At first the people wanted to dry out the lake. The citizens of the city grabbed pickaxes, sickles, rakes, and pitchforks, stood on the shore, and did not allow those few people to dry up the lake. They said it and they did it. In one summer they raised a large dam far from the lake. The inhabitants of the lake, busy from morning to dusk with work, did not discover that a great earthen dam was being constructed.
Eels travel in schools.
One lone eel became bored with going along with the group and decided to separate, to live alone and to travel alone. It chose a sharp rock deep in the ground and hit its head on it, injuring the part which drew it towards the school. The eel with the injured head wandered blindly. All the eels and all the trout watched that eel. The first day they were amazed.