pools and streams dried up, it will bury itself in the sand, and fall
into a kind of stupor until the rainy season comes around and brings
it back to life.

"Aunt Sheen," so called from the beauty of her skin, used to tell
Sammy another story about this famous fish. It seems that the Hassar
builds a nest just like a bird, only hers is under water along the
reeds and rushes of some shore. The nest is made of vegetable fibres,
and is shaped like a hollow ball, flat at the top. From a hole in this
ball the mother can pass in and out, and she watches over her nest
with the most tender care, until the young ones leave it.

Fishermen catch the Hassar by holding a basket in front of the nest
and beating it with sticks. When the poor mother comes out to defend
her family, she falls into the basket and is captured.

"And serves her right, too," Aunt Sheen always concluded. "Building a
nest and watching over it is a silly thing for a sensible fish to do.
No one ever thinks of such behavior except some miserable little fish
called Sticklebacks, and a few other inferior kinds. Why couldn't she
leave her spawn in a quiet place somewhere near the shore, and then
let them hatch out and look after themselves? That's the way I was
brought up."

Now, this speech may sound very unkind and even heartless, but leaving
the young to look after themselves is the customary thing among
fishes. And when you consider that one mother fish often has many
hundreds of children, it is not to be wondered at that she finds it
impossible to take care of such a very large family.