And they were Mother Carey's chickens, whom she makes out of the
sea-water all the day long.'

Now, this beautiful fancy of Kingsley's--and how beautiful it is can
only be realized by a reading of the whole story--is based upon fact, as
all beautiful fancies must be.

The fundamental idea of Kingsley's picture is that of a fruitful and
beneficent mother. And Mother Carey is just the Mater Cara of the
medieval sailors. Our Mother Carey's chickens are the 'Birds of the Holy
Virgin,' of the South of Europe, the 'Oiseaux de Notre Dame' of the
French seamen.

One reason for associating the petrel with the Holy Mother may possibly
have been found in its supposed sleeplessness. The bird was believed