'What ever am I to do, Gossips?' he asked.
'The first thing is to be assured of the danger,' said the Geese.
'I am assured,' exclaimed the Tortoise; 'the first thing is to avoid it: don't you know?—
'Time-not-come' and 'Quick-at-peril,' these two fishes 'scaped the net;
'What-will-be-will-be,' he perished, by the fishermen beset.'
'No,' said the Geese,' how was it?' Shelly-neck related:—
The Story of Fate and the Three Fishes
"It was just such a pool as this, and on the arrival at it of just such men as these fishermen, that three fishes, who had heard their designs, held consultation as to what should be done.
'I shall go to another water,' said "Time-not-come," and away he went.
'Why should we leave unless obliged?' asked "Quick-at-peril." 'When the thing befalls I shall do the best I can—