One day a fisher caught a little carp, a small fry still, and, sizing up his prize, said:
“Every morsel counts. Inaugurate my feast, you will, as appetizer. So I put you in my poke.”
The little fish made supplicating sounds and said, “What good am I for eating? Tiny as I am, you’d hardly taste me. Wait till I’m a carp full-grown; recatch me then, and sell me for a fortune to some fat-fed tax-collector. You’d need a hundred more like me to make a meal today—a paltry meal indeed!”
“So be it,” said the fisher, chuckling. “Fish, my friend, you’re preaching to the devil, I’m afraid. Tonight the frying-pan’s your fate.”
One swallowed bite is worth two upon the plate.