In the sea, once upon a time, O my Best Beloved, there was a Whale, and he ate fishes. He ate the starfish and the garfish, and
the crab and the dab, and the plaice and the dace, and the skate and his mate, and the mackereel and the pickereel, and the really truly twirly-whirly eel. All the fishes he could find in all the sea he ate with his mouth—so! Till at last there was only one small fish left in all the sea, and he was a small 'Stute Fish, and he swam a little behind the Whale’s right ear, so as to be out of harm’s way. Then the Whale stood up on his tail and said, "I’m hungry.” And the small 'Stute Fish said in a small 'stute voice, "Noble and generous Cetacean, have you ever tasted Man?” What is the 'Stute Fish’s motivation? to keep the whale full and happy to teach the whale a life lesson to escape being eaten by the whale to ask the whale for protection
Stute Fish was the last fish in the sea, because the whale devoured everyone else. He knew it would be his next meal and so he directed all of his actions to protect him. In this case, we can say that the fish decided to hide behind the whale's ear so as not to be seen by it and eventually eaten and when she said she was hungry, he suggested that she taste the taste of another animal, man, because so he would not be devoured.
In other words, we can say that the fish's actions were motivated by the desire to escape being eaten by the whale.