Page 5 - Fables volume 1

How the Fish Decided to Bypass Evolution

“Today, children, we are going up to shallow water to visit the
amphibian training camp. Some of you, I hope, upon graduation will
wish to pursue a career in the exciting new field of land navigation.
This will be the final class trip, so pay close attention to what you see.
If you have any questions, please direct them to the official in charge;
I must confess I know very little about the subject, it is all so new.”
She turned and shimmered off toward the surface. The school
swung about in unison and followed their teacher. At the head of the
class was a young flounder, Freddy. He had heard about the New
Frontier Project from some older fish, and it aroused his curiosity to
the limit of his species. He was very athletic and a good scholar, too.
If any of the class were to follow such an adventurous path, surely it
would be Freddy.
After rather a long swim in unfamiliar waters, the teacher signaled
her students to halt. They were just below the ceiling of their aqueous
domain; the intense sunlight diffracting down upon them was almost
too much to bear. In front of them lay a bleached and battered coral
formation, pocked with caverns each large enough to accommodate
one fish.
An individual sculled forth from one of these apertures and
approached the visitors.
“Good morning. I am Gagarin. I’m in charge here. Are you…?”
“Yes,” said the teacher, quite firmly. “My students and I are here to
learn about your mission. Please consider us totally ignorant.”
“Certainly,” said the director, puffing up like a blowfish. “I’m sure
you are. Well, children,” he continued, moving closer to the small fry
and baring his teeth in what they hoped was a smile. “The future
belongs to you, at least to those of you who survive the present. Your
parents, and their parents, and so on back into the murkiest ocean
bottoms of the past, have lived in water.”
At this he stopped and regarded the teacher. “Have you taught
them about water?”
“Oh, yes, most assuredly. I did have some trouble explaining gill
functions to a couple of the slower ones; I fear they might still be

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