"'There's nothin' so much abused as politics,' ses the whale. "'Except politicians,' ses the grasshopper. 'Only for the Irish they'd be no one bothering about poetry and the drama to-day. Only for fools they'd be no wise people an' only for sprats, hake, and mackerel there 'ud be no whales an' a good job that would be, too.' "'What's that you're saying?' ses the whale very sharply. "'Don't have me to lose me temper with you,' ses the grasshopper. "'Wisha, bad luck to your impudence an' bad manners, you insignificant little spalpeen. How dare you insult your superiors?' ses the whale. "'Who's me superior?' ses the grasshopper. 'You, is it?' "'Yes, me then,' ses the whale. "'Another word from you,' ses the whale, 'an' I'll put you where Napoleon put the oysters.' "'Well,' ses the grasshopper, 'there's no doubt but vanity, ignorance and ambition are three wonderful things an' you have them all.' "'Neither you nor Napoleon, nor the Kaiser himself an' his hundred million men could do hurt or harm to me. You could have every soldier in the German Army, the French Army, an' the Salvation Army lookin' for me an' I'd put the comether on them all.' "'I can't stand this any longer,' ses the whale, an' then and there he hits the rock a whack of his tail an' when I went to look for the grasshopper, there he was sitting on the whale's nose as happy an' contented as if nothing happened. An' when he jumped back to the rock again he says: 'A little exercise when 'tis tempered with discretion, never does any harm, but violent exertion is a very foolish thing if you value your health. But it is only people who have no sinse but think they have it all who make such errors.' "'If I could get a hold of you,' ses the whale, 'I'd knock some of the pride out of you.' "'That would be an ungentlemanly way of displaying your displeasure,' ses the grasshopper. "'I'd scorn,' ses he, 'to use violent means with you, or do you physical injury of any kind. All you want is self-control and a little education. You should know that quantity without quality isn't as good as quality without quantity.' "'Sure 'tis I'm the fool to be wasting me time listening to the likes of you,' ses the whale. 'If any of me family saw me now, I'd never hear the end of it.' "'Indeed,' ses the grasshopper, 'no one belonging to me would ever recognize me ever again if they thought I was trying to make a whale behave himself. There would be some excuse for one of my attainments feeling proud. But as for you!--' "'An' what in the name of nonsense can you do except give old guff out of you?'