Transcript
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This week's story is an adaptation of a Grimm's fairy tale called the Fisherman, and his wife, originally published in 1812.
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A fisherman catches a magic fish who begs him for his life.
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The fisherman spares the fish but later returns to make a series of increasingly self-centered and greedy demands as his dissatisfaction grows.
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No matter how many wishes the fish gramps.
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I think this story brings up a lot of interesting things to think about.
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Let's touch base at the end to see how you feel about the fisherman's choices.
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Once Upon a time and long ago, there was a fisherman who lived by the rocky shore of the sea in a small Hut with his wife.
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Their life was not unhappy, but it was hard. The husband left early each morning to fish, returning as the sun set with whatever he could catch.
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The wife hunted for kelp and mussels along the rocks and did her best to keep them clothed and warm and fed.
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Both ended each day exhausted, collapsing into their bed, often with rumbling stomachs from not having enough to eat.
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And starting it all over again the next day.
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On the rare occasion when they had a free moment, they would sometimes wonder together about what life could be like if they had a bit more, a bit more food, a bit more warmth, a bit more land on which to grow vegetables and tend some farm animals.
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One morning, the fisherman set off as usual with his Nets and fishing lines to try and bring home a good meal.
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The sea was calm and clear, and he caught a few good fish so far.
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He was about to pack up his gear for the.
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Day when he.
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Felt a pull on his longest line.
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He pulled the line up bit by bit and from the depths emerged a gigantic flounder, almost bigger than his small boat.
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To his shock, as he attempted to reel the monster into his boat, it spoke.
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Oh kindly Sir, I beg of thee. Release me back into the sea. I'd taste so bad you'd spit me out. And if you find that you're in doubt, then no, I am not a fish. In truth, I am a Prince. Long lost forsooth.
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Or I've no interest in eating any kind of talking fish, whether you're a Prince or not, the fisherman exclaimed.
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And thinking nothing more of it, he carefully released the giant fish, expecting it to immediately disappear.
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Instead, the fish stayed by the boat and spoke again.
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I thank you for my freedom, Sir. A debt is owed. You may be sure. Call to me when you have need and I will answer with due speed.
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Before he could respond, the flounder submerged and he watched it sink back down to the bottom.
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At that point, the man gave up on fishing for the day and.
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Returned home.
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Together, he and his wife cleaned the fish he had caught, and he told her about the day.
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Wasn't sure what he meant by a debt, so I thought we.
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Could talk about.
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It he said after he finished telling her the strange tale.
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I think you could go back and ask for a cottage and some land like we've dreamt of.
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The wife responded that would make our lives so much easier and more comfortable.
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That's a good point, the fisherman responded. A college isn't so very much to ask when you've saved someone's life.
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The fisherman took himself out to the edge of the sea.
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He stood on the rocks with the waves lapping at his feet and made-up a little rhyme to try and call the flounder.
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Great flounder print out in the sea. I ask that you please swim to me to grant A wish and thus repay the debt you owe for being saved.
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To his surprise, the flounder swam up immediately and called out in a friendly voice.
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What wish have you that I may fulfil to repay my debt and clear my bill?
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My wife and I would like a cottage with some land where we can raise animals and.
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Have a happy life.
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He responded.
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Your wish is granted. Go home and see your wife waits there to talk with thee.
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The flounder replied.
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So the fisherman went home, and when he arrived he found his wife outside of a tidy cottage, tending to a flock of healthy chickens who were scratching contentedly in a carefully fenced yard.
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You did well. She commended him. Won't we be happy here?
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The house had everything they had dreamt of and then some. A sitting room, a kitchen, a fully stocked pantry, everything polished to a healthy, happy glow and suffused with gentle light from candles that never seemed to burn low.
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Outside in the back there was now a vegetable garden overflowing with ripe vegetables and a small barn with a horse and donkey, 2 cows and a coop for the chickens at night.
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Now when the fishermen went out in the morning, the fish practically leapt into his Nets. They were never hungry and had good fresh eggs and milk and butter, plus abundant vegetables from the carefully planted garden.
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They had enough that they were able to start selling some of the extra fish and eggs and milk to bring in more money.
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But one day they were in town and saw a Lord and his wife drive by in a beautifully painted carriage.
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Both wore colorful velvets and jewels and were safe from the muck and turbulence of the streets as they were driven back to their castle by their footmen.
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And something unpleasant sprouted in their minds.
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When they got back to their cottage, it didn't look cozy and comfortable and safe. It looked small and unimportant and boring.
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When they fed the chickens and brushed the horse, it didn't seem special to have animals to care for. It seemed beneath them. When the fisherman went out to catch fish, that sour feeling made him wonder why he was the one who had to fish at all.
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Shouldn't someone else be doing that?
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In the evening, the fisherman and his wife decided that they had made a mistake settling for the cottage. The flounder wouldn't even be alive without the fisherman's mercy. He was still in debt and needed to make things right by getting them a castle like the Lord they have seen in the village had.
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And so the fisherman went to the rocky shore and called to the fish he had released.
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Great flounder print out in the sea. I ask that you please swim to me to grant A wish and thus repay the debt you owe for being saved.
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As he waited, he noticed the water wasn't nearly so clear and bright as it had been. It had more of a greenish, murky cast, but he figured the sea changed colors all the time and thought nothing more of it.
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After waiting for several minutes, the flounder finally appeared, surfacing near the fisherman but looking rather tired and put out.
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We cleared my debt. Don't you recall? I do not care for this at all. What is it that you want from me? I did not think to hear more from the.
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Well, my wife and I have been making do in that cottage, but to be honest, we really think you should have given us more. Given that I spared your life and all the fishermen began, we think it would really be much more fitting for you to set us up with a large stone castle.
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Very well. Go home then and see what Castle life is like for thee.
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The fish responded weakly before the fishermen could work out a response. The fish had sunk below the surface with an exhausted.
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As he trudged home, the fisherman felt vaguely guilty like he had done something wrong, or asked for too much. But those feelings were quickly forgotten when he came into view of his home, where once had stood a small shack and then a tidy cottage there now sat in the enormous and imposing.
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Castle in strong Gray stone.
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His wife was waiting outside the castle gate for him, and together they passed through the gate and into their new home.
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The castle was beautifully appointed, with tapestries and crystal chandeliers and paintings, and they had enough servants that the fishermen no longer had to fish his wife no longer had to gather food or tend to the.
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House. They ate the best food and drank the best wine and lacked for nothing.
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Bountiful fields stretched to the distant hills and a great forest filled with every kind of game contained more food to hunt than they could ever need.
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But after only a few days, they both became irritated when the King's tax collector came by to demand they pay the annual taxes to the king.
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Or should we pay taxes to?
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A king? He's no better than us. Why shouldn't?
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We be king.
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The fisherman asked his wife that night.
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Why, indeed? She agreed that fish should make us King. After all, he wouldn't even be alive to Grant wishes if it weren't for you.
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And so the fisherman returned to the shore to call the fish.
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This time, the waters were dark and choppy. A cold wind blew across the waves that chilled him even through his warm fur coat.
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But the fishermen barely noticed.
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Flounder Prince out in the sea. I demand that you swim here to me to grow a wish and thus repay the debt you owe for being saved.
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The fisherman waited a long time.
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The Sun had set and a pale sliver of moon had emerged over the choppy waters before the fish finally appeared, looking pale and sad.
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You call again with ill intent. Surely this cannot be what you meant? It asked sadly.
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Fish. Well, I saved you and you've barely done a thing for me, the fisherman responded. Now that I have a castle, I realize it's nothing you should have made me king make me king flounder, he demanded.
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Go home. Go home.
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A king. You'll be though no happiness will it bring to thee, the fish replied as it slowly descended back below the waves.
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When he returned, the castle had grown even larger and more grand, now made of shining white stone with crenellations and turrets and towers everywhere. The eye could see.
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This time he found his wife in a new throne room, seated on a golden throne.
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Well, husband, now we are king, she declared grandly, gesturing for him to take a seat beside her.
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This time, all was well until the next day, when the fisherman, now King, found his wife staring dejectedly out the window of their bedroom.
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What's wrong, my dear? He asked.
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When the sun rose this morning, I was so angry, she responded. And I know that I'll be just as angry this evening when the sun sets and the moon rises and.
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I feel so awful.
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But why are you angry and sad?
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Why shouldn't we be the ones to make the sun and moon rise and set each day? She demanded. What use is it to be a king if I cannot control the world around me in every way? She raged.
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You're right, he agreed.
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Why use? Is it?
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Indeed, that fish has never given me what really matters. I'm going to go command that he make this right.
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And so saying he marched out of the castle and down to the edge of the sea.
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This time a foul smell blew off the water so bad that the fisherman had to breathe only through his mouth.
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Monstrous waves crashed against the beach, and the sky was dark and ominous with streaks of lightning ********* overhead.
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But the fishermen, now king, was heedless of the warning.
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He called flounder prints out in the sea. I command that you swim here to me to grant A wish and thus repay the debt you owe for being saved.
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He waited a very long time.
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Until the day turned to night and the night turned to pale dawn.
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By the raging waves and horrible smelling ocean under the angry sky.
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As a glaring red sun barely began to cast its rays over the dark and thrashing waters, the fish finally appeared pale and awful, floating listlessly at the surface.
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You call again. Will you ask for more?
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Do not, for your own sake, I implore the flounder gasped.
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Don't presume to tell me what to do, fish, the King scoffed.
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Yet again I find you failed to provide what you should have for the man who saved your life. What you use. Is it being a king when neither my wife nor I can control the rising and setting of the sun and moon, or the pull of the tides, or anything else that matters in the world around us? Fix it, he bellowed at the exhausted flounder.
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I tried to help and tried to warn.
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Evermore the sky you will adorn.
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The fish said with finality.
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And with a terrible clap of Thunder and a crash of lightning.
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The fisherman and his wife turned king were transformed into the sun and the moon.
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Forever powerful and forever parted.
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When one rows the other set.
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And though they did influence the tides and the seasons and the weather, they could never speak or demand anything of anyone.
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Right.
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Ever again.
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The end.
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This story is sometimes called an anti fairy tale because it doesn't have a particularly happy ending.
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Would you have handled things differently than the fisherman and his wife?
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Do you think the story tells us to be careful what you wish for, or simply warns us about being greedy and dissatisfied?
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Personally, I find myself wondering why the fisherman and his wife never tried to help others only themselves when they had the chance to make wishes and make things better.
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I don't think it's greedy or wrong to want an easier and more comfortable life, but I think not caring when it comes at the expense of someone else.
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And never extending your care to anyone beyond yourself is a recipe for unhappiness.
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Thanks for listening and we'll be back soon with another story.