FISHES TN RELIGION. 35 



and many strangely-contrived mermaids ; and upon the top 

 thereof stood the picture of Neptune the god of the sea." 

 That a Christian knight, already well assured of canonisa- 

 tion, should have fought under such pagan tutelage, is 

 enough to scandalise the Sabbatarian North. But such are 

 the facts. 



St. Benedict of Ramsey Mere claims also a fraction 

 of the patronage, as also does St. Benignus, who may 

 be seen at Glastonbury with his fish at his feet. Shell- 

 fish may fairly be said to have a patron saint all to them- 

 selves in St. James of Spain, and the crustaceans one in 

 St. Xavier. 



Among sacred fish, less well known, are " the Sheikh " 

 and " the Prophet's fish." Says the Arabic legend : 



" A Sicilian cast a hook into the Mediterranean and caught a fish 

 about a span long. Under its right ear were the words, ' There is no 

 God but the God,' and behind it the word ' Muhammad,' and under its 

 left ear ' The Apostle of God. 1 " 



And again : 



" A fish called the Jewish Shaikh has a long white beard and a body 

 as large as a calf, but in the shape of a frog, and hairy like a cow. It 

 is called the Shaikh because it comes out of the sea on Saturday and 

 remains there until sundown on Sunday." 



An analogy to this Sabbath-observing fish is to be found 

 in the commentators on the Koran, where we are told that 

 the fish, in order to tempt the Hebrews, used to come up 

 to the camp on Saturday mornings, and provoke the poor 

 wanderers to catch them. And the Hebrews, thinking to 

 avoid sin, went out and dammed up the channel, and then 

 ate the fish on the next day. But as there was little difference 

 in the matter of " working on the Sabbath " between fishing 

 and dam-building, they were very properly punished for 

 this violation of the Day of Rest by being all turned into 

 apes. 



D 2 



