The Old Heron

1985

In the land of desert, there is a small lake where the old heron had fed himself since he was young, by catching all kinds of fish.  Day after day, the fish population was decreasing, plus they (fishes) were getting smart.  That made the old heron have a harder time catching them.  One day, he realized he was old and unable to do a lot of things as he did in the younger years.  Because of that, in order to survive, he had to do a new trick.
    A few days passed, and he just stood there in the middle of a shallow lake and waited for a tricky moment.  When the fishes saw him they wondered how the scary old heron had changed, and then they asked him why he looked so extremely sad.  The old heron said, "I am too old.  All of the fish had sympathy for him as he continued and said, "I was praying that you would grant my wish."
   The grateful fish suddenly asked what his wish was.  The old heron responded by telling them that before he died he wanted to be useful, and he further said he could help the fish to migrate to a better place.  At first, all the fishes did not believe him, but they agreed that they needed a better place to live. Finally, they sent their representative to go with the old heron in the searching trip.
   The old heron brought the representative to a wonderful place; there was a lot more room for them to live; it had delicious nutrients for feeding themselves all year long.  When the representative got back he told all the fish how convenient and exciting the new place was.  They were enthusiastic after they heard about it, and they granted the old heron's wish.  After that day, he took all of the fish to his net instead of the new lake, and he ate them.
   This story tells us that the brain is a usable tool for everyday life.

   -unknown