THE YOUNG MINNOW WHO WOULD NOT EAT WHEN HE SHOULD
"When I grow up," said one young Minnow, "I am going to be a Bullhead, and scare all the little fishes."
"I'm not," said his sister. "I'm going to be a Sucker, and lie around in the mud."
"Lazy! Lazy!" cried the other young Minnows, wiggling their front fins at her.
"What is the matter?" asked a Father Minnow, swimming in among them with a few graceful sweeps of his tail, and stopping himself by spreading his front fins. He had the beautiful scarlet coloring on the under part of his body which Father Minnows wear in the summer-time. That is, most of them do, but some wear purple. "What is the matter?" he asked again, balancing himself with his top fin and his two hind ones.
Then all the little Minnows spoke at once. "He says that when he grows up he is going to be a Bullhead, and frighten all the small fishes; and she says that she is going to be a Sucker, and lie around in the mud; and we say that Suckers are lazy, and they are lazy, aren't they?"
"I am surprised at you," began the Father Minnow severely, "to think that you should talk such nonsense. You ought to know——"
But just then a Mother Minnow swam up to him. "The Snapping Turtle is looking for you," she said. Father Minnow hurried away and she turned to the little ones. "I heard what you were saying," she remarked, with a twinkle in her flat, round eyes. "Which of you is going to be a Wild Duck? Won't somebody be a Frog?" She had had more experience in bringing up children than Father Minnow, and she didn't scold so much. She did make fun of them though, sometimes; and you can do almost anything with a young Minnow if you love him a great deal and make fun of him a little.