The Old Man and the bag of stinking fish
Once upon a time there was an Old Man. Around his neck he carried a bag of fish. He was very proud of the fish, but the truth is that they were rather rotten and had an unpleasant smell. The old man had been carrying them around his neck for such a long time that he no longer noticed the smell; he thought they were very fine fish indeed.
Now the old man had an unfortunate habit he would travel around the world inviting himself into other people's homes, and then try to force his fish on them whether they wanted them or not. I am sorry to say that sometimes, when he found himself in the home of people who were smaller and weaker than him, he would even beat them with his stick until they agreed to take his fish.
One day the Old Man arrived at the home of a Chinese man. Walking in the door, he put on his friendliest voice.
"Ho, young Chinaman! You are a lucky fellow today! For I have brought you a bag of very fine fish
"
And he thrust the bag of rotten fish under the nose of the Chinese man.
"Why, thank you," replied the Chinese man politely, his nose wrinkling a little at the smell. "But the truth is that I already have some fish of my own." And he directed the Old Man's attention to his own fish.
"Yes, yes," said the Old Man after a cursory glance. "But your fish are no good. Look how small and weak they are. Get rid of them now. My fish are much better you should take them straight away!"
"It is true that my fish are not big and strong," answered the Chinese man. "But I try to take care of them and feed them well. They are already bigger and stronger than they were last week, and next week they will be bigger and stronger still. I hope that one day they will be very fine fish indeed -"
"I don't care what your fish looked like last week!" interrupted the Old Man angrily. "I'm not in the least bit interested! And I don't care what they will look like next week either. I am telling you that they are no good now! Throw them away immediately, and take my fish instead!"
By now the Chinese man was becoming a little irritated. "I don't want your fish," he said. "They have an unpleasant smell. I am happy with my own fish, and I intend to keep them."
"How dare you!" yelled the Old Man in a rage. "Who do you think you are to refuse my fish? There are no finer fish than mine. I order you to take my fish! Do as you are told - take them now!"
The Chinese man was too polite to throw the old man out of his house, so he decided simply to ignore him, and went off to take care of his fish.
And so the Old Man was left on his own in the middle of the room, shouting and screaming, with a bag of rotten stinking fish hanging round his neck.
