The Snipe and the Clam
“When the snipe and the clam fight” comes from the Strategies of the Warring States (Yan Ce II): the strategist Su Dai told King Hui of Yan a fable in which a snipe pecks at a clam, the clam clamps shut on the snipe’s beak, and while the two are locked in stalemate a fisherman comes along and catches them both. It warns that when two sides fight, it is a third party who profits.
By the river lived a clam. One sunny day, it opened its shell to sunbathe.
A snipe flew down and pecked at the clam's soft flesh with its long, sharp beak.
"Ouch!" The clam snapped its shell shut, trapping the snipe's beak inside.
The snipe said, "If it does not rain today, and does not rain tomorrow, you will dry up and die!"
The clam said, "If you cannot pull free today, and cannot pull free tomorrow, you will starve and die!"
Neither would give in. So they stayed locked together, neither moving.
The sun grew hotter and hotter. Both of them were suffering.
Just then, a fisherman walked by and saw them.
The fisherman was delighted. He grabbed the snipe with one hand and the clam with the other.
It was too late for regrets. When two fight, both lose — and a third one gains.
