# Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid — The Water-Babies character guide

> Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid in The Water-Babies by Charles Kingsley.

**Role:** supporting

**First appearance:** 0004-iii

## Snapshot

A stern fairy who keeps the moral ledger of the water world, rewarding and punishing children exactly as they have earned.

## Who they are

Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid is the novel's most unsettling authority: her name is her law, and she applies it without sentiment, giving sweet things to good children and unpleasant ones to the naughty, always in precise proportion to what they deserve. She reads the police cases in the Waterproof Gazette every morning, which is how Tom's misdeeds come to her attention. Her severity is the counterweight to Tom's charm — she insists that being likable is not the same as being good, and that the universe keeps accounts whether or not anyone enjoys the arithmetic.

## In the story

### [V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_water_babies_se/chapters/v)

She punishes Tom for stealing candy by giving him prickles, and explains her role in punishing wrongdoers.

### [Chapter VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_water_babies_se/chapters/vi)

The fairy tells Tom he must go where he does not like and help someone he does not like; she forgives Tom when he confesses and brings a schoolmistress for him.

### [The Other-end-of-Nowhere](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_water_babies_se/chapters/viii)

The fairy oversees Grimes's punishment and eventual release, revealing she was the Irishwoman who warned Grimes earlier. She gives Grimes a new task sweeping the crater of Etna.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_water_babies_se/characters/mrs_bedonebyasyoudid
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_water_babies_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_water_babies_se/characters