The Iceberg Express | Page 3

it. Among other things, this requires that

you do not remove, alter or modify the etext or this "small print!"
statement. You may however, if you wish, distribute this etext in
machine readable binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form,
including any form resulting from conversion by word pro- cessing or
hypertext software, but only so long as *EITHER*:
[*] The etext, when displayed, is clearly readable, and does *not*
contain characters other than those intended by the author of the work,
although tilde (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may be used
to convey punctuation intended by the author, and additional characters
may be used to indicate hypertext links; OR
[*] The etext may be readily converted by the reader at no expense into
plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent form by the program that displays
the etext (as is the case, for instance, with most word processors); OR
[*] You provide, or agree to also provide on request at no additional
cost, fee or expense, a copy of the etext in its original plain ASCII form
(or in EBCDIC or other equivalent proprietary form).
[2] Honor the etext refund and replacement provisions of this "Small
Print!" statement.
[3] Pay a trademark license fee to the Project of 20% of the net profits
you derive calculated using the method you already use to calculate
your applicable taxes. If you don't derive profits, no royalty is due.
Royalties are payable to "Project Gutenberg
Association/Carnegie-Mellon University" within the 60 days following
each date you prepare (or were legally required to prepare) your annual
(or equivalent periodic) tax return.
WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU
DON'T HAVE TO?
The Project gratefully accepts contributions in money, time, scanning
machines, OCR software, public domain etexts, royalty free copyright
licenses, and every other sort of contribution you can think of. Money
should be paid to "Project Gutenberg Association / Carnegie-Mellon

University".
*END*THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN
ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END*

This Project Gutenberg Etext made by Brett Fishburne
([email protected])

The Iceberg Express by David Cory

The Magic Comb

One bright morning in August little Mary Louise put on her hat and
went trudging across the meadow to the beach.
It was the first time she had been trusted out alone since the family had
moved to the seashore for the summer; for Mary Louise was a little girl,
nothing about her was large, except her round gray eyes.
There was a pale mist on the far-off sea, and up around the sun were
white clouds edged with the hues of pinks and violets. The tide was
coming in, and the waves, little at first, but growing larger every
moment, were crowding up, along the sand and pebbles, laughing,
winking and whispering, as they tumbled over each other, like
thousands of children hurrying home from school.
Who was down there under the blue water, with the hoarse, hollow
voice, urging and pushing them across the beach to her feet? And what
was there beneath the sea, and beyond the sea, so deep, so broad and so
dim, away off where the white ships, that looked smaller than seabirds,
were gliding out and in?
But while Mary Louise stood still and wondered, there came a low

rippling laugh to her ear.
A little distance down the beach a girl, somewhat older than herself,
rested on the beach. She evidently was tired from swimming, for she
lay half in the water and half on the warm sand, her face resting on her
upturned palms, looking at Mary Louise with a smile, which seemed to
say: "Why don't you come over and comb my hair?"
Indeed, this must have been exactly what she meant, for she held out a
pretty pearl comb until Mary Louise could resist no longer.
Little Mary Louise had never before seen such beautiful long hair. It
spread like a scarf from the girl's shoulders down upon the sand.
Mary Louise had forgotten that there were mermaids, and that
mermaids always had most beautiful hair, and that they always combed
it with pearly combs!
"Have you been swimming?" asked Mary Louise.
"Yes, a long swim," answered the little mermaid, and she gave a
sudden kick in the water with her little feet, or, should I say, with her
small fin-tail, which sent the spray flying.
"Oh, you're a mermaid!" exclaimed Mary Louise, surprised and
delighted at her unexpected discovery. "I saw your finny tail. Do you
like tails better than feet?"
"I never had feet," said the little mermaid, "so I can't say, but I should
think they'd be very nice to walk on."
"Yes, if you go to the mountains, as we did last summer," answered
Mary Louise, "but you don't have to climb hills in the ocean."
"Perhaps you don't know