[57] **"Like fish in little water, its stream exhausted" (maccheva appodakakhīṇasote):** just as fish in little water, in scanty water, when the water is being used up, being set upon by crows, or by hawks, or by herons, being snatched up and devoured, writhe,¹ writhe about, writhe convulsively, tremble, quake, and shake — even so people (pajā), apprehensive of being deprived of the objects cherished as 'mine' (mamāyitavatthu), writhe; while these are being taken away, they writhe; when these have been taken away, they writhe; apprehensive of the change of the objects cherished as 'mine', they writhe; while these are changing, they writhe; when these have changed, they writhe,² writhe about, writhe convulsively, tremble, quake, and shake. Hence, "like fish in little water, its stream exhausted."
¹ Variant (Sinhalese, Burmese, European editions): *paphandamāne*.
² Elision/insertion marker [๒] in the Siam Raṭṭha text.
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.