Classic Poem

A LITTLE minnow wriggled in the water by the sea,
Dining on the animalcules, as contented as could be,
When along there came a larger fish with mischief in his eye,
Who gobbled up the minnow as he 'd gobble up a fly.

And then this little fish went off to have a quiet swim,
When a fish that was much bigger got his hungry eye on him
And swallowed him completely, after chasing him awhile,
Swimming out into the ocean with a fishy sort of smile.

Thus he reasoned: " All these little fishes Nature made for us;
Being numbered with the bigger fish, I ate the little " cus;" "
But there came a great leviathan his hunger to regale,
So he finished his remarks within the bosom of the whale.

Along there came a whaler with a mighty big harpoon,
Who boiled the whole caboodle into blubber very soon: —
The minnow and the fishes and the monarch of the sea
Along with what is wrongly called the an-i-mal-cu-le.

Thus Naure has provided
Upon a singular plan: —
By which it is decided
A fish resembles man:
For this the rule they follow —
Whether single or in clan:
The big fish always swallow
The little fish when they can.