Once upon a time, a little fish lived in a pond. But she wanted to go to the forest. The pond was deep, and high banks hid the surrounding forest from her view. Wanting to see the forest, the fish would leap out of water now and then, reaching higher over the pond with the strength of her tail. It seemed to her, that with a little more effort, she could fly, but unfortunately each time she would fall right back into the pond.

The fish’s mother — a big fish with kind eyes would say, “What would you want the forest for? We fish must live in water, that is the way it is.”

The fish would answer, “I want to go to the forest; that is my dream. And this dream must come true.”

One day she prayed to God. “Oh God! I am one of your weak servants living in the water all the time. Now I am tired with my small world. Oh God! I want to see those big trees covered with beautiful flowers, leaves and fruits. I want to meet birds and animals.”

The fish’s prayers were answered by God. The rain started falling on the earth, and a few days later, the forest around the pond was covered with water, turning the small pond into a lake. The fish swam to the forest. It was beautiful. The trees stood in the water.

‘Hello’, the fish said to the flowers and the trees. She swam on and saw animals sitting on fallen trees which were sticking out of the water as if they were individual arcs. But as soon as she swam closer to the tree, she saw all the animals were very sad. “We are without food. The water has flooded the whole forest,” the animals told the fish with great sadness. All this made the fish very unhappy.

“Oh God! I am happy with this rain but my friends – trees and animals are quite unhappy. Oh God! Stop the rain. I will go back to my pond. I will be more pleased when trees, animals and birds will be happy,” prayed the fish. The water began to dry up, the animals rejoiced and ran off,  and the fish returned to the pond.

Date posted: Thursday, April 18, 2013.

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The above story is adapted from Green Leaves which appeared  in the March 1986 issue of Al-Misbah, a publication of the Ismaili Tariqah and Religious Education Board for the United Kingdom. The magazine like all Ismaili religious magazines ceased publication in the early 1990’s.

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