KOREE and the GROWING FISH

Koree the Cormorant was walking through the woods with Kuri, his kindhearted human brother, when they heard a faint "splish". They stopped and listened, heard it again, then turned to see what was causing the sound. It was a teeny tiny fish in a rusty pot.

"Poor little guy. Maybe a little bigger than the hook that caught him," Kuri thought, and gave it some crumbs of bread from what he and Koree were going to snack on later.

A little boy holding a fishing rod cleared his throat. "Whacha doing? That's my fish," he asked; "Mama's making fish soup tonight."

Kuri had heard some poor people had come to live in the shack nearby--this boy and his mother, maybe? But even gentle Kuri could see that they weren't going to get very much fish from what was in that pot! 

 

"You won't catch big fish in that pond;" he told the new boy. "My father, a fisherman, goes out deep for big fish. Koree helps catch 'em. Right, Koree? Koree?" But he was gone.

Kuri had been flapping his arms like wings, laughing and showing the boy how the cormorant caught the fish, but now they ran to the edge of the water, looking for the bird. Where could he have gone?

"Koree!" they called.

Suddenly, the new boy's stomach let out a huge growl. The boys looked at each other for a second, then burst out laughing.

"No; that's not Koree!" the boy said. "That's my stomach. Forgot to eat before coming  fishing today, so..."

"Here," Koree said; "It's just leftover, but. I gave some to your fishy."

As Kuri handed the boy his bread, he saw a familiar black shadow motioning to him from the trees. He saw the lump in Koree's throat as well as his gestures toward the pot and knew exactly what the cormorant wanted him to do. He had seen his fisherman father do it many times.

When the new boy came to see what Kuri was looking at, he was amazed. That little fish had grown into a huge, fat one!

"Wow, fish grow real fast, don't they," Kuri said. He smiled at Koree hiding in the woods and stood up to leave. The little boy, mouth open, kept blinking at the pot.

"Have a nice supper tonight," Kuri said; "I must go now and find my cormorant."

END