The Fisherman and the Little Fish

The Fisherman and the Little Fish is one of Aesop's fables. It is numbered 18 in the Perry Index.^[1] Babrius records it in Greek and Avianus in Latin. The story concerns a small fry caught by a fisherman (or "angler") that begs for its life on account of its size and suggests that waiting until it is larger would make it a more filling meal. The fisherman refuses, giving as his reason that every little amount helps and that it is stupid to give up a present advantage for an uncertain future gain. The fable was given further currency in La Fontaine's Fables (V. 3).^[2]

The popularity of the fable in England was eventually overtaken by the similar story "The Hawk and the Nightingale", which had the advantage of being reinforced by the proverb "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush". La Fontaine had no such proverb in French to which to appeal and ends on the reflection that one possession is better than two promises (Un 'tiens' vaut mieux que deux 'tu l'auras'). However, his English translator Charles Denis adapts the line to the circumstances and renders it as "A fish in the pan is worth two in the pond",^[3] while in his verse retelling in the following century, Guy Wetmore Carryl concludes that "a trout on a plate/ Beats several in the aquarium".^[4]

Artistic interpretations

English illustrations in books have almost invariably pictured an angler sitting on the river bank and peering at the fish. The same theme is found on tiles and china from the 18th and 19th centuries in both England^[5] and France.^[6] The fable was also among the miniatures commissioned from the Punjabi court painter Imam Baksh Lahori in 1837 by a French enthusiast but shows no originality of treatment.^[7]

French composers have set the text of La Fontaine's Le petit poisson et le pêcheur. They include René Falquet (1934–); Dominique Preschez (1954–), whose Trois fables en une for small orchestra and soprano (1995) includes it as the third of the set; and Alexandros Markeas (1965–) whose La Fontaine des malchanceux is for narrator, children's choir and orchestra (2005/6).

References

^ Aesopica site
^ An English translation
^ Select Fables, London 1754, p. 262.
^ "The Microscopic Trout and the Machiavelian Fisherman", Fables for the Frivolous (1898)
^ Examples in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum
^ View an online example
^ Now at the Musée Jean de la Fontaine

External links

Book illustrations from the 16th–19th centuries

v t e Aesop
Aesop's Fables	The Ant and the Grasshopper The Ass and his Masters The Ass and the Pig The Ass Carrying an Image The Ass in the Lion's Skin The Astrologer who Fell into a Well The Bear and the Travelers The Belly and the Members The Bird-catcher and the Blackbird The Bird in Borrowed Feathers The Boy Who Cried Wolf The Cat and the Mice The Cock and the Jewel The Cock, the Dog and the Fox The Crow and the Pitcher The Crow and the Snake The Deer without a Heart The Dog and Its Reflection The Dog and the Wolf The Dove and the Ant The Eagle and the Fox The Farmer and the Stork The Farmer and the Viper The Fir and the Bramble The Fisherman and the Little Fish The Fowler and the Snake The Fox and the Crow The Fox and the Grapes The Fox and the Lion The Fox and the Mask The Fox and the Sick Lion The Fox and the Stork The Fox and the Weasel The Fox and the Woodman The Frog and the Ox The Frogs Who Desired a King The Goat and the Vine The Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs The Honest Woodcutter The Horse and the Donkey The Horse that Lost its Liberty The Lion and the Mouse The Lion, the Bear and the Fox The Man with Two Mistresses The Mischievous Dog The Miser and his Gold The Moon and her Mother The Mountain in Labour The Mouse and the Oyster The North Wind and the Sun The Oak and the Reed The Old Man and Death The Old Woman and the Doctor The Rose and the Amaranth The Satyr and the Traveller The Sick Kite The Snake and the Crab The Snake in the Thorn Bush The Tortoise and the Hare Town Mouse and Country Mouse The Travellers and the Plane Tree The Trees and the Bramble The Two Pots The Walnut Tree Washing the Ethiopian White The Weasel and Aphrodite The Wolf and the Crane The Wolf and the Lamb The Woodcutter and the Trees The Young Man and the Swallow
Apocryphal	An ass eating thistles The Bear and the Gardener Belling the Cat (also known as The Mice in Council) The Blind Man and the Lame The Boy and the Filberts Chanticleer and the Fox The Dog in the Manger The drowned woman and her husband The Elm and the Vine The Fox and the Cat The Gourd and the Palm-tree The Hawk and the Nightingale The miller, his son and the donkey The Monkey and the Cat The Priest and the Wolf The Scorpion and the Frog The Shepherd and the Lion
Related	Jataka tales Panchatantra Perry Index The labyrinth of Versailles Lion's share Out of the frying pan into the fire Still waters run deep The milkmaid and her pail Wolf in sheep's clothing Aesop's Fables (album)
Screen adaptations	Aesop's Film Fables The Grasshopper and the Ants
Print adaptations	Ysopet The Morall Fabillis of Esope the Phrygian "The Cock and the Jasp" "The Taill of how this forsaid Tod maid his Confessioun to Freir Wolf Waitskaith" "The Taill of Schir Chanticleir and the Foxe" "The Taill of the Uponlandis Mous and the Burges Mous" La Fontaine's Fables
Translators	Demetrius of Phalerum Phaedrus Babrius Avianus Dositheus Magister Alexander Neckam Adémar de Chabannes Odo of Cheriton John Lydgate Kawanabe Kyōsai Laurentius Abstemius Roger L'Estrange Gabriele Faerno Hieronymus Osius Marie de France Robert Henryson Jean de La Fontaine Ivan Krylov Nicolas Trigault Robert Thom Zhou Zuoren

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