"Why don't you tell 'em the truth?" asked Trot.

"Oh, we do. The mermaids have warned them many times, but it does no
good at all. The fish are stupid creatures."

"But I wish I was Flippity," said one of the mackerel, staring at
Trot with his big, round eyes. "He went to glory before I could eat
the hook myself."

"You're lucky," answered the child. "Flippity will be fried in a pan
for someone's dinner. You wouldn't like that, would you?"

"Flippity has gone to glory!" said another, and then they swam away
in haste to tell the news to all they met.

"I never heard of anything so foolish," remarked Trot as she swam
slowly on through the clear, blue water.

"Yes, it is very foolish and very sad," answered Merla. "But if the
fish were wise, men could not catch them for food, and many poor
people on your earth make their living by fishing."

"It seems wicked to catch such pretty things," said the child.

"I do not think so," Merla replied laughingly, "for they were born
to become food for someone, and men are not the only ones that eat
fishes. Many creatures of the sea feed upon them. They even eat one
another at times. And if none was ever destroyed, they would soon
become so numerous that they would clog the waters of the ocean and
leave no room for the rest of us. So after all, perhaps it is just