out into the pond. I can't think of any other reason
than that they wished to improve the tone here. We had nothing to
complain of where we were before. Did you hear anything about well-bred
people in this place expressing such a wish?"

"No," said the reed-warbler. "It didn't happen in my time. But I have
only been here since the spring."

"Oh, I see," said the carp. "Yes, I've been here four years. I wish I
were anywhere else. One lives in everlasting terror of the pike. A
number of my friends have disappeared in an utterly incomprehensible
manner and, I believe, saving your presence, that the pike has eaten
them. And then, as you very properly observed, the prevailing tone here
is rather ill-bred. But it doesn't matter much to you. I presume you go
away in the autumn?"

"A little trip to Italy," said the reed-warbler, "with my family."

The carp waited and thought for a while. He yawned once or twice, then
said:

"You might be able to do me a service ... it occurred to me when I saw
that nice, pointed beak of yours."

"Delighted, I'm sure," said the reed-warbler.

"You see, every one has his cross to bear and mine is in my gills. Would
you care to see?..."

He opened one of his gill-lids and the reed-warbler ran down the reed
and peeped in:

"Yes, upon my word," he said, "there's a cross there."

"That's the double-animal," said the carp with a deep sigh.

"The what?..."

"The double-animal. Unfortunately, I have to admit that I brought him
with me from the otherwise first-rate, high-class carp-pond which I was
telling you about. The pain he caused me even then was great, but lately
it has become almost unendurable. You must know, the animal consists
originally of two worms ... of the kind, you know, that don't care to
work for themselves, but take up their quarters with respectable people
and suck at them. I have a couple of dozen of those in my stomach, but
they don't inconvenience me anything like so much as the double-animal.
You see, to increase the meanness of the proceeding, these scoundrels
have a trick of fastening together in pairs, cross-wise. They suck
themselves firmly on to each other, until they grow into one, and then
they suck at me with united strength."

"I never heard anything like it!" said the reed-warbler.

"I have one like it on the other side of my head, in my other gill,"
said the carp. "We can talk about him later. Meanwhile, may I ask you if
you would kindly try to remove