shine. Then there
were fishes, slender little things an inch or two long, with round
astonished eyes, and open mouths that looked as if they were saying,
'Hoo! hoo!' They were of all colours, and some of them had
fierce-looking spines on their backs, which they could move backwards
and forwards very much as a horse moves its ears. These fish were at
first very timid, and kept under the shadow of the rocks, or lurked
amidst the seaweed. But Theeda soon made friends with them, so that
they regularly came to her to be fed, and sometimes she used to play
at tag with them, darting round and round inside the vase, and in and
out amongst the rocks, while the weeds waved to and fro like banners
in a gale of wind. Oscar also brought sea-snails, with brightly tinted
shells, which crawled slowly about, measuring their way with their one
soft foot, and stretching out little transparent horns in front, like
children feeling their way in the dark. Besides these there was a
hermit crab, which lived in a pearl shell very much like Theeda's, but
only about a sixth part as big. This crab was the only ill-natured
creature in the vase. He sat sullenly in the door of his house, in a
little hollow under a large stone; his little dull eyes stuck far out
of his head, and his ugly claws hung down in front like a pair of red
fists. He never had a pleasant word for anybody; but, if any came near
him, he either pettishly hitched himself back into his shell, or else
made a vicious snap at the visitor with his claws. He even snapped at
Theeda two or three times, and then Oscar wanted to take him out and
throw him back into the sea. But Theeda was very forgiving, and would
not let this cross little crab be punished. She always treated him
kindly, brought his dinner to him every day, and did all she could to
make him goodnatured and comfortable. But nothing seemed to make him
any better; and one day, when Theeda had made him let go of a prawn
which he had caught by the tail with one of his claws, he flew into
such a terrible passion that Oscar felt very glad, for the sake of the
other creatures in the vase, that he was no bigger. He made up his
mind to have him out before long.

Except for the crab, the vase was the most charming place to live in
that could be imagined, and Oscar often wished that he were able to
breathe under water as easily as Theeda did, and that he were as small
as she was. Theeda, no doubt, wished so too; but it was not to be.
T