One day a negro1 went to a fish shop to buy some fish for his dinner. He picked up a fresh fish, and after examining it carefully, he held it up to his nose and smelled it.
"Hey! What's this?" cried the master of the shop. "Why do you smell that fish, do you think it."
"No," Answered the negro.
"Then what were you doing with your face so close to the fish?" asked the master.
"I wasn't smelling the fish. I was only talking to it," answered the negro.
"Talking to it!" said the shopkeeper, "Why, what on earth did you say to it?"
"I asked him if there was any negro."
"Well, and what did the fish say to that?" asked the shopkeeper.
"He said he didn't know the latest news, because he had been away from the sea or more than three weeks."
