The Golden Fish OK
The Golden Fish
[000]There was once a fisherman who lived with his wife in a pigsty, [006]close by the seaside. [009]The fisherman used to go out all day long a-fishing; [013]and one day, [014]as he sat on the shore with his rod, [017]looking at the sparkling waves and watching his line, [021]all of a sudden his float was dragged away deep into the water. [027]When he reeled in his line, [029]he pulled out a golden fish. [033]But the fish said, “Pray let me live! [037]I am not a real fish. [039]I am an enchanted prince. [041]Put me in the water again, and let me go!”
[046]”Oh, ho!” Said the man. [049]”You need not go on much more about the matter. [053]I will have nothing to do with a fish that can talk, [056]so swim away, sir, as soon as you please!” [060]Then he put him back into the water, [062]and the fish darted straight down to the bottom, [065]and left a long streak of blood behind him on the wave.
[071]When the fisherman went home to his wife in the pigsty, [075]he told her how he had caught a golden fish, [079]and how it had told him it was an enchanted prince, and how, on hearing it speak, he had let it go again. [088]”Did not you ask it for anything?” Said the wife. [092]”We live very wretchedly here, in this nasty dirty pigsty. [096]Do go back and tell the fish we want a snug little cottage.”
[101]The fisherman did not much like the business – however, he went to the seashore, [108]and when he got back there the water looked all yellow and green. [112]He stood at the water’s edge, and said,
[116]”O man of the sea!
[119]Hearken to me!
[121]My wife Ilsabill
[123]Will have her own will,
[126]And hath sent me to beg a gift of thee!”
[130]Then the fish came swimming to him and said, [134]”Well, what is her will? [138]What does your wife want?”
[142]”Ah!” Said the fisherman. [144]”She says that when I caught you, [147]I ought to have asked you for something before I let you go. [151]She does not like living any longer in the pigsty, and wants a snug little cottage.”
[158]”Go home then,” said the fish, “she is in the cottage already!” [166]So the man went home, and saw his wife standing at the door of a nice trim little cottage.
[174]”Come in, come in!” Said she. [176]”Is not this much better than the filthy pigsty we had?” [182]There was a parlour, a bedroom, and a kitchen; [185]and behind the cottage there was a little garden, planted with all sorts of flowers and fruits. [193]There was a courtyard behind, full of ducks and chickens. [197]”Ah!” Said the fisherman, “How happily we shall live now!”
[202]”We will try to do so, at least,” said his wife.
[207]Everything went right for a week or two, and then Dame Ilsabill said, [213]”Husband, there is not nearly room enough for us in this cottage; [217]the courtyard and the garden are a great deal too small. [222]I should like to have a large stone castle to live in. [226]Go to the fish again and tell him to give us a castle.”
[231]”Wife,” said the fisherman, “I don’t like to go to him again, for perhaps he will be angry; [240]we ought to be easy with this pretty cottage to live in.”
[244]”Nonsense!” Said the wife. “He will do it very willingly, I know. Go along and try!”
[251]The fisherman went, but his heart was very heavy: [255]and when he came to the sea, it looked blue and gloomy, though it was very calm. [263]He went close to the edge of the waves, and said,
[267]”O man of the sea!
[270]Hearken to me!
[272]My wife Ilsabill
[273]Will have her own will,
[276]And hath sent me to beg a gift of thee!”
[281]”Well, what does she want now?” said the fish.
[286]”Ah!” Said the man, dolefully. [290]”My wife wants to live in a stone castle.”
[294]”Go home then,” said the fish, “she is standing at the gate of it already.” [301]So away went the fisherman, and found his wife standing before the gate of a great castle. [308]”See,” said she, “is not this grand?” [312]With that they went into the castle together, [315]and found a great many servants there, [319]and the rooms all richly furnished, and full of golden chairs and tables. [324]Behind the castle was a garden, and around it was a park half a mile long, [332]full of sheep, goats, hares, and deer; [335]and in the courtyard were stables and cow houses.
[340]”Well,” said the man, “now we will live cheerful and happy in this beautiful castle for the rest of our lives.”
[350]”Perhaps we may,” said the wife, [353]”but let us sleep upon it, before we make up our minds to that.” So they went to bed.[361]The next morning when Dame Ilsabill awoke it was broad daylight, [366]and she jogged the fisherman with her elbow, and said, [371]”Get up, husband, and bestir yourself, for we must be king of all the land.”
[377]”Wife, wife,” said the man, “why should we wish to be the king? I will not be king.”
[385]”Then I will,” said she. “But wife,” said the fisherman, [389]”how can you be king? The fish cannot make you a king?”
[394]”Husband,” said she, “say no more about it, but go and try! I will be king.” [402]So the man went away quite sorrowful to think that his wife should want to be king. [410]This time the sea looked a dark grey colour, and was overspread with curling waves and the ridges of foam as he cried out,
[422]”O man of the sea!
[426]Hearken to me!
[428]My wife Ilsabill
[431]Will have her own will,
[432]And hath sent me to beg a gift of thee!”
[438]”Well, what would she have now?” [442]Said the fish. “Alas!” Said the poor man. “My wife wants to be king.”
[450]”Go home,” said the fish, “she is king already.”
[456]Then the fisherman went home; and as he came close to the palace he saw a troop of soldiers, [465]and heard the sound of drums and trumpets. [469]When he went in he saw his wife sitting on a throne of gold and diamonds, [476]with a golden crown upon her head; [478]and on each side of her stood six fair maidens, each a head taller than the other.
[487]”Well, wife,” said the fisherman, “are you king?”
[494]”Yes,” said she, “I am king.” [499]And when he had looked at her for a long time, he said, [505]”Ah, wife! what a fine thing it is to be king! Now we shall never have anything more to wish for as long as we live.”
[517]”I don’t know how that may be,” said she. [521]”Never is a long time. [525]I am king, it is true; but I begin to be tired of that, [532]and I think I should like to be emperor.”
[536]”Alas, wife! Why should you wish to be emperor?” [541]Said the fisherman. “Husband,” said she, “go to the fish! I say I will be emperor.”
[550]”Ah, wife!” Replied the fisherman. [552]”The fish cannot make an emperor, I am sure, and I should not like to ask him for such a thing.”
[562]”I am king,” said Ilsabill, “and you are my slave – so go at once!” [573]So the fisherman was forced to go; and he muttered as he went along, [580]”This will come to no good, it is too much to ask; [583]the fish will be tired at last, and then we shall be sorry for what we have done.” [588]He soon came to the seashore; and the water was quite black and muddy, and a mighty whirlwind blew over the waves and rolled them about, [599]but he went as near as he could to the water’s brink, and said,
[605]”O man of the sea!
[608]Hearken to me!
[610]My wife Ilsabill
[612]Will have her own will,
[614]And hath sent me to beg a gift of thee!”
618]”What would she have now?” Said the fish. [623]”Ah!” Said the fisherman, “she wants to be emperor.”
[633]”Go home,” said the fish, “she is emperor already. [639]”So he went home again, and as he came near he saw his wife Ilsabill sitting on a very lofty throne made of solid gold, [651]with a great crown on her head a full two yards high; [657]and on each side of her stood her guards and attendants in a row, each one smaller than the other from the tallest giant down to a little dwarf no bigger than my finger. [669]Before her stood princes, dukes, and earls. [675]The fisherman went up to her and said, “Wife, are you emperor?”
[682]”Yes,” said she, “I am emperor.”
[689]”Ah!” Said the man, as he gazed upon her. “What a fine thing it is to be emperor!”
[697]”Husband,” said she, “why should we stop at being emperor? I will be pope next.”
[706]”O wife, wife!” Said he, “How can you be pope? There is but one pope at a time in Christendom.”
[715]”Husband,” said she, “I will be pope this very day.”
[721]”But,” replied the husband, “the fish cannot make you pope.”
[727]”What nonsense!” Said she. [729]”If he can make an emperor, he can make a pope go and try him.” [735]So the fisherman went. [737]But when he came to the shore the wind was raging and the sea was tossed up and down in boiling waves. [746]The ships were in trouble, and rolled fearfully upon the tops of the billows. [752]In the middle of the heavens there was a little piece of blue sky, [756]but towards the south all was red, as if a dreadful storm was rising. [763]At this sight the fisherman was dreadfully frightened, and he trembled so that his knees knocked together. [771]Still he went down near to the shore, and said,
[776]”O man of the sea!
[779]Hearken to me!
[781]My wife Ilsabill
[783]Will have her own will,
[786]And hath sent me to beg a gift of thee!”
[790]”What does she want now?” said the fish. [795]”Ah!” Said the fisherman. “My wife wants to be pope.”
[801]”Go home,” said the fish; “she is pope already.”
[807]Then the fisherman went home, and found Ilsabill sitting on a throne that was two miles high. [815]She had three great crowns on her head, and around her stood all the pomp and power of the church. [824]On each side of her were two rows of burning lights of all sizes; the greatest as large as the highest and biggest tower in the world, and the least no larger than a small rush light. [842]”Wife,” said the fisherman, as he looked at all this greatness, [847]”are you pope?”
[849]”Yes,” said she, “I am pope.”
[854]”Well, wife,” replied he, “it is a grand thing to be pope; and now you must be easy, for you can be nothing greater.”
[867]”I will think about that,” said the wife. [871]Then they went to bed, but Dame Ilsabill could not sleep all night for thinking what she should be next. [881]At last, as she was dropping asleep, morning broke, and the sun rose. [888]”Ha!” Thought she, as she woke up and looked at it through the window. [895]”After all I cannot prevent the sun rising.” [899]At this thought she was very angry, and wakened her husband, and said, [906]”Husband, go to the fish and tell him I must be lord of the sun and moon.”
[913]The fisherman was half asleep, but the thought frightened him so much that he started and fell out of bed. [921]”Alas, wife! Cannot you be easy with being pope?”
[927]”No,” said she, “I am very uneasy as long as the sun and moon rise without my permission. Go to the fish at once!”
[937]Then the man went shivering with fear, and as he was going down to the shore a dreadful storm arose, [946]so that the trees and the very rocks shook. [949]All the heavens became black with stormy clouds, and the lightning played, and the thunders rolled. [957]You might have seen in the sea great black waves, swelling up like mountains with crowns of white foam upon their heads. [967]The fisherman crept towards the sea, and cried out, as well as he could,
[975]”O man of the sea!
[977]Hearken to me!
[980]My wife Ilsabill
[982]Will have her own will,
[984]And hath sent me to beg a gift of thee!”
[990]”What does she want now?” Said the fish. “Ah!” Said he. [998]”She wants to be lord of the sun and moon.”
[1004]”Go home,” said the fish, “to your pigsty again.”
[1010]And there they live to this very day.