Where is it? Where is it? Why, it is in the water! Isn’t that funny? But
you see it isn’t a real fire, but only a fire-fish. [*] Sweet creature,
isn’t he? Suppose you were a little, innocent mermaid, swimming alone
for the first time; how would you feel if you were to meet this fellow
darting towards you with his great red mouth open? Why, you would scream
with fright, and swim to your mother as fast as you could, and catch
hold of her tail for protection. At least, that is what I should do if I
were a mermaid. But Mrs. Mermaid won’t tell you that the fire-fish will
not hurt you unless you hurt him first, in which case he will prick you
dreadfully with his long, sharp spines.
* Project Gutenberg ed. note: The picture is of a fish also
known as a scorpionfish.
I never see his picture without thinking of a red Indian in his warpaint
and feathers. Perhaps--who knows?-perhaps when Indians are greedy, and
eat too much fish, they may turn into fire-fish, and have to swim about
forever under water, and never see a green forest again. If you are an
Indian I advise you to be careful, my dear.
Nobody knows why this fish has such enormous, wing-like fins. Wise men
used to think that he could raise himself out of the water with them,
like the flying-fish; but it is now proved that he cannot, and there
seems to be no reason why a set of plain, small fins would not serve him
just as well for swimming. He prefers warm water to cold; so he lives
in the tropical seas, swimming about the coasts of India, Africa, and
Australia. The natives of Ceylon call him Gini-maha, and they think he
is very good to eat. They take great care in catching him, for they are
very much afraid of him, thinking that his sharp spines are poisoned,
and can inflict a deadly wound. But in this they are too hard upon the
fellow. He can prick them deeply and painfully, and he will if they
meddle with him; but he is a perfectly respectable fish, and would not
think of such a cowardly thing as poisoning anybody.