One day, a young boy was about to take a bath when he peered into the wash basin and found a silverfish crawling around the bottom. The young boy jumped away and thought to himself what a frightful thing the silverfish was and how awful it would be if it were in the bath with him.

The young boy thought to squish the silverfish, but decided he would rather not touch the creature with his naked foot.

The young boy thought to smash the silverfish with something in the room, but thought better of banging around the old wash basin.

Then, the young boy thought to wash the silverfish away with water from the faucet.

The young boy slowly turned on the faucet and the stream of water caused the silverfish to skitter quickly away.

Seeing this, the young boy turned off the faucet and said, "What a wretched child am I for scaring this poor creature so. It has done nothing to me and it is only because of its appearance that I wish to do it harm."