Foreword:
This fable represents the illusion of allure. Numbered 18 in the Perry Index (as 18. The Fisherman and the Little Fish), its popularity is overshadowed by the 'The Hawk and the Nightingale', which is numbered 567 in the Perry Index. Variants of this fable often refers the fisherman as "angler" and the little fish as "small fry".
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One day, a man sat down by a stream of river, to fish.
"This looks like a fine stream with lots of fishes", he thought as he settled down, "I hope I shall be lucky here."
This man was old and poor, and his dinner depended on the fish he caught.
With a can of worms as bait to catch fishes, and with high hopes, he readied his basket to put the fishes he would catch.
Like a true master of the trade, he readied his fishing rod, threw the line with bait in the water, and lit his pipe to smoke as he would patiently wait for a catch.
And, no sooner did he throw the line, he felt a fish tapping on the line, already.
With a masterly pull, he trapped the fish that was tapping on the bait of his line, and dragged the line with the fish out of water.
Although the fish was small, he thanked his luck for the catch. He was about to put it in the basket, when the small fish, a fry, pleaded for mercy.
"Please spare me!", pleaded the small fish, "I am too small for your apetite. When I grow bigger, and after having lived a full life, I shall make for you a much better meal."
The man agreed that it was too small, and took pity on it. Besides, he was hopeful that he would catch many more fishes, and this was only the beginning. And, he threw the small fish back into the water.
With renewed energy, and with the same mastery of the trade, he threw the line back into water. And, he waited patiently for a new catch.
He waited, and waited patiently.
But, he had no further luck, not even a tap on his baited fishing line.
Frustrated, he changed his bait a few times, and changed locations. But all his tricks and mastery failed to change his luck.
Finally, after a fruitless afternoon and despite knowing that he had no fish for his dinner, he resigned for the day.
As he packed, the man decided to come back next morning.
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The next morning, the man came back to the same spot, and with his typical mastery, prepared to settle down.
With renewed energy and high hopes, he readied his basket to put the fishes he would catch.
And, like a true master of the trade, he readied his fishing rod, threw the line with bait in the water, and lit his pipe to smoke as he would patiently wait for a catch.
He did not have to wait long, before he felt a fish tapping on his line. With a masterly pull, he dragged the fish out of the water and into his hands. It was as small a fish, as was caught the previous day.
"This is no bigger than the fish I released back in the water, yesterday", he said to himself.
And, he was about to put it in the basket, when the small fish, a fry, pleaded for mercy, too.
"Please spare me!", pleaded the small fish, "I am too small for your apetite. When I grow bigger, and after having lived a full life, I shall make for you a much better meal."
But, the man remembered his previous day, and ignored its plea.
As he put his catch into his basket, he said to himself, "I know that it is small and may not be worthy of eating. But I have learnt my lesson yesterday, that a small fish in hand is worth more than two big fishes still in the water."
Moral:
A small gain is worth more than a large promise.
Or,
A little thing in hand is worth more than a great thing in prospect.
Summary:
A man was fishing in the river, when he managed to catch a small fish. The small fish requested the man to leave him, because he was too small for the man's appetite. The man obliged him, and set the fish free - back in the water. The man spent the rest of the day, without any luck, and had to return home empty-handed. The next day, the man went back to fishing, when he caught a little fish again - no bigger than the last day's catch. This little fish made a similar request to the man to leave him. But this time, the man knew he may not catch any other fish the entire day, and therefore did not set him free.
