The Fish and the Flowers

Once there was a Chinese merchant who sold flowers and fish. In the winter, the flowers and fish each had a separate house to live in. But one very cold winter, the merchant said to his servants, "I think we must put the lily bulbs in the house with the fish. It is warmer there."

So a thousand and a thousand narcissus bulbs, which were growing for the great feast of the New Year, were moved into the house with the fish.

This made the fish angry, and that night they scolded the narcissus.

"Friends," said the fishes, "this is not your place and we will not have you here. We do not like your odor. You will spoil our people. When men pass by our door they will see only you. They will never see our family. You cannot help or do any good here; so you must go."

"Every day a hundred and a hundred merchants and students come to visit us. If you stand by our door they will surely think the fish are all gone and there is nothing but flowers left. We do not want our place to smell so strongly of flowers. We do not like it. It is very bad and makes us sick."

The narcissus answered, "Strange, but we were thinking of that same thing. Some people say that fishes have a bad odor, but I never heard it said of our flowers. I think I will say no more about it. Let others decide."

Then another flower spoke and said to the one who had been talking, "Hush, sister, this is not our house. We will go tomorrow. Let the fishes say what they will about us, and do not quarrel with them. All people know we are not bad and that our fragrance is sweet."

When the morning sunshine came, the doors were opened, and a thousand and a thousand flowers had blossomed in the night, and the people said, "Oh, how sweet! Even a fish house can be made pleasant. We wish it could be like this all the time."

And one visitor said, "How sweet this place is! Do fishes or flowers live here?" And when he saw, he said, "It is too bad to put delicate flowers in evil smelling places."

Then three students came to buy flowers. The servants brought three pots from the fish house, and the students said, "We do not want pots from the fish house. Give us others. These have a disagreeable smell, like the fishes."

The fishes heard all and were even more angry at the flowers. But the flowers heard and were happy, and they said, "How foolish to quarrel and try to put evil on others."

The good need no defense. Their best defense lies within themselves.

Once a farmer's boy caught three young wood larks. He took them home and gave them his best and largest cage to live in. Soon they were happy and sang almost all day long.

Everyone liked the birds very much, except the cat and the hen.

One day the sun shone very hot and the birds tried to get out of the cage. They wanted to fly in the trees and bushes. The farmer's boy knew what they wanted and hung their cage in the tree. He said to himself, "I think my birds will like this. They can get acquainted with other birds. I know birds should go with birds. That is their happiness."

Then the wood larks sang loud and long, for they were glad to be in the trees.

An old hen was sitting on some eggs nearby, and her little ones were just beginning to come out of the shells. The singing of the birds made her angry and she said to them, "Will you stop that noise for a time so that I may hear my little ones call? I cannot hear a word my children say. That is not a pretty song, anyway. When other birds sing, their songs are sweet; but your noise hurts my ears. Why do you sing all the time? No one likes to hear you. That foolish boy did not know much about birds, or he would not have caught you. There are plenty of other birds in the mountain. The thrush and the kind-birds are good, with fine voices and clean and beautiful feathers. Why could not that foolish boy catch them? They are the birds I like. They are kind to chickens and like to live with us, but you wood larks are our enemies, and our children fear to come near you."

The birds made no reply to the hen's scolding. They sang and were happy and did not seem to notice her.

This only made the hen more angry, and when the cat passed by her door, she said, "Good morning, Mrs. Cat. Do you know we have much trouble since our enemies, the wood larks, came here to live? They are always trying to get out of the cage. I think they want to hurt my children—or yours," she added slyly. "Do you hear their harsh ugly voices all the day? I cannot sleep, I cannot find any comfort here since those birds have come."

"Our master's son brought them," said the cat, "and we cannot help ourselves. What would you do about it?"

"I told you," said the hen, "that I do not like those birds. They should be killed or driven away."

"I do not like them very well either," replied the cat. "Cats and birds do not go well together. Cats like birds to eat you know, but then men like chickens. If you do not want them here, we can do this. At midday, when the master's son lets the birds out for a bath, they sit a while in the sun to dry their feathers. When you see them come out, call 'Cluck, cluck,' and I will come and catch them or drive them away."

When the time came for the birds to take their bath, the cat was asleep. The hen called loudly. The cat heard her and crept quietly to the place where the birds were bathing.

But one of the birds saw the cat and said to her, "Mrs. Cat, what are you trying to do? We know what the hen said to you about us last night. I heard her advise you to kill us or drive us away. Is this not true? The old hen does not wish us to live here; but then the rats and mice do not like you to live here either. I warn you not to put your paws on us. If you kill us, the master's boy will kill you, and he will kill and cook the hen. Do you know how much he loves us? Every morning before the sun shines, he is up; and do you know where he goes? He goes to the river to catch the baby swims (little fish) for us. He goes to the mountain and catches grasshoppers for us, and from the fields he brings us seeds and rice. He works hard for us. Sometimes he brings other boys here just to hear our songs. He spent much money for our cage and our gem-stone water dishes. Every day the master asks his son, 'How are your birds, my son?'

One day our brother would not eat food and the boy said to his father, 'What ails my bird, father? All the foods are here, but he will not eat.' The father answered, 'I will call a doctor.' And the doctor came and said, 'The bird has fever. Give him some Da-Wong-Sai and Tseng-Chu-Mi and he will be well soon.' The boy paid the doctor for this; so you see how well he loves us. When we do not like to stay in the house he hangs us out in the trees so that we can talk with other birds.

"Now, Mrs. Cat, do you see how well we are cared for? Go back and tell the old hen not to talk about us. Do not notice what she says against us, for if you kill us, as the hen wishes you to do, you will surely have no life left in the world. You see how cunning the hen is. She will not do the thing herself, but wants you to do it. That proves that she is your enemy as well as ours. Oh, Mrs. Cat, do not be foolish. You have three little ones to care for. If you lose your life by taking ours, who will care for your children? Will the hen do it? I think not."

When the cat heard such wisdom from a little bird she said, "Well! Well! Well! I think you are right," and went away.

True friends will not ask you to do things they would not do themselves.