sides sprinkled with bright vermilion spots 

 and crossed with the dark blue bars or 

 finger-marks which indicate the parr state, 

 and with exquisite pearly shells covering 

 the deep red gills on either side. A trout, 

 you might have said, as he rose like a flash 

 to your fly ; but another look would have 

 told you plainly that he was more graceful 

 and powerful, and likewise much more beau- 

 tiful, than any trout that ever came out of 

 the water. 



All winter long he lay by his den, seeking 

 little food and growing strangely lazy. When 

 spring came a curious change crept over 

 him. When he ventured into still water and 

 looked in the wonderful mirror there (which 

 was the under surface of the pool, and which 

 you can see yourself by looking up obliquely 

 into a glass of water), he saw that all his 

 beautiful blue bars and vermilion spots were 

 slowly disappearing, being covered up by a 

 new growth of silver scales. By the middle 

 of May the new scales had covered all his 

 body. A curious uneasiness filled him as 

 Nature whispered that the new suit she had 



353 



77te Story 

 o/Kopseep 



