54 



FISHES OF FANCY. 



foolish folk who are found dancing in the nets just when 

 they should be most serious ; who get caught and beg the 

 fishermen to put them back, " so that we may grow larger 

 and better worth your eating ; " who catch hold of hooks in 

 order to pull the angler into the water ; who rush into the 

 net just to make fun of the fisherman, forgetting that, though 

 it is the same old net, with the same meshes that they used 

 to slip through when they were tiny fry, they have been 

 gradually getting bigger themselves ; who fall victims, in 

 fact, to every designing person who comes their way. 



The crab, however, enjoys a character for sagacity, and 

 humour of a grim sort. His " swike " with the crane was 

 excellent fooling ; and so again, when he kills the snake and 

 sees it lying stretched out along the ground, he addresses 

 the dead viper with the caustic moral " This fate would 

 never have befallen you if you had lived as straight as you 

 have died." The crab runs the fox a race, and as soon as 

 his opponent starts catches hold of its tail. When the fox 

 reaches the winning-post it turns round to see how far the 

 crab has got, when the wily crustacean quietly drops off, 

 crosses the winning-line, and startles the fox with " What ! 

 come at last, are you ? I've been here some time ! " 



Tortoises also are occasionally credited with ingenuity. 

 Thus, when the great bird Kruth came to eat it, the tortoise 

 begged to have one chance of life given it, and therefore 

 offers to race the bird across the lake, Kruth to fly and 

 the tortoise to dive. The bird agreeing, the testacean 

 calls its kindred together, and stations them, at short 

 distances apart, all round the lake, and having made 

 these preparations gives Kruth the signal to start Off! 

 and down he dives under the water. Away goes the 

 bird straight across the lake, but wherever he tries to 

 settle, up pops a tortoise, and Kruth, not knowing one 



