THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 



bite and torment the Pike till his strength failed, and 

 then the Frog sunk with the Pike to the bottom of the 

 water; then presently the Frog appeared again at the 

 top and croaked, and seemed to rejoice like a conqueror, 

 after which he presently retired to his secret hole. 

 The Bishop, that had beheld the battle, called his fisher- 

 man to fetch his nets, and by all means to get the Pike, 

 that they might declare what had happened: and 

 the Pike was drawn forth, and both his eyes eaten 

 out, at which when they began to wonder, the fisherman 

 wished them to forbear, and assured them he was 

 certain that Pikes were often so served." 



If we are to accept as fact the legendary ichthyic 

 history of England, then we must believe that a mule, 

 bending to drink at a stream, was bitten through the 

 lip by a pugnacious pike, which would not loose its 

 hold, but was drawn from the water. Furthermore, it 

 must have been extremely hazardous to bathe in 

 English pike water in the long ago, for was not a maid, 

 busy with her mistress' washing, seized by the foot? 

 Perhaps here is the reason for the modern English- 

 man's love for his "tub:" he is fearful of open water. 

 I am surprised that Darwin never elaborated it. But 

 cheer up ; worse is yet to come. 



To write of pike in literature and not mention the 

 famous Kaiserweg Lake fish would be to commit an 

 ichthyic unpardonable sin. Before he mentions the 

 fish from "Swedeland," Walton, with all the canniness 

 of a Scot, tells us that Sir Francis Bacon thought that 

 a pike might live to be forty years old. Then he pro- 

 ceeds to tell of the fish that was put into Kaiserweg 

 Lake by one of the German emperors and there lived 

 some two hundred and sixty-seven years. Just how 



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