Eels and Snakes

It is customary among white people to speak disparagingly of eels as food, and often, with a wry face, they ask, "How can you eat the thing?" A young page 150school-teacher who apparently thought much of his own superior qualities, said to a Maori, "Eels! I don't like them, they look too much like snakes." The Maori coolly and sarcastically remarked, "Oh, now I know why I am so fond of snakes, because they look like eels." The pakeha didn't know whether to laugh or not.