The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1918-12-07
Why The Fish Laughed

Long Tune ago there was hungry
queen. Oh, of course, she wasn't SO
poor that she was obliged to go hun
cry, queens seldom are, you know and
her husband hadn't shut her up on
bread and milk because she answered
him impertinently; no sir, her hus-
band-lling wasn't that kind of man
at ALL
In fact, her Majesty wasn't general
~ hungry in the least. She was just
hungry in articular-hungry for fish.
And, just as she was sadly thinking
how life wouldn't be worth living five
minutes more without a dish of fish,
down the street she heard a very
happy sound indeed: Fresh feesh,"
a voice was crying fresh feesh.'
Her Majesty ran to the window, and
waved at the fishwoman, who, bob
bling and bowling with delight to be no
ticed by so important a customer, had
paused under the window There was
a beautiful big trout lying in the bot
tom of the fishwoman's basket.
How much does it weigh, my good
woman" said the Queen, "and how
much will you sell it for?"
And, imagine, as the Queens greedy
eyes rested on the fish, the creature
and laughed and laughed and laughed.
The Queens face turned royal pur-
pie with rage. Bang, went the palace
window. And the poor fishWoman,
Inundated and grief-stricken, went
went away weeping, while the fish in
her basket laughed itself to death;
and the Queen f1ounced off to tell her
husband-king.
And the King was eighty-ffve times
as mad as the Queen, when he heard
that trout fish-a mere and utter
! trout at that-had LAUGHED at his
Queen.
Send for the Grand Vizier," he
| reared.
Then all the court gathered in the
throne room at once. They always
| gathered when the King was mad;
| and they always knew when he was
| mad, because his broWs beetled so.
| Moreover, they sent a secret message
how outrageously the Kings brows
were beetling this time, which said:
| Beware! The King is extra hot un-
der his royal collar"
| So the Grand Vizier, instead of COM
! ing into the courtroom as usual, exc
cuted waltz steps the length of the
throne room, just to prove to the
| beetling King that he wasn't fright
| ened in the least.
Stop that silly whirling," howled the
King. why did the fish laugh?"
! ''Why-wh-why did the fish laugh
| floundered the poor Grand Vizier. "Oh,
[ see, ha, ha. oh, ha, ha, ha, oh, ha, ha,
! hail" For he thought that it was one
of the Kings very poor jokes, and he
| always pretended that he saw a point
in them.
you see, do your" beloved the
King, madden than ever. "Well then
you will tell the court why, or I'll
have your head Off before the month
is OUT
The poor Grand Vizier wrung his
hands in terror, for he knew that he
| had Numbered
Also he made several low salaams,
and backed toward the door.
Il shall tell you, your Majesty" he
said, cat the end of a month"; and he
fed.
The court fed after him. Every
body began telling him all at once
how the fish had laughed at the Queen.
| Actually" said the court, Laughed!
And you will have TO find out why
Of course, this did not add to the
peace of mind of the poor Grand vi
zier. He fiuttered about this way and
that way. He looked under all the
beds in the palace, even inspected all
the royal frying pans in the kitchen.
/ But somehow Or other he couldn t
seem to discover the reason.
i When three weeks were up, he re.
i turned to his home, kissed his wife
and made his will. Then he said tc
4 his son: Dear son-after-my-own.
heart and heir-to-an-unfortun
er, you had better go on your travels
until the wrath of the king has cooled
for next week | shall be beheaded for
not having discovered why the trout
laughed at the Queen"
The Grand Vizier's son kissed his
! father on both cheeks, cried on his
mothers shoulder and departed
i Il hate to CO." he said, but my
health demands it"
At the start of his second days
/ journey he met an old farmer, whose
appearance pleased him exceedingly
and so he pursuaded the farmer to
travel with him. When they had
walked a while they came to field
of high corn. The Grand Vizier's son
looked at the field, and saw that il
i would be hard walking. y
81 say, old friend" he suggested to
the farmer, hadn't we better carry
each other? 1t will make travelling
easier
The old farmer looked at the youth
and thought that he must be a mad
man. But he had heard that arguing
with a crazy man only makes him
crazier, and so he said nothing. The
pair walked along in silence until they
had passed through the cornfeld and
come to a swiftly flowing stream
| a L