33 The Heron and the Fish

33. THE HERON AND THE

FISH

By Tony Payne

The heron walked like a king along

the grassy river bank.

The otter curtseyed as the heron

passed.

The water vole bent his knee as the

heron passed.

The kingfisher bowed so low as the

heron passed that she turned com

pletely upside down on the branch

she was clinging to.

But the otter was not being polite.

The water vole was not being rev

erent. The kingfisher was not

being respectful. They were making

fun of the heron, though he didn't

know it.

They thought he had far too good

an opinion of himself.

They laughed at him behind his

back.

Herons are only birds. They are not

Princes or Prime Ministers, Presi

dents or pop-stars. They are defin

itely not Kings, even if they walk

like Kings on grassy river banks. In

other words, they are nothing spec

ial.

They just think they are.

They parade along in a very high

minded fashion with their noses in

the air.

Or they would do if they had noses.

They have long beaks instead.

Everything about the heron is long

– he has a long beak, long neck,

long body and long legs. The heron

has especially long legs. And al

though the heron walks along the

grassy river bank on his especially

long legs, he only stands on one of

them, so he has a spare.

There is one good thing to be said

of herons: they have great pat

ience. When fishing he can stand

quite still for hours waiting for their

supper.

1He was quite snappy if the otter

and the water vole and the king

fisher were there before him

because they made such a kafuffle.

They were always doing things,

these lesser creatures. They chat

tered. They swam. They dug

holes in the river bank. They did

high dives and low belly-flops; all

splashy, noisy, annoying things!

They played games, when all he

wanted was peace and quiet.

Then one day he came to the river

later than usual. The others had

already finished for the day. The

otter was curled up on the grassy

bank. The water vole was cleaning

his fur. The kingfisher was pecking

at something in his feathers.

'At last,' thought the heron. 'I shall

have the river to myself.'

He waded out to his favourite spot

of clear water, pulled up his spare

leg so that he was standing on only

one, and began being patient.

It didn't take long for a minnow to

swim by. The heron watched it go

past.

'You missed a fish, oh great one,'

said the otter.

'It wasn’t worth my attention,' said

the heron.

Then a stickleback swam by, and

kept swimming by and the heron

still didn't move.

'You missed a nice little snack

there, majesty,' said the water

vole.

'Nice for you,' said the heron. 'Lit

tle for me.'

Other fish swam by, each larger

than the one before, but the heron

gave them hardly a glance.

Then a very fine perch came by, a

prize fit for a King – but not for a

heron.

'You missed a big one there, High

ness,' said the kingfisher.

'Only a salmon is good enough for

me!' claimed the heron.

But not another fish came by that

day; not a minnow, not a stickle

back, and especially not a perch.

2The heron could have eaten his fill

if he'd been satisfied with what was

on offer.

Instead he went hungry…

…Except for one tiny snail.

So, don’t be too hard to please or

you might end up with nothing.

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