the cray-fish. "Now we only want the gull."

She kept just under the roach and looked out eagerly, in every
direction, with her long eyes.

"What do you want, you ugly cray-fish?" said the roach, and struck out
with his tail.

"I sha'n't hurt you, Mr. Fish," said she. "The pond is meant for
everybody, I should think. Surely a person's entitled to go and take the
air outside her own door."

The eel put his head out of the mud:

"That's right, Goody Cray-Fish, stick to it!" he said. "Wriggle and
twist!"

And the reed-warblers laughed and peeped down to see what on earth was
going to come of it; and the youngsters were told as much of it as their
little brains could take in, and they peeped too. The spider ran up and
looked on, the May-fly grub was nearly jumping out of her cocoon with
curiosity. The bladder-wort forgot to catch insects, the water-lily and
the spear-wort stopped quarrelling; they all stared at the cray-fish and
the roach. For they had all heard something of what was at hand, one
from the other. But none of them said a word, lest they should frighten
away the roach; he was the only one who had not the least suspicion.
Only the reeds whispered softly to one another. But this they always do,
so nobody minds them.

Just then a gull swooped down upon the roach.

It made such a splash in the water that no one could quite see what
happened. But the roach was gone, and presently the reed-warblers
exclaimed:

"Look!... Look!... There's the gull flying with the roach ... and the
cray-fish is hanging on to his hind-toe!"

The water-lily and the spear-wort shouted the news and the rushes
whispered it on and soon there was not a midge-grub in the pond but knew
all about the extraordinary thing that had happened.

"So she had her way," said the reed-warblers.

And they discussed for quite an hour where she would be likely to
arrive, but no one could work that out and none of those in the pond
ever got to know.

Only the woman who lived by the pond knew. For, when the gull came above
the chimney of her little cottage, he gave such a kick with his leg that
the cray-fish dropped off. She went right down the woman's chimney; and
there stood a pot of boiling water, which she fell into.

"Oh dear!" said the cray-fish. "That was a silly business."

It was so silly that she turned as red as fire all over her body and
died then and there. But, when the woman took her pot and was going to
make herself a drop