_Chap. 7._
_The_ ARISTOCRATIC CODFISH]
The three swam slowly along, quite enjoying the cool depths of thewater. Every little while they met with some strange creature--or onethat seemed strange to the earth people--for although Trot and Cap'nBill had seen many kinds of fish, after they had been caught andpulled from the water, that was very different from meeting them intheir own element, "face to face," as Trot expressed it. Now that thevarious fishes were swimming around free and unafraid in their deep-seahome, they were quite different from the gasping, excited creaturesstruggling at the end of a fishline, or flopping from a net.
Before long they came upon a group of large fishes lying lazily nearthe bottom of the sea. They were a dark color upon their backs andsilver underneath, but not especially pretty to look at. The fishesmade no effort to get out of Merla's way and remained motionless,except for the gentle motion of their fins and gills.
"Here," said the mermaid, pausing, "is the most aristocratic family offish in all the sea."
"What are they?" asked the girl.
"Codfish," was the reply. "Their only fault is that they are toohaughty and foolishly proud of their pedigree."
Overhearing this speech one codfish said to another, in a verydignified tone of voice: "What insolence!"
"Isn't it?" replied the other. "There ought to be a law to preventthese common mermaids from discussing their superiors."
"My sakes!" said Trot, astonished; "how stuck up they are, aren't they?"
For a moment the group of fishes stared at her solemnly. Then one ofthem remarked in a disdainful manner:
"Come, my dears, let us leave these vulgar creatures."
"I'm not as vulgar as you are!" exclaimed Trot, much offended by thisspeech. "Where I came from we only eat codfish when there's nothingelse in the house to eat."
"How absurd!" observed one of the creatures, arrogantly.
"Eat codfish, indeed!" said another in a lofty manner.
"Yes, and you're pretty salty, too, I can tell you. At home you'renothing but a pick-up!" said Trot.
"Dear me!" exclaimed the first fish which had spoken; "must we standthis insulting language--and from a person to whom we have never beenintroduced?"
"I don't need any interduction," replied the girl; "I've eaten you, andyou always make me thirsty."
Merla laughed merrily at this, and the codfish said, with much dignity:
"Come, fellow aristocrats; let us go."
"Never mind; we're going ourselves," announced Merla, and followed byher guests the pretty mermaid swam away.
"I've heard tell of codfish aristocercy," said Cap'n Bill; "but I neverknowed 'zac'ly what it meant afore."
"They jus' made me mad, with all their airs," observed Trot; "so I gave'em a piece of my mind."
"You surely did, mate," said the sailor; "but I ain't sure theyunderstand what they're like when they're salted an' hung up in thepantry. Folks gener'ly gets stuck-up 'cause they don't know theirselveslike other folks knows 'em."
"We are near Crabville now," declared Merla. "Shall we visit the crabsand see what they are doing?"
"Yes, let's," replied Trot. "The crabs are lots of fun. I've oftencaught them among the rocks on the shore and laughed at the way theyact. Wasn't it funny at dinner time to see the way they slid aroundwith the plates?"
"Those were not crabs, but lobsters and crawfish," remarked themermaid. "They are very intelligent creatures, and by making themserve us we save ourselves much household work. Of course, they areawkward and provoke us sometimes; but no servants are perfect, it issaid, so we get along with ours as well as we can."
"They're all right," protested the child, "even if they did tip thingsover once in a while. But it is easy to work in a sea palace, I'm sure,because there's no dusting or sweeping to be done."
"Or scrubbin'," added Cap'n Bill.
"The crabs," said Merla, "are second cousins to the lobsters, althoughmuch smaller in size. There are many families--or varieties--ofcrabs, and so many of them live in one place near here that we callit Crabville. I think you will enjoy seeing these little creatures intheir native haunts."
They now approached a kelp bed, the straight, thin stems of the kelprunning far upward to the surface of the water. Here and there upon thestalks were leaves, but Trot thought the growing kelp looked much likesticks of macaroni, except they were a rich, red-brown color.
It was beyond the kelp--which they had to push aside as they swamthrough it, so thickly did it grow--that they came to a higher level,a sort of plateau on the ocean's bottom. It was covered with scatteredrocks of all sizes, which appeared to have broken off from big shelvingrocks they observed near by. The place they entered seemed like one ofthe rocky canyons you often see upon the earth.
"Here live the fiddler crabs," said Merla; "but we must have taken themby surprise, it is so quiet."
Even as she spoke there was a stirring and scrambling among the rocks,and soon scores of light green crabs were gathered before the visitors.The crabs bore fiddles of all sorts and shapes in their claws, and onebig fellow carried a leader's baton. The latter crab climbed upon aflat rock and in an excited voice called out:
"Ready, now--ready, good fiddlers. We'll play Number 19--Hail to theMermaids. Ready! Take aim! Fire away!"
At this command every crab began scraping at his fiddle as hard as hecould, and the sounds were so shrill and unmusical that Trot wonderedwhen they would begin to play a tune. But they never did; it was oneregular mix-up of sounds from beginning to end. When the noise finallystopped the leader turned to his visitors and, waving his baton towardthem, asked:
"Well, what do you think of that?"
"Not much," said Trot, honestly. "What's it all about?"
"I composed it myself!" said the Fiddler Crab. "But it's highlyclassical, I admit. All really great music is an acquired taste."
"I don't like it," remarked Cap'n Bill. "It might do all right to stirup a racket New Year's Eve, but to call that screechin' music--"
Just then the crabs started fiddling again, harder than ever, and asit promised to be a long performance they left the little creaturesscraping away at their fiddles, as if for dear life, and swam alongthe rocky canyon until, on turning a corner, they came upon a new anddifferent scene.
There were crabs here, too--many of them--and they were performingthe queerest antics imaginable. Some were building themselves into apyramid, each standing on edge, with the biggest and strongest onesat the bottom. When the crabs were five or six rows high they wouldall tumble over, still clinging to one another, and, having reachedthe ground, they would separate and commence to build the pyramid overagain.
Others were chasing one another around in a circle, always movingbackward or sidewise, and trying to play "leapfrog" as they went. Stillothers were swinging on slight branches of seaweed, or turning cartwheels, or indulging in similar antics.
Merla and the earth people watched the busy little creatures for sometime before they were themselves observed; but finally, Trot gave alaugh when one crab fell on its back and began frantically waving itslegs to get right-side-up again. At the sound of her laughter theyall stopped their play and came toward the visitors in a flock, lookingup at them with their bright eyes in a most comical way.
"Welcome home!" cried one, as he turned a back somersault and knockedanother crab over.
"What's the difference between a mermaid and a tadpole?" asked another,in a loud voice, and without a pause continued: "why, one drops itstail and the other holds on to it. Ha, ha! Ho, ho! Hee-hee!"
"These," said Merla, "are the clown crabs. They are very silly things,as you may already have discovered; but for a short time they arerather amusing. One tires of them very soon."
"They're funny," said Trot, laughing again. "It's almost as good as acircus. I don't think they would make me tired; but, then, I'm not amermaid."
The clown crabs had now formed a row in front of them.
"Mr. Johnsing," asked one, "why is
a mermaid like an automobile?"
"I don't know, Tommy Blimken," answered a big crab in the middle of therow. "_Why_ do you think a mermaid is like an automobile?"
"Because they both get tired," said Tommy Blimken. Then all the crabslaughed, and Tommy seemed to laugh louder than the rest.
"How do the crabs in the sea know anything 'bout auto'biles?" askedTrot.
"Why, Tommy Blimken and Harry Hustle were both captured once by humansand put in an aquarium," answered the mermaid. "But one day theyclimbed out and escaped, finally making their way back to the sea andhome again. So they are quite traveled you see, and great favoritesamong the crabs. While they were on land they saw a great many curiousthings, and so I suppose they saw automobiles."
"We did, we did!" cried Harry Hustle, an awkward crab with one bigclaw and one little one. "And we saw earth people with legs--awfullyfunny they were; and animals called horses, with legs; and othercreatures with legs; and the people cover themselves with the queerestthings--they even wear feathers and flowers on their heads, and----"
"Oh, we know all about that," said Trot; "we live on the earthourselves."
"Well, you're lucky to get off from it and into the good water," saidthe Crab. "I nearly died on the earth; it was so stupid, dry and airy.But the circus was great. They held the performance right in front ofthe aquarium where we lived, and Tommy and I learned all the tricks ofthe tumblers. Hi! Come on, fellows, and show the earth people what youcan do!"
At this the crabs began performing their antics again; but they didthe same things over and over, so Cap'n Bill and Trot soon tired, asMerla said they would, and decided they had seen enough of the crabcircus. So they proceeded to swim farther up the rocky canyon, and nearits upper end they came to a lot of conch shells lying upon the sandybottom. A funny looking crab was sticking his head out from each ofthese shells.
"Here are the hermit crabs," said one of the mermaids. "They stealthese shells and live in them, so no enemies can attack them."
"Don't they get lonesome?" asked Trot.
"Perhaps so, my dear. But they do not seem to mind being lonesome. Theyare great cowards, and think if they can but protect their lives thereis nothing else to care for. Unlike the jolly crabs we have just left,the hermits are cross and unsociable."
"Oh, keep quiet and go away!" said one of the hermit crabs, in a grumpyvoice. "No one wants mermaids around here." Then every crab withdrewits head into its shell, and our friends saw them no more.
"They're not very polite," observed Trot, following the mermaid asMerla swam upward into the middle water.
"I know, now, why cross people are called 'crabbed'," said Cap'n Bill."They've got dispositions jes' like these 'ere hermit crabs."
Presently, they came upon a small flock of mackerel, and noticed thatthe fishes seemed much excited. When they saw the mermaid they criedout:
"Oh, Merla! what do you think? Our Flippity has just gone to glory!"
"When?" asked the mermaid.
"Just now," one replied. "We were lying in the water, talking quietlytogether when a spinning, shining thing came along and our dearFlippity ate it. Then he went shooting up to the top of the water andgave a flop and--went to glory! Isn't it splendid, Merla?"
"Poor Flippity!" sighed the mermaid. "I'm sorry, for he was theprettiest and nicest mackerel in your whole flock."
"What does it mean?" asked Trot. "How did Flippity go to glory?"
"Why, he was caught by a hook, and pulled out of the water into someboat," Merla explained. "But these poor, stupid creatures do notunderstand that; and when one of them is jerked out of the water anddisappears they have an idea he has gone to glory--which means to themsome unknown, but beautiful sea."
"I've often wondered," said Trot, "why fishes are foolish enough tobite on hooks."
"They must know enough to know they're hooks," added Cap'n Bill,musingly.
"Oh, they do," replied Merla. "I've seen fishes gather around a hookand look at it carefully for a long time. They well know it is a hook,and that if they bite the bait upon it they will be pulled out of thewater. But they are curious to know what will happen to them afterward,and think it means happiness, instead of death. So finally, one takesthe hook and disappears, and the others never know what becomes of him."
"Why don't you tell 'em the truth?" asked Trot.
"Oh, we do. The mermaids have warned them many times, but it does nogood at all. The fish are stupid creatures."
"But I wish I was Flippity," said one of the mackerel, staring at Trotwith his big, round eyes. "He went to glory before I could eat the hookmyself."
"You're lucky," answered the child. "Flippity will be fried in a panfor some one's dinner. You wouldn't like that, would you?"
"Flippity has gone to glory!" said another, and then they swam away inhaste to tell the news to all they met.
"I never heard of anything so foolish," remarked Trot, as they swamslowly on through the clear blue water.
"Yes; it is very foolish, and very sad," answered Merla. "But, if thefishes were wise, men could not catch them for food, and many poorpeople 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 bornto become food for some one, and men are not the only ones that eatfishes. Many creatures of the sea feed upon them. They even eat oneanother, at times. And if none was ever destroyed they would soonbecome so numerous that they would clog the waters of the ocean, andleave no room for the rest of us. So, after all, perhaps it is just aswell they are thoughtless and foolish."
Presently they came to some round balls that looked much like balloonsin shape and were gaily colored. They floated quietly in the water, andTrot inquired what they were.
"Balloonfish," answered Merla. "They are helpless creatures, but havelittle spikes all over them, so their enemies dare not bite them forfear of getting pricked."
Trot found the balloonfish quite interesting. They had little dots ofeyes and dots for mouths; but she could see no noses, and their finsand tails were very small.
"They catch these fish in the South Sea Islands and make lanterns of'em," said Cap'n Bill. "They first skin 'em, and sew the skin up againto let it dry, and then they put candles inside and the light shinesthrough the dried skin."
FLIPPITY'S GONE TO GLORY]
Many other curious sights they saw in the ocean that afternoon, andboth Cap'n Bill and Trot thoroughly enjoyed their glimpse of sea life.At last Merla said it was time to return to the palace, from which sheclaimed they had not, at any time, been very far distant.
"We must prepare for dinner, as it will soon begin to grow dark in thewater," continued their conductor. So they swam leisurely back to thegroves that surrounded the palaces, and as they entered the gardens thesun sank, and deep shadows began to form in the ocean depths.
The Sea Fairies Page 12