Wednesday, December 27, 2023

The Golden Fish - Part One

 

There once lived a very poor fisherman. The fisherman caught fish daily and that was how he and his wife lived a hand to mouth existence.

Once when the fisherman cast his net into the waters, he caught a golden fish. He was surprised because the fish spoke to him. “Please release me back into the waters and in return I will grant you any boon that you want. In fact I shall make the hut that you live in as grand as a castle.”

The man sighed and shook his head. “What use was a castle to me if I cannot get any good food?”

The fish smiled at the fisherman. “You will have a huge cupboard in your house and that will be filled with food.” 

The fisherman agreed to this and was about to let the fish back into the water when the fish told the fisherman an important thing. “If you tell anyone about how you came across your wealth, then everything will disappear and you will move back to poverty.” 

The fisherman agreed to this and he let the golden fish go.



When he went back home, he was stunned because there was a huge castle in the place of his hut and his wife came to him wearing very rich clothes. They found a huge cupboard in the castle. It was filled with a variety of good food.

Having eaten to their fill, the couple slept happily that night. 



But the next morning, the fisherman's wife was curious about how all this had happened. 

She kept pestering her husband to know the truth. 

After some time, her husband was unable to tolerate the nagging of his wife and told her everything.

The minute the fisherman had done so the castle changed into a hut and everything grand around them became poor again.

Adapted from the Grimm Brothers fairy tale


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