And, “Dear me,” to himself he said,
“I’m sure that’s not a hook.
“I can but give one little pluck:
Let’s see, and so I will.”
So on he went, and lo, it stuck
Quite through his little gill.
And as he faint and fainter grew,
With hollow voice he cried,
“Dear mother, had I minded you,
I need not now have died.”