Once upon a time there lived three fish in the same pond. The first fish was the most cunning, the second was simpler, and the third was completely stupid. They lived well, calmly - like all the fish in the world live. But then one day a man came to their pond.
The man brought a net with him. And while he was unfolding it, the smart fish looked at him through the water and thought. She feverishly went through all her life experiences and all the stories that she had ever heard; She called on all her wits to help, and finally it dawned on her:
“There’s no place to hide in this pond,” she thought, “so it’s best to pretend to be dead.”
And so, having gathered all her strength, to the great amazement of the fisherman, she jumped right at his feet. The fisherman picked it up. But since the cunning fish held its breath, he thought that it had died and threw it back into the water. The fish immediately hid in a hollow under the shore at his very feet.
The second fish, the simpler one, did not really understand what had happened, and swam up to the cunning fish for an explanation.
“I just pretended to be dead, so he threw me back into the water,” the cunning fish explained to her.
Without hesitation, the simple-minded fish also jumped out of the water and plopped down right at the fisherman’s feet.
“Strange,” thought the fisherman. — The fish here jump out of the water themselves.
But the second fish forgot to hold its breath. The fisherman saw that she was alive and put her in his bag. Then he turned back to the water. However, the sight of fish jumping onto land shocked him so much that he did not think to zip up his bag. Taking advantage of his inattention, the second fish climbed out and, either crawling or jumping, rushed towards the water. There she found the first fish and, breathing heavily, perched next to it.
The third fish, stupid, could not understand what was happening, even after listening to the explanation of the first two fish. They listed all the circumstances to her in order, paying special attention to the importance of holding her breath in order to appear dead.
“Thank you, now I understand everything,” the stupid fish answered joyfully.
And with these words she jumped out of the water noisily, falling next to the fisherman.
But annoyed that he had missed two fish, the fisherman put the fish in his bag, without even bothering to see whether it was breathing or not. And this time he zipped his bag tightly.
Again and again the fisherman cast his net, but since the first two fish did not leave their shelter, the net turned out to be empty each time. Finally, he decided to abandon his idea and began to prepare for the return journey.
Opening the bag, he made sure that the stupid fish was not breathing, took it home and gave it to the cat.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru