“They must wait their time, like you and me too, my little Tangle.”
And she smiled a smile which the sadness in it made more lovely.
“But,” she continued, “I think we may have one for supper tomorrow.”
So saying she went to the door of the tank, and spoke; and now Tangle understood her perfectly.
“I want one of you,” she said—“the wisest.”
Thereupon the fishes got together in the middle of the tank, with their heads forming a circle above the water, and their tails a larger circle beneath it. They were holding a council, in which their relative wisdom should be determined. At length one of them flew up into the lady’s hand, looking lively and ready.
“You know where the rainbow stands?” she asked.
“Yes, Mother, quite well,” answered the fish.
“Bring home a young man you will find there, who does not know where to go.”
The fish was out of the door in a moment. Then the lady told Tangle