THE NEW YORK AQUARIUM JOURNAL. 
45 
THE ITZEBU AND THE LACE FICHU. 
A BALLAD WHEREIN IS EXPLAINED THE GENESIS OF 
THE WONDERFUL JAPANESE FISH, IN STRICT AC¬ 
CORDANCE WITH THE DARWINIAN THEORY. 
^ h £.TtZ.abu, 
Now this is the story of King-i-yo, 
A wonderful fish, from the Isle Jesso, 
Of species which nobody ever can know; 
For if the legend be true 
The creature was slowly developed in time, 
Many ages ago in a far distant clime, 
From a gold itzebu, and what else don’t rhyme, 
But it was a lace fichu. 
There once was a damsel they called Ah Foo, 
Whose teeth were black and whose finger tips 
blue, 
And three porcupine quills ran her chignon 
through, 
Which made her quite lovely to see. 
And she fell in love with a washman named 
Wang, 
Who paddled a junk on the river Ktang, 
And sailed from the city whose name begins 
Shang, 
To the Empire Japanee. 
Ah Foo was a wife of the great Tycoon, 
And Wang but a slave of the Son o ( the Moon; 
And therefore for him to encourage her lun¬ 
acy, was a very wrong thing. 
But Wang had a habit of telling huge lies; 
He’d a conscience oblique as his almond-shaped 
eyes, 
So he told poor Ah Foo, who was not over wise, 
At home he was Mandarin. 
The consequence was that these misguided two 
Hatched a plan to elope ; and the fickle Ah Foo 
Cajoled from her liege lord a gold itzebu 
To buy her a new lace fichu. 
But instead, as she promised, investing the gold 
In the filmy lace garment, she quietly told 
The shopman to “charge it to Buster," and bold¬ 
ly to meet her fond lover she flew. 
But scarce had she fairly got over the sill 
Of the shop when, suspecting that something 
was ill, 
The clerk sent an A. D. T. boy with the bill 
Right off to the mighty Tycoon. 
And you may believe that that high potentate, 
In a manner politeness forbids me to state, 
Rampaged, and commanded that Ah Foo be 
straight¬ 
way bulldozed that same afternoon. 
On the wrath of the husband let’s here draw a 
veil, 
When he found that Ah Foo and her Wang had 
set sail, 
And were floating away with a favoring gale 
To the far-distant Chinese shore. 
The Japanese kingdom was scarce out of sight, 
When Wang sweetly asked “Izze money all light? 
Where’s ze itzebus whichee you told me you 
might 
Hojk out of the Tycoon's store ?’’ 
“Me no habby money, sweet Wangy, my dove; 
You got plenty cashee—if not, live on love. " 
“ Not much,” remarked Wang, and he gave her" 
a shove 
Away with a hideous look; 
Then he set up a screech and his pigtail tore fast, 
Till, waxing outrageous, he jumped up at last 
And the bawling Ah Foo straightway overboard 
cast, 
Where a shark a large bite of her took. 
But the money of Ah Foo went down with her, 
too, 
For during the conflict it overboard flew, 
And the lace, being tied in the hole that is through 
The coin, remained with the gold. 
Now, no evolutionist will disagree 
That in altered conditions of life things may be¬ 
come totally changed, and this same we shall see 
In the sequel, now soon to be told. 
When at length on the bottom the gold came to 
rest, 
It found itself lodged in a yellow Carp’s nest; 
That Cyprinus at present, I’m free to attest, 
Such domiciles does not prepare; 
But of course it is known that the yarn I relate 
Happened ages ago, and ’tis needless to state 
Since then the Carp species has undergone great 
Change in habits, as all are aware. 
As the coin and lace lay there tossing around 
In the waves, while between the sharp rocks they 
were ground, 
The lace grew quite ragged, the gold became 
pound¬ 
ed quite flat, into scales very thin. 
As centuries passed this form modified more, 
rill at last it was altered, as you see before 
You in sketches here given marked two, three 
and four, 
To an object with tail and with fin, 
Protoplasm by causes which can't be explained, 
In marvelous manner from sea-weed was gained, 
And thus the strange creature in life was main¬ 
tained, 
And so it of course had to grow. 
And then, being located in a Carp's nest— 
The force of environment acting its best— 
Changed fichu into fish, while the gold with the 
rest 
Formed the scales of the King-i-yo. 
MORAL, 
(BY THE MANAGEMENT.) 
Since Nature could make Fish from Gold, 
IVhy, ’tis not much to wish 
The rule may work the other way, 
And Coup make Gold from Fish. 
P. B, 
