ROVER—THE RUNAWAY LOBSTER.

Otago Witness, Issue 4029, 2 June 1931, Page 71

ROVER—THE RUNAWAY LOBSTER.

If you were a little mermaid or merman, instead of just a little girl or boy, you wouldn’t keep a puppy or a kitten as a pet. Dear me, no, you’d keep a lobster!

A great many mer-ehildren have pet lobsters; the little Princess Sparkletail had one—a very fine pedigree lobster called Rover. Her daddy, King Seaweed gave him to her for her seventh birthday. “ Take great care of him, dear,” he said, “ because he’s valuable. I don’t know how I’m going to get the Lord Chancellor to pay for him, as it is. If anything happens to him, they’ll call it shocking waste. Never take him out without his lead.” But Sparkletail thought it a shame that a frisky lobster should never run free; she also thought it unfair that a princess should never be allowed to play in the Public Gardens. And so one day she escaped and went out without a single attendant, and she took Rover with her! And just as soon as she got inside the public gardens she removed his lead, although there was a large notice: “Lobsters Are Not Admitted Unless Under Proper Control.” Of course, Rover dived away from her immediately—and he did worse, he began to push up his nose and his feelers, and to rise through the sea, shooting far above her head. No use to call—“ Rover. Rover, Rover, come here, sir, at once! ” He wouldn't obey. He really was an uncontrolled lobster. The poor little princess ran about crying, and at last, just outside the gardens, she found an oid merman policeman. “ Your Highness —here alone ? ” he exclaimed, but all she replied was—“ Rescue the regal lobster —he’s rising to the surface—he’ll never come back! ” Of course, the policeman sent out a squad immediately, and they siezed Rover by the feeler, just as he was entering a lobster-pot. The little princess was very grateful: but the Chancellor was furious at the

huge reward that had to be paid to the police. In the end, the King had to put Rover in the Zoo so that all the public had the benefit of him, then it didn't seem so extravagant. The little mcr-children who were taken to the Beneath-the-Sea Zoo by their parents for birthday treats used to love to look at him, but poor Princess Sparkletail could not bear to sec him. It made her so sad to think that it was her fault that he was a prisoner. It just shows you how important it is to l>e obedient and careful with your pets, doesn’t it?—An exchange.