In which I share a fun little story that always makes me hungry

 Feeding the People (Thailand)

In a village far away from here, a young woman asked her mother for advice on choosing a spouse.  This is the advice:

“Catch a great silver fish. Then, take the fish to each person you would like to marry, and ask them each in turn how they would serve the fish to feed the most people.”

So the young woman went to the river and caught a huge silver fish, the most beautiful fish anyone had ever seen.  

She took this fish from house-to-house in the village, asking her question: “How would you serve this fish to feed the most people?”

One person said that they would stuff the fish with rice, another said that they would cut the fish into tiny pieces and serve it with herbs from the forest.  A third person said that they would make a soup from the fish, so that a family might eat fish for three days.

Finally, at the last house in the village, the question was asked, and this answer was given:

“I would make a great fire in the middle of the village to cook the fish.  While the fish cooked, I would visit each home, and invite everyone to bring their plates and bowls, so that together we could eat this fish. 

“Then, whenever someone in the village had a successful hunt, or a bountiful harvest, they could use the great fire in the middle of the village to summon everyone, and together we could share our food.

“This way, the fish would feed our village for many, many years.”

That night, the village celebrated the wedding of those two people, and everyone had some of the fish.  

I was there, and you were there, and together we danced until the sun came up.