OF FLOUNDER FISHING AS AN ART 105 



pursuit of flat-fish. Lofty minds can find no food 

 for thought here. 



The capture of the flounder (Pleuronectes flesus) 

 does not at first sight seem to offer much oppor- 

 tunity for the exercise of preciosity. But it is 

 possible that neolithic man regarded the trout 

 itself as an article of diet rather than as a field 

 for research, and where the flounder is concerned 

 anglers are, generally speaking, in the same stage 

 of civilisation as he. Yet, if the best of us have 

 learned to see fario as he is, may not the bunglers 

 grope after a clearer vision of flesus. 



With my friend MacAlister I was seated in 

 the Arctic Circle on a sunny afternoon by the 

 side of a certain sea-stream, the entrance, that is 

 to say, and the exit of the Atlantic into and out 

 of a tidal lake. MacAlister had beaten the water 

 cruelly until it had nearly all fled away into the 

 sea. I may add that he had caught nothing. He 

 had beaten the water, but the water had beaten 

 him. The sea-trout lay off the mouth of the sea- 

 stream and laughed in their beards. As for me, 

 being clean-shaven, I laughed in my sleeve. 

 MacAlister did not laugh at all. There was no 

 sport to be had. We were, therefore, in a mood 

 peculiarly suitable for the reception of the puristic 

 seed when we were aware of Master Peer Gynt, 

 who came delicately, on bare feet, over the pebbles 



