Week 2 Story: The Heron and the Fish

 THE BLUE HERON AND THE FISH

Once upon a time, while Brahmadatta was king of Benares, the Bodhisatta came to life at the foot of a great pond as a Fish. He grew strong and healthy and lived in a very big pond with plentiful marine life.

At that time there was a Heron living near the pond. The Heron's mate saw the wonderful meal before her which happened to be the fish, and she conceived a longing for his heart to eat. So she said to her lover, "Honey, I want nothing more but to feast on the heart of that fish!"

"My dear," said the Crocodile, "I live on the land and he lives in the water: how do you see I go about catching him?"

"I do not care how you go about it," she replied, "I just want him to eat if it is the last thing you do."

"Okay I will do this for you if it makes you happy," answered the Crocodile, consoling her, "don't worry, I have a plan and I will get you his heart."

So when the Bodhisatta was going for his daily swim at the top of the pond, after pausing at the top of the water, the Heron approached a rock near the fish and said: "Hello there Fish, why do you stay here in this pond with the same scenery all your life when there is a much nicer pond with many more fish? There is so much to see and experience over at the other pond. Would you want to go check it out?"

"Oh Mr. Heron," the Monkey made answer, "how do you expect me to cross the short bit of land that separates me from the other pond?"

"If you trust me, I can take you across the land to the other pond in less than ten seconds."

The Fish agreed. "Come here, then," said the Heron; and the Heron picked up the Fish. But the Heron began to take the Fish to a different location.

"Mr. Heron, why are you not taking me to the new pond?" said the Fish. "Ha, you think I am doing this out of good nature? No, I am doing this for a price which happens to be your heart for my wife" said the Heron.

"Oh dear Heron," said the Fish, "It is interesting you tell me this, but I hate to tell you that my heart does not reside in my body. Oh no it resides elsewhere!"

"Well, where do you keep it?" asked the Heron.

"My heart lies where the rest of my fellow fish heart's lie, at the bottom of the sacred pond you were originally taking me to" said the Fish.

"If you take me to all these hearts," said the Crocodile, "then I won't eat you right here and now."

The Fish agreed and said "Take me to the the pond and I will swim down and gather all the hearts for your choosing"

The Blue Heron agreed and took the Fish to the pond and dropped him in the water.

"You fool!" said the Fish; "You thought we actually kept our hearts at the bottom of a pond! You are too easy to trick, and I have outwitted you! "You may tell your wife of your failure and explain to her how you were outsmarted by a Fish" said the Fish.

The Blue Heron then was filled with much sadness, ducked his head, and slowly and quietly flew back to his wife, heartless, to tell her the bad news.

The Heron and the Fish

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

The traditional story was called "A Crocodile and the Monkey's Heart" by Marie L. Shedlock, and was about a crocodile that tried to outsmart a monkey and tried to obtain the monkey's heart for his wife. In the end, the monkey ended up outsmarting the crocodile and ended up tricking the crocodile into where he wanted to go. I decided to switch up the characters and the scenery and bring a little new atmosphere to the story.