The fisherman and goldfish

Once upon a time,

there was an old fisherman who lived with his wife in a dirty little house.

They were very poor. One day, the fisherman caught a big flounder.

My wife will be happy with me.

This flounder will make a nice dinner for us. We will eat well today!

But before he could take the flounder off the hook,

he heard the flounder talking to him! Please don’t kill me.

I am really a prince and if you let me go, I will grant you a wish.

A talking fish! I cannot eat such magical fish!

Here, let me throw you back into the water!

When the fisherman got home that day, his wife was waiting for him.

She looked angry. I see you caught nothing for us to eat!

What are we going to do now?

I did catch a big flounder, but he turned out to be a magical fish.

He told me that he was really a prince.

And he told me that if I let him go, he would grant me a wish.

Well, did you make a wish? No, I didn’t.

I just threw him back into the water.

Why didn’t you ask for a new house? This old house is falling apart.

Go back to the flounder and ask him to give us a new house!

The fisherman did not want to bother the flounder.

But he did go back to the river because he wanted to make his wife happy.

When he got to be river, he called out to the flounder.

Fisherman, what is it that you want? Please give my wife a new house.

Your wish is granted. Now go home.

When the fisherman got home, he saw a nice new house.

It was much larger and cleaner the little house they lived in before.

Are you happy now, dear wife?

This house is nice, but why shouldn’t I have a castle?

Go at once and ask the flounder for a castle!

But this is such a nice house!

The fisherman did not want to go back to the flounder.

But his wife kept arguing with him until he agreed to go back to the river.

He called the flounder. I gave a new house.

Now what do you want? My wife wants a castle. Very well.

Your wish is granted. Go back home to your wife.

When the fisherman got home,

he saw that there was a large castle where his house once stood.

I can’t live in a castle and not be the Queen.

Go back to the flounder and tell him to make me a Queen.

Dear wife! You asked for a castle and now we’re living in a castle.

Why aren’t you happy? I must be a Queen!

I can’t be happy until I can be a Queen.

Now go back to the flounder!

But the fisherman did not want to go to the flounder again.

But the want to make his wife happy.

And so the fisherman went back to the river and called for the magical flounder again.

Your wife now has a castle. So why are you here?

You gave us a castle, but now my wife says she must be a Queen.

Very well. Your wife is now a Queen. Go back home, Fisherman.

When the fisherman returned to the castle,

he saw his wife sitting on a large throne with a golden crown on her head.

Servants stood by her side to get whatever she wanted.

You must now be very happy.

Now that I am Queen, I must also be the Empress,

I must have power to rules over many subjects.

Go to the flounder and tell him that I need to be made an Empress!

The fisherman went back to the river sadly.

He could not disobey the orders of the Queen!

He called the flounder again.

Please grant me one more wish.

The Queen wishes to be made Empress to rule over all her subjects.

Go back to your wife at once and you will find her to be an Empress.

When the fisherman went home once again,

he found that his wife was now the Empress.

Dukes and ladies, King and Queen, bowed down to her.

Husband, this is not enough.

I must have power over the sun and the moon, over everything in the universe!

Go back to the flounder that I became God!

I can’t do that! Go at once!

Afraid of his wife, the fisherman ran to the river to call the flounder again.

Flounder, Flounder! I have one more wish.

What do you want from me now?

Haven’t I given you everything you need and more? Oh, Flounder!

The Empress now says that she must become that ruler of the sun and the moon.

She wants to be God of all creation! The flounder shook its head.

I cannot grant you wish. She has asked for too much.

Instead of being God, you will find you old wife living in you old house.

And that is exactly how the fisherman found his wife when he went home.

And they are still living in the dirty house to this day.