_Fisherman._—Eels, and pike, minnows, eelpout, trout, and lamprey, and such sprats as swim in a river. _Master._—Why don’t you fish in the sea? _Fisherman._—Sometimes I do, but seldom, for it is a long row for me to the sea. _Master._—What do you catch in the sea? _Fisherman._—Herrings, and salmon, porpoises, and sturgeon, oysters and crabs, mussels, periwinkles, cockles, plaice, and soles, and lobsters, and many such things. _Master._—Do you wish to catch a whale? _Fisherman._—No. _Master._—Why? _Fisherman._—Because it is a dangerous thing to catch a whale. It is safer for me to go to the river with my boat than to go with many boats on a whale-hunt. _Master._—Why so? _Fisherman._—Because I would sooner catch a fish that I can slay than one who can sink or kill not me only but also my mates with one blow. _Master._—But, still, many catch whales, and escape the dangers, and obtain a great price therefor. _Fisherman._—That’s true, but I dare not, on account of the cowardliness of my mind. THE FOWLER. _Master._—What do you say, fowler? How do you snare birds? _Fowler._—I snare them in many ways: sometimes with nets, sometimes with nooses, sometimes with lime, sometimes by whistling, sometimes with a hawk, sometimes with traps.... _Master._—How do you feed your hawks? _Fowler._—In winter they feed themselves and me; in Lent I let them fly away to the wood; and in autumn I catch young birds and tame them. _Master._—And why do you let those that you have tamed fly away from you? _Fowler._—Because I do not wish to feed them in the summer, as they eat too much. _Master._—But many men do feed tame hawks through the summer, so that they may have them ready again. _Fowler._—Yes, so they do; but I do not wish to be so bothered with them, because I know how to catch many more. THE TRADER. _Master._—What do you say, trader? _Trader._—I say that I am needful to the king, and ealdormen, and wealthy men, and to all the folk. _Master._—How? _Trader._—I get into my boat with my load, and I row over the waters and sell my things, and I buy things of great price which this land does not bring forth, and I bring them hither to you, with great danger, over the sea, and sometimes I suffer shipwreck, with the loss of all my things, barely escaping with my life. _Master._—What sorts of things do you bring to us? _Trader._—Cloaks, and silk, stones of great price, and gold, wonderful garments, and perfumes, wine and oil, ivory, and brass, copper and tin, sulphur and glass, and many things like them. _Master._—Will you sell your things here, for as much as you bought them there? _Trader._—I will not. For then what gain is there in my toil? But I will sell them here dearer than I bought them there, that I may get me some profit to feed me and my wife and my children. THE SHOEMAKER. _Master._—Shoemaker, what useful work do you do for us?...