TO JUDITH OF RANDOLPH MASSACHUSETTS

THE SEA FAIRIES

BY L. FRANK BAUM

AUTHOR OF THE EMERALD CITY OF OZ, DOROTHY AND THE
WIZARD IN OZ, OZMA OF OZ, THE ROAD TO OZ,
THE LAND OF OZ, ETC.

ILLUSTRATED BY
JOHN R. NEILL

THE oceans are big and broad. I believe two-thirds of theearth's surface is covered with water. What people inhabitthis water has always been a subject of curiosity to theinhabitants of the land. Strange creatures come from the seasat times, and perhaps in the ocean depths are many, more strangethan mortal eye has ever gazed upon.

This story is fanciful. In it the sea people talk and actmuch as we do, and the mermaids especially are not unlike thefairies with whom we have learned to be familiar. Yet theyare real sea people, for all that, and with the exception of Zogthe Magician they are all supposed to exist in the ocean's depths.

I am told that some very learned people deny that mermaidsor sea-serpents have ever inhabited the oceans, but it would bevery difficult for them to prove such an assertion unless they hadlived under the water as Trot and Cap'n Bill did in this story.

I hope my readers who have so long followed Dorothy'sadventures in the Land of Oz will be interested in Trot's equallystrange experiences. The ocean has always appealed to me asa veritable wonderland, and this story has been suggested to memany times by my young correspondents in their letters. Indeed,a good many children have implored me to "write somethingabout the mermaids," and I have willingly granted the request.

Hollywood, 1911.
L. FRANK BAUM.

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