Page:Fables for the Frivolous.djvu/115

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.

THE MICROSCOPIC TROUT

AND

THE MACHIAVELIAN FISHERMAN


A fisher was casting his flies in a brook,
According to laws of such sciences,
With a patented reel and a patented hook
And a number of other appliances;
And the thirty-fifth cast, which he vowed was the last
(It was figured as close as a decimal),
Brought suddenly out of the water a trout
Of measurements infinitesimal.

This fish had a way that would win him a place
In the best and most polished society,
And he looked at the fisherman full in the face
With a visible air of anxiety:

87