that my mother took the best and most watchful care of me when I was a
chicken-fish. So when she saw how restless and venturesome I appeared
that day, she tried her best, poor dear, to turn me from my purpose.

For she was older and wise, and could tell by certain signs when the
upper currents were seething and boiling. So when I darted upwards with
a strong swirl that cut the waters apart for my passage, she thrust
herself farther ahead, trying to drive me back, and said plainly by her
actions:

"Don't go aloft, my son, you will rush into danger; heed the warnings of
your mother and stay where the waters are untroubled and safe."

No, I was getting to be a smart man-fish, and must be allowed to go
where I would.

Very well, I went. Upward and upward I dove, until, oh, distress! I was
caught by the turmoil and confusion of a great storm. I had gone too far
because of knowing far less than I thought I did.

Do you ask why I did not immediately dive downwards again? Alas, I
couldn't! I had raised myself into the storm circle, and big creature
that I was, I had need to learn that there were mighty forces of the sea
that made all my strength as a mere wisp of straw when placed against
them.

Do not Folks, I wonder, sometimes find it much easier to get into a hard
place than to get out of it? That was what I found then, being driven
about first this way, then that. I was slammed against a great, roaring
billow that sent me off presently in another direction, merely to be met