They slept still more soundly in the cook's basket, starting into life again only in the bowl, beneath the rush of cold water. And now, after doing unwilling penance for an hour against the glass, they have only just hit upon witchcraft. "What are we to do?" says one to the other. The carp know themselves to be in prison. They, too, have had experience of a long night, and awoke in a bowl. "Someone," say they, "had palmed off counterfeit bank-notes on us!" It will be proved, they are sure, if only one could get hold of someone who will take the matter up properly. They give a little leap into the air, catch sight of the pike, and fall back more dead than alive. "They are going to eat us!" they say, trembling. Not until they realize that the pike are likewise in prison do they feel somewhat reassured. "They, they certainly have been passing counterfeit notes, too!" says one carp to the other. "Yes, and therein lies our salvation. _They_ will not keep silence, and, with God's help, we shall all be set free together." "And they will see us, and, with God's help, will eat us up!" And the carp nestle closer against the bowl. They can just see a tub full of onions on the kitchen floor. "If we signed the contract, we might receive a golden order," observes one of the pike. "Please God, we shall be decorated yet," answers the other. "It is a case of witchcraft, but--" "But what?" "There is one thing." "Well?" "It sounds almost absurd--but--I wanted to tell you--we ought to _pray_," he stammers, "it is the best thing against sorcery!" "To pray? Perhaps so!!" Whereupon the two pike discover that it is years since they prayed last. They cannot remember a word. "Ashrè,"[116] begins one. "Ashrè," repeats the other, and comes to a standstill. "Oh, I want to pray!" moans the first. "So do I!" chimes in the second, "for when all is said and done, we are but fish!" A door opens in the wall, a little way, and two heads are seen in the aperture--a tipsy-looking man's head, and a woman's with curl papers. "Ah," exclaims the man's head, joyously, "this is something like! Pike--carp--and all the other good things." "I should hope so! And I have sent for meat besides." "My knowing little wife," chuckles the man's head. "There, there, that will do." And the heads disappear. "Did you hear?" says a pike, "there are carp, too." "They have the best of it." "How is that?" "To begin with, they have made no contracts, they are free agents. Secondly, they can leap." "If they would only give a _good_ leap, they would find themselves back in the river." "Quite true." "And something good might come of it for us. Wait a bit--let's try! Carp!" The carp have suddenly swum to the surface of the water, and are poking their noses over the edge of the bowl. The pike, face to face with the carp: "Bad luck, brothers?" he exclaimed. "Bad," answer the carp. "Bitter?" "Bitter!" "Very little water?" "Oh, very little!" "And it smells?" "Ugh!"