Fairy Tales by Terry Jones

Author:Terry Jones [JONES, TERRY]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-84365-273-1
Publisher: Pavilion Books Company Limited
Published: 2013-08-16T04:00:00+00:00

All his friends and relations gathered round and made a great fuss of him. They had a big feast and offered him the very best food they could find. But the herring just yawned and said: ‘I’ve swum round the entire world. I have seen everything there is to see, and I have eaten more exotic and wonderful dishes than you could possibly imagine.’ And he refused to eat anything.

Then his friends and relations begged him to come home and live with them, but he refused. ‘I’ve been everywhere there is, and that old rock is too dull and small for me.’ And he went off and lived on his own.

And when the breeding season came, he refused to join in the spawning, saying: ‘I’ve swum around the entire world, and now I know how many fish there are in the world, I can’t be interested in herrings any more.’

Eventually, one of the oldest of the herrings swam up to him, and said: ‘Listen. If you don’t spawn with us, some herrings’ eggs will go unfertilized and will not turn into healthy young herring. If you don’t live with your family, you’ll make them sad. And if you don’t eat, you’ll die.’

But the herring said: ‘I don’t mind. I’ve been everywhere there is to go, I’ve seen everything there is to see, and now I know everything there is to know.’

The old fish shook his head. ‘No-one has ever seen everything there is to see,’ he said, ‘nor known everything there is to know.’

‘Look,’ said the herring, ‘I’ve swum through the North Sea, the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean, the Java Sea, the Coral Sea, the great Pacific Ocean, the Siberian Sea and the frozen Arctic. Tell me, what else is there for me to see or know?’

‘I don’t know,’ said the old herring, ‘but there may be something.’

Well, just then, a fishing-boat came by, and all the herrings were caught in a net and taken to market that very day. And a man bought the herring, and ate it for his supper.

And he never knew that it had swum right round the world, and had seen everything there was to see, and knew everything there was to know.

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