I mentioned a couple of week's ago that a friend recently gave me a jar of frog spawn for the pond I built eighteen months ago. I can't see any sign of the frog spawn nor any tadpoles. It doesn't look like they have survived. The goldfish, which have been quite active in this mild weather, I notice appear to have put on a little holiday weight.
As I had previously indicated, if it were a choice between frogs and goldfish I'd prefer frogs. Its just that in a previous pond I had they seemed to tick along together okay.
This is the second cohort of goldfish for this pond. The ten originals were raided by a heron and, as far as I could tell, there were two survivors. Towards the end of last summer I bought a second batch of ten which so far are thriving.
When I first bought the goldfish I asked for nine but the odd number seemed to disproportionately perplex the person who served me. They suggested I bought ten instead.
The reason for asking for nine fish is that in Chinese culture (Janet is Chinese) goldfish are auspicious creatures and nine goldfish promises prosperity. Goldfish are a common subject of classical Chinese art. If you go into a Chinese household, whether in China or among Chinese diaspora, you will often see a painting or a wall hanging depicting nine goldfish.
Part of the reason for this is that the word for 'goldfish' (金鱼 Jīnyú, literally gold fish) is almost a homophone for 'abundant wealth' 金玉 Jīnyù, literally gold jade). This seemed far too involved an explanation so in the end I settled for ten who in the event were not that lucky.
Painting by Lin Jing 林菁 in traditional style. InkDance Chinese Painting Gallery |
I like the Chinese painting. Frogs are very welcome in my garden.
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