There once was a fisherman who lived with his wife in a small hut close
by the seaside. The fisherman used to go fishing every day. One day, as he sat
in his boat with his rod, looking at the sparkling waves and watching his line,
all of a sudden his float was dragged away deep into the water. He quickly
started to reel in his line and managed to pull out a huge fish. “Wow! This
will feed us for days.” Much to his surprise, the fish started to talk and
said, “Pray, let me live! I am not a real fish; I am an enchanted prince. Put
me in the water again, and let me go! Have mercy o' kind fisherman.” The
astonished fisherman quickly threw him back, exclaiming, “I don't want to hurt
a talking fish! Go on! Go where you came from.”
When the fisherman went home to his wife, he told
her everything that had happened and how, on hearing it speak, he had let it go
again. “Didn't you ask it for anything?” said the wife. “No, I didn't, what
should I have asked for?” replied the fisherman.
“I am surprised you don't realize what you should
have asked for. We live very wretchedly here, in this nasty dirty hut. We are
poor and I am so miserable. You should have asked for a nice cozy cottage. Now
go back and ask the fish that we want a snug little cottage”, said his wife.
The
fisherman wasn't sure about this but he still went to the seashore, sat in his
boat, went to the middle of the sea and said:
“O enchanted beautiful fish!
Hear my plea!
My wife wants not what I
want,
and she won't give up till
she has her own will,
so come forth and help me!”
The fish immediately came
swimming to him, and said, “Well, what is her will? How can I help your wife?”
“Ah!” said the fisherman, “she says that when I had caught you, I ought to have
asked you for something before I let you go. She does not like living in our
little hut, and wants a snug little cottage.” “Go home, then,” said the fish,
“She is already in the cottage!” So the fisherman went home, and saw his wife
standing at the door of a nice trim little cottage. “Come in, come on in! Look
at the beautiful cottage we have.” Everything went fine for a while, and then
one day fisherman's wife said, “Husband, there is not enough room for us in
this cottage, go back to the fish and tell him to make me an emperor.” “Wife,”
said the fisherman, “I don't want to go to him again. Perhaps he will be angry.
We ought to be happy with what the fish has given us and not be greedy.”
“Nonsense!” said the wife; “The fish will do it very willingly, I know. Go
along and try!” With a heavy heart the fisherman went to the middle of the sea
and said:
“O enchanted beautiful fish!
Hear my plea!
My wife wants not what I
want,
and she won't give up till
she has her own will,
so come forth and help me!”
“What would she have now?”
said the fish. “Ah!” said the fisherman, “she wants to be an emperor.” “Go
home,” said the fish; “She is an emperor already.”
So
he went home and he saw his wife sitting on a very lofty throne made of solid
gold, with a great crown on her head full two yards high. And on each side of
her stood her guards and attendants in a row. The fisherman went up to her and
said, “Wife, are you an emperor?” “Yes”, said she, “I am an emperor.” “Ah!”
said the man, as he gazed upon her, “What a fine thing it is to be an emperor!”
“Husband,” said she, “it is good to be an emperor.” They were happy for a while.
Then a time came when she
was not able to sleep all night for she was thinking what she should ask next.
At last, as she was about to fall asleep, morning broke, and the sun rose.
“Ha!'” thought she, as she woke up and looked at it through the window, “after
all I cannot prevent the sun from rising.” At this thought she was very angry,
and wakened her husband, and said, “Husband, go to the fish and tell him I must
be Lord of the sun and the moon.” The fisherman was half asleep, but the
thought frightened him so much that he fell out of the bed. “Alas, wife!” said
he, “cannot you be happy with being such a powerful emperor?”
“No,” said she, “I am very uneasy as long as
the sun and the moon rise without my permission. Go to the fish at once!” “I
don't think this is a good idea,” said the fisherman but his wife wouldn't
listen to him. “ Why don't you just go and ask the fish to make me the Lord of
everything,” she said.
Then the man went shivering
with fear. As he was going down to the shore a dreadful storm arose. The trees
and the very rocks shook and the sky became black with stormy clouds. There
were great black waves, swelling up like mountains with crowns of white foam
upon their heads. Unfortunately the fisherman did not have any choice, so he
got onto his boat and rowed to the middle of the sea and cried out as loud as
he could:
“O enchanted beautiful fish!
Hear my plea!
My wife wants not what I
want,
and she won't give up till
she has her own will,
so come forth and help me!”
“What
does she want now?” said the fish. “I am truly ashamed of my wife's greed but I
can't do anything. She wants to be Lord of the sun and the moon. “Go home,”
said the fish, “to your small hut.” And it is said that they live there to this
very day.
Summary from story the enchanted fish
One day,
there was a fisherman. he lived with his wife in a small hut, close by the
seaside. When he was sat in a boat for fishing. He got a fish that is enchanted
and can talk to him. Fish was prince is cursed. The fish in the release request
and will grant what he asked. He was very suprised. But the fisherman
immediately threw the fish back into the water.
When the fisherman went home to his
wife, he told her everything that had happened and how, on hearing it speak, he
had let it go again.but the wife asks her husband to move back to the fish to
give it a cozy cottage, to make the emperor, and aks to become ruler of the sun
and moon. But the last request was not granted and all of his being back to normal.
