And why, pray, madam?" asked the eel, who was always where he
was least expected. "Surely they do just the same as all of us ... only
the animals which they eat are smaller."

"There is a difference, my good fellow," said the reed-warbler. "It's
only your lack of refinement that prevents your seeing it."

"Yes, wriggle and twist!" said the eel.

The reed-warbler did not condescend to answer him, but turned to the
carp and the mussel, struck up a little trill and said politely:

"My wife and I have the honour to bid you good-morning, gentlemen. We
are delighted to observe that you lead your lives in a more mannerly way
than most of the other inhabitants of the pond. We have suffered greatly
at the sight of the extraordinary cruelty ..." he paused, caught a
blue-bottle, and tossed it to his children in the nest ... "of the
extraordinary cruelty that prevails in society here. It cannot but be
extremely unpleasant for well-bred people to witness the cynical and
unveiled brutality with which every one satisfies his app-- ..." Here he
seized a caddis-fly, ate it, wiped his mouth, and continued, "satisfies
his appetite. You, gentlemen, are different. If you had wings, I should
be inclined to believe that originally you did not belong to this
company at all."

"Your presumption is absolutely correct," replied the carp, waving his
fins complacently.

"You are quite right," said the mussel, yawning politely.

[Illustration]

"I was born in another pond," said the carp, "but I must confess that I
have no distinct recollection of it. I only know that they did not lead
such a wild, brigand's life there as here. For instance, I don't think
there were any fish but carp in the pond, which, of course, improved the
tone, you know. No doubt it was a nobleman's carp-pond. We were fed five
times a day and everything was removed that could inconvenience us in
any way. Until I came here, I had never set eyes on such things as
pikes, water-spiders or that horrible bladder-wort."

"It must have been idyllic there," said the reed-warbler. "May I ask,
were there no reed-warblers?"

"Oh, yes!" said the carp, "I think they had permission to build in the
reeds. And then there were a good many frogs, probably to cheer us up
with their croaking."

"Then how did you come here?"

"A-ah," said the carp, "that's not an easy question for me to answer.
You see, we came in a basket, I and a large number of my friends. And
then we were tilted