The Small, European Herring

There was a small, European herring whose total volume approximated one quarter of a pint who, for some reason or another, absolutely refused to ingest the adipose tissues of the animals prepared for their provender; however, his mate, quite the contrary, devoured nothing but the adipose tissue. This combination, naturally enough, was quite efficacious in their efforts to thoroughly pick over those edibles upon which they preyed, to the point of virtually scouring clean the large plate whence came the viands.

(translation)