www.freeclassicebooks.com

"Yes, and you're pretty salty, too, I can tell you. At home you're nothing but a

pick-up!" said Trot.

Dear me!" exclaimed the first fish who had spoken. "Must we stand this insulting

language--and from a person to whom we have never been introduced?"

"I don't need no interduction," replied the girl. "I've eaten you, and you 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 by her guests

the pretty mermaid swam away.

"I've heard tell of codfish aristocracy," said Cap'n Bill, "but I never knowed '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 they understand what

they're like when they're salted an' hung up in the pantry. Folks gener'ly gets

stuck-up 'cause they don't know theirselves like other folks knows 'em."

"We are near Crabville now," declared Merla. "Shall we visit the crabs and see

what they are doing?"

"Yes, let's," replied Trot. "The crabs are lots of fun. I've often caught them among

the rocks on the shore and laughed at the way they act. Wasn't it funny at

dinnertime to see the way they slid around with the plates?"

Those were not crabs, but lobsters and crawfish," remarked the mermaid. "They

are very intelligent creatures, and by making them serve us we save ourselves

much household work. Of course, they are awkward and provoke us sometimes,

but no servants are perfect, it is said, so we get along with ours as well as we

can."

They're all right," protested the child, "even if they did tip things over 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, although much

smaller in size. There are many families or varieties of crabs, and so many of

The Sea Fairies