Once upon a time, some little fishes lived in a quiet pool near a river. Almost all of them were pleasant, friendly and lived and played very happily together. But one fish was different. He was not a big fish, but he was the biggest fish in the pool. He was proud of this and refused to be friendly with the other fish. 'stop playing!' he would say, ' it's time for my afternoon rest. Go away!' The older fish began to get annoyed. ' let him go away and leave us in peace!' said one. ' That's a good idea, ' said the oldest fish. 'I will go and talk to him.' So the oldest fish swam to the biggest fish and said, ' That pool is too small for you and we're all small , too. Why stay here? Go and join the big fish in the river. ' The biggest fish decided to take the advice of the oldest fish. So, the next day, he swam down to the river. When he reached it, he said to himself, ' now I must make friends with the other big fish. " Suddenly, the water around him began to sway about. He looked up and saw four fish passing over his head. They were much bigger than he was. " I must hurry and join them," he thought. But one of them looked down, " Out of my way, little fish! " he said in angry voice. " This water is ours". Then they drove him away. He was very frightened and hid in the mud at the edge of the river. He soon began to feel hungry. But when he swam out to look for food, some of the big fish saw him and chased him away. " I can't stay here," he thought. " I must go back to the pool. The fish there were nice -- not like the big fish here." So he swam back to the pool. The little fish were surprised to see him and very surprised when he did not get angry with them. They were surprised when he wanted to join in their games. " I can guess what happened," said the oldest fish. " The river fish are big and fierce. So now he will be content to stay with us. He has learnt his lessons.
