We all have heard of mermaids,
With hair so rich and long,
And a comb of gold and a glass to hold,
And soft seductive song.

But how could mermaids ever live,
Big mermaids fair and free,
Without a year of that small dear,
The little mer-babie?

The mer-babies are soft and sweet,
And smooth and fat and fair,
With dots of scales on their little tales,
And shiny streaks of hair.

The mer-babies have beds of foam
In the cradles of the deep;
And waves lap slow and winds breathe low
When the wee mer-babies sleep.

The mer-babies are always clean;
They swim and crawl and climb;
And dig and play in the sea-sand grey,—
But they're bathing all the time!

They cut their teeth on coral, of course,
They eat from pearly shells,—
O happy and free in the shining sea
The wee mer-baby dwells.