do. He try corn-beef diet for fishes. They refusal, thank you. He spit on bait to bring favour of fish-god. Sucker-fish not care for this pains-taking, howeverly.

Then philosopher Nichi Nichi enjoy angry rage throwing fish-pole to grass, tearing beard and speeching these:

“O tell me, sucker-fish, is it not truth that you are reputed most easy of all fish that practise swimming in these brook near Yeddo?”

And them twelve thousand sucker-fish, making smiles through gills, raise fins to universal sky and response,

“Oh Nichi Nichi, philosopher, we are that.”

“Then tell me to know, idiotic waggle-tails, why you no care for delicious baits I provide for eating?”

“Because this,” reject all them fish together flipping tails to dog-star, “we have ate them baits before—caterpillar, angly-worm, corn-beef—we have ate and been catched by those. Never again, thank you so much.”

[45]

[45]

“Oh, quite well!” exclamation that great man. “Then I shall offer you some new rare bait which fishes shall eat only this once time, because so scarce to get.”

With these remark the wise Nichi Nichi take all baits off from hook. Then he drop bare hook in stream. All them sucker-fish cease to smile with gills and make hungry grab at hook, because this (they thinked to themselves) was such rare chance.

As consequence of this excitement Nichi Nichi catch 12,000 sucker-fish in 1 hour 20 minutes. These he made into canned salmon and grow very wealthy from such a Graft.

At time of death-bed he remarked to wife and children, “It would be sinful to waste good Bait on poor Fishes.”

So this proverb is pasted on all important Japanese tombs today:

“The gods have fixed the little brooks so that one sucker-fish is born each minute by clocktime. Who shall catch him, you or I?”

Hoping your printing-factory is doing good by all news and best wishes to friends,

Yours truly,

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