THE FLAPPER.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume VII, Issue 11, 14 March 1891, Page 19

THE FLAPPER.

down in the sea, where the rough storms cannot be felt, and the move- ' ’ ® 3 ment of the water does not disturb the delicate shells which lie on the ocean bed, may be seen thousands of lovely ■ v ,objects. The divers who go to the bottom have brought us strange tales —of fishes and plants to be seen there, and nian y a bucketful has been 11/f'g ]j brought up of curious and wonderful things which have delighted and sur- - prised the clever scientific men to whom they were submitted. Some —~ day I hope to talk to you more of these curious things, but to-day I am going to tell you about a little fish who lived in the deep water. This fish was of the kind we call sole. He was a flat fish and had only been hatched a very short time. He darted about in the water very quickly, and thought that no one could move so gracefully as he did. The older fish used to lie at the bottom of the sea, and took little notice of the young ones who were swimming about. But one day our young fish, whose name was Happer, thought he would speak to one of them ; so, swimming to one of the largest, he thus began talking : — ‘ How is it you are not as pretty as I am, and why do you lie on the bottom all the while? I like to swim about and enjoy myself, why do you not do the same ?’ The great old fish looked at him for a minute, and then said, ‘ Foolish Flapper, do you come to teach me who has lived here so long that the coral which was only just beginning to bp formed when I was hatched is now out of sight. Why you have still an eye on each side of your head, and would you venture to question me that has for so great an age had both eyes on one side ?’ Flapper was quite alarmed at the words of the old fish, and opened his mouth so wide with astonishment that a piece of seaweed floating by nearly went down his throat. ‘ Were your eyes one on each side of your head once ?’ he asked.

‘ Certainly,’ said the old fish, ‘ but it is so long ago that I had almost forgotten it.’ You will notice that the fish did not mind saying he was old, as some people do. You see fish have no hair to turn grey, and they do not grow wrinkled, and lose their teeth, but only get larger and handsomer as they grow older, and so are thought much of, and boast of their age instead of trying to appear young. Flapper darted off, and soon met some other young fish and told them what the old sole had said.

Now these young fish were not soles, and knew nothing of their ways, but they had heard a great deal of gossip among their own friends, and they replied to Flapper, ‘ Oh ! yes, we know all about it. The soles lie on the sand and

turn brown like the sand they lie on, but remain white underneath, and the eye that was on the white side travels round and appears on the brown side so that both eyes can see.’

‘ They are queer creatures,’ said the mackerel. ‘So ugly,’ said the silvery herring, • I wonder you are not ashamed of them. Come with us, we are going out with the shoal.’ Flapper had lieen proud of being a side, but now that these vain and beautiful fish spoke so slightingly of his relations he felt ashamed of them, and instead of defending them he was mean enough to laugh, and determined to go with the new friends and see other parts. He kept with his friends for a time, but at last he found that he was not wanted ; the mackerel leaders nibbled at him, and the herrings played him all sorts of tricks. He was very miserable and would have gone back but lie did not know his way. Then he heard an old herring talking about looking out for nets, and from what was said he felt sure that he was not very safe. But the moonlight shone upon the water, and the fish w ere too busy at last makimr for an old place they knew of to take any notice of him, so he enjoyed himself looking up and watching some great dark things on the water. ‘ What are those ?’ he said ; but no one answered. ‘ I suppose,’ said he, ‘ they are some kind of fish I have never seen.’

Just then he found he was entangled in something ; and in a few minutes he was drawn up out of the water with hundreds of the beautiful, glittering herrings. He felt very ill directly he left the water, and cried out, but no one heeded, for no one understood him. Fortunately there was a pool of water just where he was thrown down in the cruel net, and this saved his life.

How bitterly did he repent his naughty ways, and how he wished he cou’d once more see the old brown soles, lying so quietly on the sandy bed of the sea. Just then the fishermen wlm had caught the fish, began to empty their nets, and seizing hold of Flapper, one of them said :

‘ Here's another too small !’ and, with a jerk, Flapper felt himself thrown through the air, and fell into the sea. For a few minutes he was quite dazed, and when he recovered he saw a large cod fish looking at him. ‘ Hullo !’ said the cod, ‘ how came you to jump like that?’ ‘ I did not jump,’ said Flapper, ‘ I fell.’ Then he told the fish all his story. ‘ A lucky escape for you,’ said the cod. ‘ Those creatures who caught you were men.’ ‘What do they catch fish for?’ asked Flapper. ‘ To eat,’ replied the cod. ‘ I suppose they thought me too young and pretty to Ire eaten,’ said the little sole.

‘No,’ replied the cod, ‘that was not the reason. You were not fat enough, and they threw you back that you might grow bigger for another day.’ These words horrified the young sole, and he determined to stay in his own home waters with his old brown friends. The cod kindly showed him the wav back to his friends, where he soon was forgiven, and lived to grow a fine fish ; and if any of his friends should chance to be caught, and your cook has to fry them for dinner, ask her to look and see if they have not turned brown on one side, and got both eyes on the same side of their heads. Leena.