To find a grub, a chrysalis, a worm—or

For e'en a grasshopper searched o'er a field

Which would not e'en a caterpillar yield,

While droves of perch, impatient to be hooked,

Have vainly round for some temptation looked?

Now, in such a position was poor Peter placed;

He had flown to the river in very great haste.

Still, although he had sought out a gravelly nook,

But a pair of young gudgeons approached near his hook.

In the space of an hour—so a trimmer he set;