‘I know,’ said Kenneth, ‘you needn’t rub it in.’
The Carp rolled heavily out of his bed.
‘Come on then,’ he said, ‘I don’t admire your taste, but if you want a hook, well, the gardener’s boy is fishing in the cool of the evening. Come on.’
He led the way with a steady stately movement.
‘I want to take the ring with me,’ said Kenneth, ‘but I can’t get hold of it. Do you think you could put it on my fin with your snout?’
‘My what!’ shouted the old Carp indignantly and stopped dead.
‘Your nose, I meant,’ said Kenneth. ‘Oh! please don’t be angry. It would be so kind of you if you would. Shove the ring on, I mean.’
[p255]
‘That will hurt too,’ said the Carp, and Kenneth thought he seemed not altogether sorry that it should.
It did hurt very much indeed. The ring was hard and heavy, and somehow Kenneth’s fin would not fold up small enough for the ring to slip over it, and the Carp’s big mouth was rather clumsy at the work. But at last it was done. And then they set out in search of a hook for Kenneth to be caught with.
‘I wish we could find one! I wish we could!’ Kenneth Fish kept saying.