the neighbors will say I should have saved the other one." And he
started off alone swimming rapidly toward the shore.

Then the fish remembered that the young wife was quite plump--even if
she wasn't beautiful as her husband had said she was, so he dived deep
into the sea and left Gud standing there on the water without a blessed
thing to do and nothing to think about.

And now a wind came sighing over the deep blue sea, and little ripples
stirred upon the surface of the water, and then the wind came soughing
over the roughened sea, and larger wavelets raced and ran atop the cold,
damp water. And soon the wind began to howl and tear the wild, wet sea,
and mighty waves began to break and toss and splatter--and it made Gud
seasick.

So he began to wonder why the waves kept going on and leaving him
behind. The more he thought about it, the more it worried him; and
finally it occurred to Gud that he was opposing the waves
subconsciously. So he sublimated his subconscious conflict and
harmonized his ego with the spirit of the waves, and when the next wave
hit him he rode atop it like a cat on the ridgepole of a cabin going
down the river in a June rise.

As the wave struck the shore, it began to break and make breakers. As
soon as it was broke, Gud dismounted and strolled along the beach
looking for flotsam and jetsam.

He didn't find any, so he picked up a jeweled casket and started to
wonder with a great curiosity what it contained. Then suddenly, he
tossed the jeweled casket aside without even examining the padlock, for
he had remembered that he knew all things and hence could not wonder nor
possess curiosity. But upon further consideration he realized that lack
of wonder and curiosity on his part would kill all the suspense in his
story, so he began to wonder what the wild waves were saying, and why
sea shells are pink inside, and what the ink-fish was writing on the
sands of time.

Gud pondered these things as he walked along the beach until he saw
before him a series of shallow depressions. At first he thought they
were ordinary soul tracks. Then he looked again and gave forth a low
whistle of surprise and amazement and bent low to examine the
footprints--and shrank back in horror, for they were stained a deep
crimson.

Cautiously Gud touched his finger to the stain and examined it
critically. "'Tis blood!" he cried.

Gud began to trail the stained footprints along the beach and followed
them until they t