Storyclover
Storyclover
At first light, a middle-aged fisher with warm brown skin, short curly black hair threaded with gray, dark brown eyes, a moss-green wool cap, a faded blue linen shirt, a russet-brown vest, charcoal trousers, and worn brown boots carried his green net to the river.
The Fish Who Bargained With the NetA small fish begs to be spared until he is bigger, but the fisher learns that a promise of future gain should not erase a present choice.
1. At first light, a middle-aged fisher with warm brown skin, short curly black hair threaded with gray, dark brown eyes, a moss-green wool cap, a faded blue linen shirt, a russet-brown vest, charcoal trousers, and worn brown boots carried his green net to the river.
2. The net opened across the shallows and settled around a small silver fish with a turquoise back, bright black eyes, a yellow tail, and three tiny dark spots near its gills.
3. The fisher lifted the net and found the fish small enough to fit in his palm. The fish bent toward him and began to bargain.
4. “Please spare me,” said the fish. “I am hardly a breakfast. Put me back, and I promise that one day I will be large enough to fill your whole basket.”
5. The fisher glanced at his empty basket, then at the fish. A promise of a full basket sounded tempting, but it belonged to a day that had not arrived.
6. The fish pressed its tail against his palm. “You have my word,” it said. “When I am bigger, I will repay you many times over.”
7. The fisher opened his hand. The fish slipped into the river, and the empty basket stayed empty.
8. By afternoon, the fisher had caught nothing. Near the reeds, the little fish remembered his promise and wondered whether promises could grow faster than fish.
9. The little fish saw the net descend again. This time, it did not wait to be caught.
10. “You let me go once,” called the fish. “You must let me go again. I am not big enough yet.”
11. The fisher remembered the empty basket. He also remembered the fish asking for one choice to be traded for another.
12. “I chose to spare you then,” said the fisher. “Today I choose what is true today. Your promise of future gain cannot erase the choice before me now.”
13. The little fish had spoken cleverly, but clever words could not make a future meal certain. The fisher made his decision.
14. The fisher kept what the river had given him that day, and let the fish return to what the river still owed it. Neither promise changed what had already been chosen.
Make a story like this →
