forgot all about the fish."

"In Fairyland," resumed the lady, as they sat down to the table, "the
ambition of the animals is to be eaten by the people; for that is their
highest end in that condition. But they are not therefore destroyed.
Out of that pot comes something more than the dead fish, you will see."

Tangle now remarked that the lid was on the pot. But the lady took no
further notice of it till they had eaten the fish, which Tangle found
nicer than any fish she had ever tasted before. It was as white as
snow, and as delicate as cream. And the moment she had swallowed a
mouthful of it, a change she could not describe began to take place in
her. She heard a murmuring all about her, which became more and more
articulate, and at length, as she went on eating, grew intelligible. By
the time she had finished her share, the sounds of all the animals in
the forest came crowding through the door to her ears; for the door
still stood wide open, though it was pitch dark outside; and they were
no longer sounds only; they were speech, and speech that she could
understand. She could tell what the insects in the cottage were saying
to each other too. She had even a suspicion that the trees and flowers
all about the cottage were holding midnight communications with each
other; but what they said she could not hear.

As soon as the fish was eaten, the lady went to the fire and took the
lid off the pot. A lovely little creature in human shape, with large
white wings, rose out of it, and flew round and round the roof of the
cottage; then dropped, fluttering, and nestled in the lap of the lady.
She spoke to it some strange words, carried it to the door, and threw
it out into the darkness. Tangle heard the flapping of its wings die
away in the distance.

"Now have we done the fish any harm?" she said, returning.

"No," answered Tangle, "I do not think we have. I should not mind
eating one every day."

"They must wait their time, like you and me too, my little Tangle."

And she smiled a smile which the sadness in it made more lovely.

"But," she continued, "I think we may have one for supper to-morrow."

So saying she went to the door of the tank, and spoke; and now Tangle
understood her perfectly.

"I want one of you," she said,--"the wisest."

Thereupon the fishes got together in the middle of the tank, with their
heads forming a circle above the water, and their tails a larger circle
beneath it. They were holding a