In a pond there lived three fishes. One of the fishes believed in fate. He believed that whatever had to happen would happen and that nothing could change it. The second fish was wise. He thought long and hard about any problem and then acted on it. The third fish trusted in his ready wit and intelligence to get him out of any trouble.
Though the three fishes believed in different things, they were best of friends.
Once as the wise fish was swimming near the surface of the water it heard two fishermen talking.
'Look at this! Look at how many fishes there are in the pond.'
The other fisherman nodded his head.
'We will come tomorrow and lay our nets in this pond.'
The fishermen walked off talking.
The wise fish hurried to its friends. 'Do you know what happened today?'
He told the other two fishes everything that he had overheard.
'So tomorrow, the fishermen are going to come.'
The wise fish was agitated. 'We have to do something.'
The fish who believed in fate shook his fate. 'Whatever will happen, will happen, my friend. There is no point in worrying about it.'
The wise fish called out. 'The fishermen are going to come tomorrow. You just cannot ignore it. They will catch all of us, if we stay here.'
The fish who believed in fate waved its fin. 'We cannot change what is going to happen. I will accept whatever is in store for me.' The fish who believed in fate, left, with those words.
The other two fishes stared at each other.
The wise fish looked at its other friend feeling sad.
The fish who believed in its own intelligence said to the wise fish. 'We cannot change his mind.' He turned to look at the other fish. 'What do you plan to do?'
The wise fish was silent for a long time.
'There is a passage from this pond to the nearby pond. I am going to the next lake.' The wise fish looked at the last fish. 'What are you going to do?'
The intelligent fish smiled. 'I am going to stay here.'
The wise fish was aghast. ‘But..’
The intelligent fish shook his head. 'Don't worry, I have a plan.'
The wise fish looked at its two friends. It knew that it could not change their mind.
That very night, it went to the nearby pond.
The next day, the fishermen came.
The wise fish escaped.
The fish who believed in fate was caught in the net and was killed immediately.
The intelligent fish was also caught in the net.
Immediately it thrashed around and pretended to be dead.
The fishermen saw it.
'This fish is already dead! We cannot take it.' The first fisherman looked disgusted as it was studying the limp fish.
'Throw it back inside the pond.' The other fisherman shrugged.
Picking the fish, the fishermen threw it back in the river.
The intelligent fish grinned as he swam down and waited there till the fishermen were gone.
-From the Panchatantra
