There were three fish living in a pond: Big-Wit, Half-Wit, and Witless.
Fishermen came to their pond, looking for fish to catch.
Big-Wit realized the danger at once and went swimming through the pond's outlet before the fishermen blocked it up. Thus he made his escape.
Half-Wit was unsure what to do, but finally he pretended to be dead, floating on top of the water, and the fishermen had no interest in a rotten fish carcass.
As for Witless, terror made him splash in the water, so the fishermen seized him and he became fish stew for the fishermen's dinner.
Inspired by: The Tortoise and the Geese, and Other Fables of Bidpai by Maude Barrows Dutton.
Notes: There is a similar Panchatantra story: Forethought, Ready-Wit, and Fatalist (Book 1, part of story 20).
This illustration is from a 15th-century Latin Panchatantra:
Haha! Survival of the cleverest!
ReplyDeleteThis story is told by Bhisma to Dharma Raja while laying on the bed of arrows waiting for death in Mahabharata - One of the many stories he tells about how a king must rule.
ReplyDeleteYES! There is so much ancient testimony to the power of these stories in ancient India. The Mahabharata has so much wonderful parables like these, and many of the same parables also appear in the Jataka Tales told by the Buddha. And then, slowly but surely, the stories reached Europe and became popular there too!
Delete