Prologue : monsters in the pond -- Introducton : love's arrow -- The eels of Maine -- The kingpin -- Nuns of the water -- Freud's eel encounter -- Oh, what a lucky man -- Tales from the uncanny -- Don't call him Ahab -- Shapeshifters -- Animal magnetism, or snorkeling with eels -- Dr. Eel and the lovely maidens -- The night mind of water -- The river is full of money -- A most slippery business -- Tribal matters -- Closing the circle -- Epilogue : this incomprehensible world.