<h2><span><SPAN name="15">THE MICROSCOPIC TROUT</SPAN></span><br>
<br>
<span> AND</span><br>
<br>
<span> THE MACHIAVELIAN FISHERMAN</span><br/></h2>
<br/>
<br/>
A fisher was casting his flies in a brook,<br/>
According to laws of such sciences,<br/>
With a patented reel and a patented hook<br/>
And a number of other appliances;<br/>
And the thirty-fifth cast, which he vowed was the last<br/>
(It was figured as close as a decimal),<br/>
Brought suddenly out of the water a trout<br/>
Of measurements infinitesimal.<br/>
<br/>
This fish had a way that would win him a place<br/>
In the best and most polished society,<br/>
And he looked at the fisherman full in the face<br/>
With a visible air of anxiety:<br/>
He murmered "Alas!" from his place in the grass,<br/>
And then, when he'd twisted and wriggled, he<br/>
Remarked in a pet that his heart was upset<br/>
And digestion all higgledy-piggledy.<br/>
<br/>
"I request," he observed, "to be instantly flung<br/>
Once again in the pool I've been living in."<br/>
The fisherman said, "You will tire out your tongue.<br/>
Do you see any signs of my giving in?<br/>
Put you back in the pool? Why, you fatuous fool,<br/>
I have eaten much smaller and thinner fish.<br/>
You're not salmon or sole, but I think, on the whole,<br/>
You're a fairly respectable dinner-fish."<br/>
<br/>
The fisherman's cook tried her hand on the trout<br/>
And with various herbs she embellished him;<br/>
He was lovely to see, and there isn't a doubt<br/>
That the fisherman's family relished him,<br/>
And, to prove that they did, both his wife and his kid<br/>
Devoured the trout with much eagerness,<br/>
Avowing no dish could compare with that fish,<br/>
Notwithstanding his singular meagreness.<br/>
<br/>
And THE MORAL, you'll find, is although it is kind<br/>
To grant favors that people are wishing for,<br/>
Still a dinner you'll lack if you chance to throw back<br/>
In the pool little trout that you're fishing for;<br/>
If their pleading you spurn you will certainly learn<br/>
That herbs will deliciously vary 'em:<br/>
It is needless to state that a trout on a plate<br/>
Beats several in the aquarium.
<br/>
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