For the primal cause of incidents, One often hunts about, When it's only a coincidence That matters so turned out. And I do not know the reason Or the reason I would tell-- But it may have been the season-- Why my hero chose this moment for casting off his shell. He had hitherto been dressed[1] (And so had all the rest) In purplish navy blue from top to toe! But now his coat was new, It was of every shade of blue Between azure and the deepest indigo; And his sisters kept telling him, till they were tired, There never was any one so much admired. My hero was happy at last, you will say? So he was, dear Reader--two nights and a day; Then, as he and his relatives lay, Each at the mouth of his mock Cave in the face of a miniature rock, They saw, descending the opposite cliff, By jerks spasmodic of elbows stiff; Now hurriedly slipping, now seeming calmer, With the ease and the grace of a hog in armour, And as solemn as any ancient palmer, No less than nine Exceedingly fine And full-grown lobsters, all in a line. But the worst of the matter remains to be said. These nine big lobsters were all of them _red_.[2] And when they got safe to the floor of the tank,-- For which they had chiefly good luck to thank,-- They settled their cumbersome coats of mail, And every lobster tucked his tail Neatly under him as he sat In a circle of nine for a cosy chat. They seemed to be sitting hand in hand, As shoulder to shoulder they sat in the sand, And waved their antennæ in calm rotation, Apparently holding a consultation. But what were the feelings of Master Blue Shell? Oh, gentle Reader! how shall I tell? [Footnote 1: The colours of lobsters vary a good deal in various localities. _Homarus vulgaris_, the common lobster, is spotted, and, on the upper part, more or less of a bluish black. I once saw a lobster that had just got a new shell, and was of every lovely shade of blue and violet.] [Footnote 2: _Palurinus vulgaris_, the spiny lobster, has no true claws, but huge hairy antennæ. These lobsters are red _during their lifetime_! I have seen them (in the Crystal Palace Aquarium) seated exactly as here described, with blue lobsters watching them from niches of the rocky sides of the tank, where they looked like blue-jerseyed smugglers at the mouths of caves.]