The Golden Fish

    It’s a story of a fisherman who was too obedient to his wife. He would listen to her even if she asked for anything ridiculous, he would try to get it for her.

    Read on and find out what ridiculous and absurd thing she asked for.

THE GOLDEN FISH

    Once upon a time, there was a very poor fisherman. He lived in a small hut with his wife. He did not have any children. He used to go out fishing in the morning, everyday. Whatever fish he caught he used to take it to the market to sell. The fish that was left over he brought it home for his wife to cook.

    One day, he went fishing as usual. He took the boat and rowed it far and cast his net. When he brought the net up he saw that he had caught a beautiful golden fish. It glittered and shone in the morning sun. What the fisherman did not know was that it was a magic fish. When the fisherman put out his hand to take it, it spoke, “Please, fisherman, spare me and I shall give you whatever you want. You just name it.”

    The fisherman was taken aback at first and then he asked in surprise, “You can talk?”

    The fish replied, “Yes, and I promise you I’ll do everything in my power to make your wishes come true.”

  

 “You are just telling me that so I would let you go,” the fisherman

said, suspiciously. “How can I be sure that you will give me whatever I want?”

      “Look, I cannot lie,” said the fish, “because if I lied all my magical powers will be taken away from me. Now, tell me what you want. I cannot stay out of water for a long time. So please hurry up.”

    The fisherman thought for a while but he couldn’t think of anything and so he said, “Is it ok if I let you know tomorrow? I want to ask my wife and then I shall tell you tomorrow morning.”

    “What kind of a man are you? You want to ask your wife about something like that?” asked the fish. “Anyway, since you have saved my life I shall wait for you here tomorrow and then you can come and tell me.”

    With that the golden fish jumped back into the sea. The fisherman took the rest of the fish and went to the market to sell and after that went home. He told his wife everything that had happened and his wife listened with wide eyes.

    “It was easy. You should have asked the fish to make us very rich and give us a nice big house with many servants,” she said. “You go tomorrow and ask for that.”

    “Alright, I shall go and ask the golden fish to give us a lot of wealth and a big house,” said the fisherman.

    And so the next day, he went to the place where he had caught the golden fish and shouted, “Hello, are you there, Golden Fish?”

    “Yes, I’m here,” came the reply and the fish appeared. “Have you made up your mind what you want?”

    “Yes, I have,” replied the fisherman. “Can you please make us rich and give us a big house with many servants?”

    “Yes, I can do that,” replied the fish. “Go home and you’ll find your wife sitting in a big bungalow with maids and servants attending to her. If you want anything else just come here and let me know.”

    With that the golden fish disappeared in the sea.

    The fisherman hurried home to see if that was true. When he reached the place where his hut used to be there stood a very big and magnificent bungalow. His eyes nearly popped out of his head. Anyway, he went inside and saw that what the fish had said was true. His wife was sitting on a sofa and was being served by many maids and servants.

    They lived like this for quite a while but now, the wife of the fisherman being a very greedy woman began to be restless. She thought that if the golden fish could give them anything they wanted why not ask to have a kingdom of their own so that she would become queen and her husband would be king. And so, as soon as her husband came home she asked him to go the golden fish one more time and have it grant her wish. The fisherman now turned rich man was reluctant and said, “How can I go and ask the golden fish for that when it has given us so much?”

   “Please, go and ask the fish to give us a kingdom,” begged the wife. “If I won’t get a kingdom I shall never be happy again.”

    And so, the fisherman went to the sea once more unwillingly. When he reached the spot where he had met the golden fish he called out, “Are there, Golden Fish?”

    “Yes, I’m here,” replied the golden fish. “What do you want?”

    “Golden Fish, can you give us a kingdom to rule so that I could become king and my wife could become the queen?”

    “Alright, go home and your wife will be sitting in a palace,” so saying the golden fish disappeared into the sea again.

    Sure enough when the fisherman reached the place where his bungalow used to be there stood a magnificent palace with golden turrets and carved wooden doors and windows. He had never seen anything like this in all his life.

    The fisherman who had become king ruled fairly and he was very happy and so was his wife. They lived like this for some years until one day the queen began to feel restless again.

    One day, she got a very dreadful idea! What if she asked the golden fish to grant her a wish that she could control the sun, the moon and the stars? She started to nag her husband to go and ask the golden fish to grant her wish to be in control of the sun, the moon and the stars in the sky, so that she could change day into night and night into day whenever she wished. The king would not hear of it.

    “How can you be so ungrateful?” said the king. “How can I go and ask the Golden Fish for such a silly request?”

  

    But, the queen wouldn’t hear of it. She kept on nagging day and

night. She cried and she threw tantrums until the king got so fed up that he decided to go and get over with it.

    And so, after the day of her most dreadful tantrum, the king, most unwillingly and with a heavy heart took his boat and went to the spot where the golden fish was to be found and called out, “Are you there, Golden Fish?”

    “I’m here,” came the reply. “What do you want now?”

    “Please, Golden Fish,” said the king, “my wife says that she wants you to grant her one more wish.”

    “What is her wish?” asked the golden fish.

    “Well, she says that….” The king hesitated.

    “Well, what does she want?” asked the golden fish, impatiently.

    “Well, she wants you to grant her so that the days and the nights would be under her control. The sun and the moon and the stars would do her bidding,” blurted out the king.

    On hearing this, the golden fish got so angry that it flew high in the air and came down in the sea again with a big splash.

    “Your wife is a very greedy and ungrateful woman and not I, nor anybody can grant her such a wish,” said the golden fish. “I gave you whatever you asked for but still your wife is not satisfied. I don’t think that anything can satisfy her. Go home and you’ll find your wife the way she was, in your old hut and you will be a fisherman for the rest of your life.”

    So saying the golden fish disappeared never to be seen again.

    The fisherman tried to call back the golden fish but it had disappeared forever never to be seen again.

    As for the fisherman, when he went home, what did you think he find? His wife was in the same old hut. There was no palace and no servants to serve them. His wife was sitting there crying.

    “I hope you are satisfied,” said the fisherman, angrily. “Why are you crying now? It was your greed that has led us to our downfall.”

    His wife cried and said, “Please, go to the golden fish and tell it that I’m sorry for asking such a wish and give us our wealth back.”

    But the fisherman had had enough of the golden fish and he just took his old net and went out of his hut without saying anything and went away fishing the way he used to do.