Some fishermen once cast their net into a river, and a great fish, swimming along, playing amorously with his wife, was caught in the net, while his wife escaped. The fishermen hauled him up and left him on the sand while they proceeded to light a fire and whittle a spit whereon to roast him. The fish lamented, saying how unhappy his wife would be, thinking he had gone off with another. The Bodhisatta, who was the king’s priest, coming along to the river to bathe, heard the lament of the fish and obtained his freedom from the fishermen.

The story was related to a passion-tossed monk who longed for the wife of his lay days. The two fish were the monk and his seducer. J.i.210-12.