It was something my brother said that put me up to this, when he was teasing me about my passion for fishing. There's a fountain in the centre of town, and he said I would never be a real angler until I caught something there.
Well, one day I went and caught a few fish from the nearest pond, and took them to the fountain, where I laid them at my feet (still flapping a bit). Then I got my fishing-rod out and started 'fishing' in the fountain. One or two people said "You'll never catch fish there" and I indicated the fish at my feet. After a while someone else thought they would have a try. Once he had cast in, I announced: "I've caught another!". "Another what?", I was asked. "Another sucker", I replied. I caught half a dozen doing this, until the word spread round town not to be taken in by Melillot's latest jape.
There was one sad bit though. There was a rather nice young wizard, new in town, who I fooled. He seemed to take it in good part, but he also avoided me afterwards, and I would rather like to have got to know him better. Ah well, perhaps we'll meet again, and maybe if I let him fool me somehow, we'll be quits and could become friends .......
