Do you like oysters? I hope so. This is the oyster season. In the
summer months, when I am busy laying eggs I am not good to eat. We lay
about two million eggs each season. My children are full grown when
they are three years old. You are little more than a baby at that age.
[Illustration: (oyster)]
I am called "fashionable" because I am not cheap like herring. I am
considered quite a dainty.
I have no head. I have no feet. I have no teeth. But I have a mouth.
My house is a hard shell made of two valves joined together by a hinge.
Of course you know that pearls come from oysters. Often men risk their
lives in diving to the bottom of the ocean to get these precious gems.
Sharks are great enemies of the pearl divers. The mother of pearl is
the lining of the pearl oyster shell. Have any of you little chaps
knives with handles made of mother of pearl?
Oh! I am an exciting fish, I am! Good night. Don't dream about me!