The Fisherman and the Sprat by Aesop for ESL students with a podcast, list of vocabulary in real context and the Persian version to raise bilingual children
The Fisherman and the Sprat is now in the public domain available on Gutenberg Project.
Podcast of the Fisherman and the Sprat
The Fisherman and the Sprat
A fisherman cast his net into the sea, and when he drew it up again, it contained nothing but a single sprat that begged to be put back into the water.
“I’m only a little fish now,” it said, “but I shall grow big one day, and then if you come and catch me again, I shall be of some use to you.”
But the fisherman replied, “Oh, no, I shall keep you now I’ve got you: if I put you back, should I ever see you again? Not likely!”
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
The story was really short and it was hard for me to find the point of this short story. But I think the fish was tricking him to run away and live his life.
To some extent, you got it right. However, the fish is not at the heart of attention in this short story. The fisherman’s attitude is of primary importance, which can be re-interpreted with this common English proverb: