A fisherwoman was passing by a palace. The queen of the palace saw a fish that the woman was selling and called the fisherwoman because one fish caught the queen's eye.
"Is that a he or a she?" The queen asked the fisherwoman pointing at one of the fish.
On hearing this the fish laughed out aloud.
"It is a male fish," the fisherwoman replied.
However the Queen was now very angry and she did not buy any fish but she went back to her own room.
The king realized that the Queen was very hungry and he came to talk to her.
"The fish laughed at me." The Queen finished angrily as she studied the king.
At first the king thought that it was impossible to see a laughing fish.
But the queen was adamant.
So the king promised the queen to find out the meaning of the laughing fish.
The next day the king asked his minister to find the meaning of the entire thing.
The minister had a son who liked traveling a lot. The son promised to find the meaning of the entire episode and he packed his clothes and went on a trip to find out the meaning of the strange behaviour of the fish.
The minister's son and an old farmer were walking together.
As they were walking the minister's son suddenly turned to the old farmer. "Will it not be pleasant if we gave each other a lift?"
The farmer did not understand the question and he did not reply.
They walked ahead and they saw a field of ripe corn. The minister's son looked at the field and wondered, "Is this already eaten?"
"I don't know," the farmer replied, beginning to get angry.
They passed a big village when the Minister's son handed over a knife to the farmer. "Take this my friend and please get two horses with it. But please bring back the knife safely because it is very precious."
The farmer did not reply but this time he was sure that the man with him was mad.
They passed through this city and saw another one and there they saw that nobody even paid any attention to them nor could they find any place to rest or eat in the city.
There the minister's son sadly shook his head, "What a cemetery!"
The farmer looked around the city which was rich and vibrant and wondered what the man with him was talking about.
Outside the city there was a cemetery and some people were giving food to all the passersby in the name of the dead man, whose relatives the people were.
A farmer and the minister's son ate a lot of the food available there and they thanked the people there and went their way.
"This is a nice charming city," the minister's son observed as they walked away from the place.
The farmer and the minister's son walked a little more and came upon a deep stream near the cemetery. The farmer saw that the stream was very deep and he removed his footwear as he was waiting through the waters of the stream. However the minister's son walked with his footwear on, as he walked through the deep stream.
The farmer felt that the man with him was a fool and chose to ignore him completely.
Finally the minister's son and the farmer reached the village of the farmer. Out of courtesy the farmer invited the minister's son to his home.
The minister's son looked at the rich house and nodded at the farmer. "Is the beam of your house strong enough to support me?"
The farmer had a very sharp and smart daughter.
He realized that his daughter would be the best person to get rid of the fool in his house and went and told her what the man who had been walking with him had asked her.
Adapted from folk stories of India
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