27. Hitopadesh -Three Fishes

Once upon a time there lived three fishes named Anagatavidhata, Pratyutpannamati and Yadbhavishya lived in a pond. The three fishes were good friends and lived together. There were many fishes in the pond.

One day a group of fishermen passed by the pond. They saw the pond had many fishes and said, “The pond has good number of fishes. Tomorrow morning we should come here to fish. We will get good harvest here”.

The three fishes were swimming near the surface and heard the fishermen. One of fish hurriedly said, “The fishermen will come tomorrow morning. I do not want to get trapped and die. I am leaving the pond.” She swam through the canal into another pond to rescue herself from the impending danger.

The second fish said, “I do not know what will happen tomorrow. If the fishermen come, we all will face the danger.”

The third fish was lying sleepy. She said, “Do not bother. What has to happen, will happen! It's destiny that decides.”

Next day, the fishermen arrived with their nets. The second was caught in the net. But it pretended to be dead. When the fisherman tried to pull it out, it gathered all its strength and jumped into the water. It quickly swam deep inside and saved her life.

The third fish was also caught. She thought what has to happen will happen and did nothing to escape. She was caught and killed by the fishermen.

The second fish felt sorry for her friend. She was happy to be alive and took the lesson that we should not ignore matters and leave them to chance.

Moral: Do not leave things to chance. We humans have capability to think and act; and we should do it when needed.