Outstanding Story (Sub-junior) - The Clever Fish

“The Clever Fish” is one of the outstanding stories of the first biannual International Short Story Contest 2018 written by Ooi Ti Ying, Sri KDU Primary School, Malaysia.

The Clever Fish

Once upon a time, there were four fishes named John, Josh, Francis and Jacob.

One day, they swam downstream from the wild country to a village. Francis told the other three fishes, ”This place is dangerous. I can see the fishermen using their nets to catch turtles and fishes. Let’s go back to the wild country. “The other two fishes were greedy. They wanted to taste new food as they see plenty of food in the river.

“Don’t worry Francis, we will be okay. We just need a couple of days to taste these good food. We will leave as soon as we are satisfied with the food here,” said Jacob. Meanwhile, John and Josh immediately swam across the new river and happily ate away the yummy food. Francis reluctantly followed his friends to the new river.

As there were plenty of food in the river, they kept putting off their return day after day.

THREE MONTHS PASSED

As John and Josh were swimming in search of food, they swam into a net. Francis who was behind them saw what was happening. He wanted to leave his friends, but he thought to himself ‘’I must save my foolish friends. After all, they are still my friends. Francis called for Jacob to help distract the fisherman.

Francis and Jacob went around the fishing net and splashed water as if the fishes had escaped.

Seeing this, the fisherman thought the fishes had broken the net and got away. They lifted the net allowing the two fishes to escape. Francis and Jacob yelled at their two friends to quickly swim away from the net.

Josh and John owed their lives to Francis and Jacob. They agreed to leave the new river and returned to their home in the wild country where they are safe and happy.