What that meant I could not even guess; but it turned out to be the tiniest sea in the world. Steady old limpets, red anemones, hermit crabs, and shrimps were all there.
It was a very nice home, with plenty of good food, the only drawback being want of space.
And now the event happened that I promised to tell you about.
My armour took to hurting me. You will hardly believe me. We all know that new clothes hurt sometimes, but old ones!
It grew tighter and tighter. I wriggled about, feeling miserable. Oh, if only I could get out of this!
At last I grew desperate. This choked, tight feeling was too much. I gave a tremendous struggle, and shook myself; crickle, crackle went my old armour, off it came, and out I stepped.
But, oh, so tender, and so nervous! The shrimps pranced round and knocked up against me, pricking and tormenting till I could have screamed.
I crept behind a stone and looked at my old armour half sadly. It looked just like old me, only so still, and rather as if I had been out in the rain all night and had shrunk.
Then I glanced at the new me. Well, I was a pretty fellow—not blue-black any longer, but a reddish pink of lovely hue.
Some one else took pride in my appearance, for I heard again a voice say, “Look at my lobster; he has cast his shell.”
I hadn’t, you know—it was the shell that had cast me; but these men can’t know everything.
The man touched me, but he hurt me almost as much as the shrimps, and I shrank farther still behind the stone out of his way. There I quietly lay for some days, till one morning, feeling braver and ever so much bigger, I stepped out for an early saunter.
That moment came a voice, “Oh, here is my lobster! How he has grown, more than half as big again!” Down came the hand as before; and just to show him I was also half as strong again, I gave him a nip.
He keeps his hands above water now, and me at arm’s length.