Necessity and habit brought her there. She always arrived at first light, lingered long enough to watch the comings and goings, do a little fishing, and then returned home before the sun reached its zenith.

When it happened one day that she saw the fish swimming backward instead of forward, she thought it curious. When on another day she saw the fish floating belly up instead of swimming, she was surprised and a little confused. But when it happened that she came to the river and saw no fish at all, and even after waiting a long time still saw none, she was alarmed. And when she felt the first twinges of hunger deep in her belly a sense of panic grew within her, causing much anguish and fright.

She was not accustomed to thinking deeply about matters that had not heretofore required much thought. Moreover, when it came to interpreting symbolism, she felt utterly at sea. What any of these events might mean she could not know.

A chorus of nattily dressed shrews rise slowly into the air, singing:

De boll weevil et all de cotton an' lef' us only sticks.

We ain't got no home, we's got no home.