The Damsel and the Sage | Page 6

me a little longer.' And it sighed and began to feel the sense of suffocation. But it was a Fish of great determination and resources. 'I have learned my lesson,' it gasped; 'the Fisherman has taught it to me himself. Now I will make a great jump and try to get out of the basket.'
"So it jumped and opened the lid. The Fisherman stirred in his sleep and put out his hand vaguely to close it again, but he was too sleepy to fasten the catch, and with less noise the Fish bounced up again and succeeded in floundering upon the grass. It lay panting and in great distress, but it looked at the beautiful Angler with regret. He was so beautiful and so desirable. 'I could almost stay now,' the Fish sighed. Then it braced itself up and gave one more bound, and this time reached the rock at the edge of the stream.
"Again the Fisherman awoke, and now casually, with his eyes still closed, fastened up the basket before he slept again; but the Fish with its third bound reached the river, and darted out into the middle of the stream.
"'Good-bye, Beautiful Angler!' it said, sadly. 'You were sweet, but you have taught me a lesson, and freedom is sweeter.'
"The splash of its reaching the water fully awakened the Fisherman, but he saw the basket with the lid shut, and had no anxieties until his eye caught the pink of the water where the Fish sheltered under the rock. Its gill was still bleeding from the hook wound, and colored a circle round it. Then he opened the lid and found the basket empty.
"'Good-bye,' said the Fish. 'Your wish has been granted, and your pleasure can begin all over again!'
"But the Fisherman suddenly realized that his rod, while he slept, had fallen into the river, and was floating away down the stream.
"'Good-bye again,' said the Fish; 'I have suffered, but I have now experience, and I am grateful to you, and my gill will heal up, and I will smile at you sometimes from just under the surface of the water, and so all is well!' And it flashed its glittering scales in the sun before it darted away out of sight in the strong current."
And the Damsel folded her hands and looked into distance.
"Thank you, Damsel," said the Sage, gently for him; "but the Fisherman could procure another rod--rods are not rarities. What then?"
"That would be for another day," said the Damsel; "and--for another Fish!" And she tripped away down the hill, and was deaf to the Sage, who gruffly called after her.
* * * * *
When you have caught your Fish, it may be wiser to cook it and eat it.
* * * * *
The sun was setting when the Damsel next came to the Cave. She had a pet falcon with her, and kept caressing it as she propounded her question.
"There lived a woman in a Castle who had three Knights devoted to her. She loved one, and her vanity was pleased with the other two. While she continued to play with them all, they all loved her to distraction; but presently her preference for the one Knight became evident, and the two others, after doing their utmost to supplant the third without success, at last left the Castle and rode away. They were no sooner gone, and things had become quiet, and no combats occurred to interrupt the lovers' intercourse, when the chosen Knight began to weary, and he, too, at last rode away, although before he had been the most ardent of all. Why was this, Sage? And what should the woman do?"
"It was because the Knight had won the prize and the woman gave him no trouble to keep it," replied the Sage. "He was bound to weary. When a man's profession is fighting and he has fought hard and succeeded, after sufficient rest he wishes to fight again. So if the woman wants her lover back, she had better first summon the other two."
For once the Damsel had nothing to say, and had no excuse to remain longer in the cave.
The Sage, however, was not in the mind to let her go so soon, so he began a question:
"Why do you caress that bird so much? It appears completely indifferent to you. Surely that is waste of time?"
"It is agreeable to waste time," replied the Damsel.
"Upon an insensible object?"
"Yes."
"More so than if it returned your caresses?"
"Probably--there is the speculation. It might one day respond, while certainly if it repaid warmly my love now, one day it would not. Nothing lasts in this world. You have told me so yourself."
The Sage was nettled.
"Yes, there is one thing that lasts, that is friendship," he said.
"Friendship!" exclaimed the Damsel; "but that is not made