The Legend of the Fishermen of Sicily

Early bird gets the worm.

This principle applies to both the animal world and human society.

To ensure the best catch, Aesop arrives in Marzamemi early.

First, they traded with fishermen they maintained contact with year-round, and then they looked around, trying to collect as much good seafood and rare items as possible.

Today, upon arriving in Marzamemi, the first person he found was Natale.

This guy, like him, was also an "early bird," and an exceptionally early one at that.

Because if he sells his goods sooner, he can set off earlier to start his fishing for the day.

"You only brought back this little bit of stuff yesterday?" Aesop looked around to make sure that was all. "It's not even enough for me alone. The harvest is a bit poor, buddy."

Natale asked old Paul for a cigarette:

"You're not new to dealing with the ocean, this is perfectly normal."

Aesop reached out to Old Paul for a cigarette, but Old Paul refused.

He cursed "stingy," took a cigarette from his pocket, and lit it.

"Is it affected by the weather?"

The weather has been bad these past few days.

Aesop worried that other fishermen were in similar situations, which would significantly reduce his earnings that day.

Natale exhaled a smoke ring, shook his head, and said:

"It has nothing to do with the weather. You know I've never been very lucky. Luck has never been on my side in this life. I can only control what time I get up and how many hours I work. These guys who work with me are the hardest working in the village, so you have to give me more."

Aesop pointed to his ear and said:

"You need to get to the sea before the crabs wake up and catch them off guard. Okay, okay, I'm sick of hearing that. I know you're the most hardworking person in Marzamemi, but stop using this excuse to bargain with me every day. It's so annoying."

Natale replied with a smile:

"There's nothing wrong with bargaining, but there are plenty of hardworking people out there."

Aesop bent down to move goods:

"But no one else could earn such a good reputation in Marzamemi through hard work as you do, making me willing to earn less and buy from you."

"I told you that kid heard about the boss's exploits and wanted to emulate his rise to wealth by getting up early every day!" Old Paul shouted angrily to Riccardo beside him. "But he can't possibly earn the same reputation as the boss!"

Riccardo shushed him, reminding him:

"Why are you still bringing this up? The boss said not to be hostile towards him."

Natale pointed at old Paul, signaling him to keep his voice down:

"Being able to get up early is a skill in itself. Haven't you noticed that he brings more crabs every day than the day before? That means he gets up earlier every day than the day before."

Old Paul stopped talking and turned away to smoke.

People who spend a lot of time with the sea tend to have temperaments as 'strange' as the sea itself.

Their eldest son naturally has a fondness for hardworking and diligent people because he is that kind of person himself.

Aesop overheard their conversation and, while unloading the goods, asked Natale:

"You don't have enough stock today. I need to go get some more from someone else. Can you recommend someone whose stock is fresh today?"

Natale glanced back, then quickly turned back:

"The new kid's crabs are pretty good, they look fresh, but I was just saying that casually. Maybe we have different standards for judging quality. You can decide for yourself. Actually, it doesn't matter who you buy them from."

Aesop took a deep drag on his cigarette, hoisted the entire bucket of ice onto his shoulder, and squinted as he looked into the fish market.

I just asked casually, and Natale mumbled something incoherently, so long and tedious.

Who is it? Which new kid?

......

The early bird catches the worm, but the late bird... has to use its brain to catch it.

Magical to say.

Natale worked diligently his whole life, always leaving earliest and returning latest, but Lady Luck seemed to be blind to him, never giving him her attention.

Many times, Natale spent twice as much time as others but only achieved half the results, but he never complained and only worked harder.

That's why Aesop would trade with him at the best price, which is an affirmation of his character.

But fate is unfair...

Salvatore and his friends, however, always seemed to have incredible luck, getting a large shipment every two or three months.

Although I started late, had no mentor, lacked basic knowledge, and struggled a lot... my income has always been quite good.

Salvatore grew up in the city, and although his roots are in Marzamemi, the locals don't consider him one of their own.

His actions also proved that he was not a local.

When he first made money, he was fearless. After drinking a bit, he would tell everyone he met that he had a talent for being a fisherman. Compared to talent and luck, experience and hard work were not important things.

As you can imagine... he quickly offended many fishermen.

After being reprimanded several times, he finally calmed down and stopped showing off.

After that, whenever this kid caused a blunder or offended someone, a group of people would immediately attack him.

Andrei, in particular, would scold him like he was his grandson.

Salvatore and his group have become much more restrained... but that doesn't mean they're convinced.

"These people are just jealous of our luck!"

But Salvatore and his crew, who had been living a life of humiliation for over a year, discovered that their good days were about to begin—a new "poor man" had arrived in Malzamemi, and he had even appeared at the fish market.

Brothers, it's time to let him experience what we did before!

Salvatore and his group considered themselves lucky and had no desire to work hard or get up early.

This results in their stalls always being located on the outskirts of the fish market, in areas that people don't pay attention to.

Ao appeared at the market for four consecutive days and occupied advantageous positions each time, so they started to have wicked ideas.

"I'll find a way to take his place," Salvatore said to his two companions.

His companion behind him gave him a word of advice:

"Don't make too much of a fuss. You know, a lot of people are watching us."

Another partner said indifferently:

"What's there to be afraid of? Salvatore is a local, after all. What's wrong with him bullying outsiders? If anyone's to blame, let him blame Sicily's 'discrimination hierarchy'!"

Leo is from out of town.

Salvatore is disliked by locals but can "bully" outsiders; this is a "discrimination chain" in Sicily.

Salvatore walked in the direction of Rio:

"I definitely won't make too much of a commotion. We're counting on him to 'reserve' seats for us every day. How can we scare him away?"

......

Compared to the bustling and noisy surroundings, Leo's stall area looked incredibly desolate.

Holding an erhu in your hand at this moment would be perfect.

Please, kind sirs, have pity on me...

The optimistic Leo was amused by the image in his mind.

He looked down and fiddled with the crabs on the ground, thinking that he was going to benefit the village's stray cats again today.

How could he possibly cook a whole basin of crabs every day on his own?

Just as I was wondering where to feed the stray cats today, a pair of leather shoes appeared in front of me, followed by a voice from above:

"Could you please make some space for us?"

Leo looked up and saw that it was Salvatore who was speaking.

The other party's tone was fairly polite.

Thinking about how the tuna I killed a few days ago has still "escaped"... Leo feels a little embarrassed.

Fortunately, the fishermen around him were all some distance away, so it would be a waste not to use such a good spot.

Leo planned to move his crabs half a meter to the right, making room for Salvatore:

"Can."

Salvatore turned and shouted towards the dock:

"Simmons! Vincenzo! Unload!"