such as the wading birds who stepped into the shallow water, hoping
to pluck out a little fish and swallow him right down, and the
foxes, whose gigantic teeth were too awful even to think about. But
there were other evils that were not so distinct. Hideous and
unimaginable these were, with tales of fish swimming into the area
and never to be heard from again, vague reports of sudden
disappearances, and some hysterical tales, impossible to make sense
of, of leaping shadows, wild splashings, worms flying through the
water, and such like.
The dangers of the rocky beach could not quite be isolated in
the minds of the little fish, so that they felt a general sense of
impending doom whenever they swam more than a few feet from home.
That is why, one day when three little fish met each other suddenly
among the reeds, they were all momentarily startled. But soon they
began talking and relaxed a little. "This is a wonderful pond,"
said one. "It's so big. But I've never been this far away from
home before."
"Me either," said another. "I just hope we're safe here
in these reeds."
"I do too," agreed the third. "You never know where an enemy
may come from."
"And you can't be too careful," added the first.
"By the way," said one, "my name is Swimmy Fish. What's yours?"
"Finny Fish," said another.
"I'm Chirpy Bird," said the third.
Swimmy Fish and Finny Fish gave a start, looked at each other
with surprise and terror, and then swam off in opposite directions
as fast as they could. "Wait!" cried Chirpy Bird. "What's wrong?
Come back!" He looked around anxiously, himself frightened by their
fright, though he could see no sign of danger anywhere. But their
fear hung over the area, so he decided to swim toward home, at more
than his usual speed.
He had not gone very far when he saw several adult fish swimming
toward him with serious and half-frightened expressions on their faces.
When they saw him, they stopped at a distance. "Stop there," one of
them demanded, so Chirpy Bird stopped. The big fish seemed to be
|