The Sea Fairies

one that seemed strange to the earth people-for although Trot and Cap'n Bill had seen many kinds of fish, after they had been caug

their deep-sea home, they were quite different from the gasping, excit

k color upon their backs and silver underneath, but not especially pretty to look at. The fishes made no ef

ing, "is the most aristocratic

they?" ask

fault is that they are too haughty a

h said to another in a very dignifi

ght to be a law to prevent these common

stonished. "How stuck up

ly. Then one of the remarked in a disdainful manner,

fended by this speech. "Where I come from, we only eat

rved one of the cr

ed!" said another

o, I can tell you. At home you're

n. "Must we stand this insulting language-and fro

eplied the girl. "I've eaten you,

he codfish said, with much dignity,

announced Merla, and followed by he

acy," said Cap'n Bill, "but I never

their airs," observed Trot, "s

at they're like when they're salted an' hung up in the pantry. Folks gener'ly

ared Merla. "Shall we visit the c

them among the rocks on the shore and laughed at the way they act. Wasn'

res, and by making them serve us we save ourselves much household work. Of course, they are awkward and pr

things over once in a while. But it is easy to work in a sea pal

n'," added

e are many families or varieties of crabs, and so many of them live in one place near here that w

macaroni, except they were a rich red-brown color. It was beyond the kelp-which they had to push aside as they swam through, so thickly did it grow-that they came to a higher level, a sort of plateau on the ocean's botto

id Merla, "but we must have taken

he crabs bore fiddles of all sorts and shapes in their claws, and one big fellow carried a leader's baton. The latter crab climbed upon a flat ro

ndered when they would begin to play a tune. But they never did; it was one regular mix-up of sounds from beginning to end. When the

rot honestly. "Wha

ab. "But it's highly classical, I admit. Al

might do all right to stir up a racket New Y

rformance, they left the little creatures scraping away at their fiddles as if for dear life and

hen the crabs were five or six rows high, they would all tumble over, still clinging to one another and, having reached the ground, they would separate and commence to build the pyramid over again. Others were chasing on

a laugh when one crab fell on its back and began frantically waving its legs to get right-side-up again. At the sound of her laughter

he turned a back somersault a

ther in a loud voice, and without a pause continued, "Why, one dro

ly things, as you may already have discovered, but for a sho

s almost as good as a circus. I don't think they

front of them. "Mr. Johnsing," asked one

big crab in the middle of the row. "WHY do

Blimken. Then all the crabs laughed, and T

sea know anything 'bout

they climbed out and escaped, finally making their way back to the sea and home again. So they are quite traveled, you see, and gre

ople with legs, awfully funny they were; and animals called horses, with legs; and other creatures with legs; an

hat," said Trot. "We liv

tupid, dry and airy. But the circus was great. They held the performance right in front of the aquarium where we lived,

said they would, and decided they had seen enough of the crab circus. So they proceeded to swim farther up the rocky canyon, and near its upp

he mermaids. "They steal these shells and l

get lonesome

wards, and think if they can but protect their lives there is nothing else to care f

umpy voice. "No one wants mermaids around here." Then every crab w

Trot, following the mermaid as Mer

abbed,'" said Cap'n Bill. "They've got disp

he fishes seemed much excited. When they saw the mermaid, they cried o

asked th

pinning, shining thing came along and our dear Flippity ate it. Then he went shooting u

I'm sorry, for he was the prettiest an

asked Trot. "How did

poor stupid creatures do not understand that, and when one of them is jerked out of the water and dis

Trot, "why fishes are fool

o know they're hooks," a

d that if they bite the bait upon it they will be pulled out of the water. But they are curious to know what will happen to them afterward,

tell 'em the tr

them many times, but it does no good

rel, staring at Trot with his big, round eyes. "He

ity will be fried in a pan for someone's d

nother, and then they swam away in h

sh," remarked Trot as she swam slow

if the fish were wise, men could not catch them for food, and

catch such pretty th

reatures of the sea feed upon them. They even eat one another at times. And if none was ever destroyed, they would soon become so numerous that they

like balloons in shape and were gaily colored. They float

tures, but have little spikes all over them so their e

little dots of eyes and dots for mouths, but she could

id Cap'n Bill. "They first skin 'em and sew the skin up again to let it dry,

to the palace, from which she claimed they had not at any time been very far distant. "We must prepare for dinner, as it will soon begin to grow dark in the water," continued their