Amazing Story Club

There was once a poor couple who lived in a small cottage in the forest. They lived a quiet, peaceful life for many years, and seldom dreamt of anything else. Every day the wife would say to her husband, "Go down to the river, my heart, and catch us our meal." And every day the man would take up his nets and make his way to the river. He would cast out his nets and bring in fish by the score, but he never took more fish from the river than he would eat that day.

As it happened, there was one day when the man went down to the river and there were no fish to be had. The hapless fellow cast out his nets again and again, but not even the scrawniest of minnows stumbled into his them. In despair he cried out, “Why has this happened to me? Have I committed some sin to deserve this grief?” He knew that he and his wife could not possibly survive without the fish from the river for their table. At that very moment, he felt a tug from his nets, for an unwary fish had entangled itself in the carefully woven rush net. Hastily, so as not to lose his unexpected quarry, he hauled in the nets to untangle the fish from them.

“Mercy!” cried the fish. “Let me loose, I am the queen of the fish, and I can make you a very wealthy man if you do!” The man was so taken aback by the fish’s words that he nearly dropped the fish onto the ground. The fish did in fact look every inch a queen, its scales flashed a rainbow of colors as they caught the evening light, and its eyes seemed to be made of polished emeralds, glinting up at him with unexpected intelligence. Gently, the man eased the fish back into the water, and it swam away without a backward glance. The man was disheartened by this, for he had truly believed that the fish would fulfill her promise, and make him a wealthy man. Dismayed, he gathered his nets and returned home.

“Where is our meal, my husband?” asked the man’s wife, who had been waiting impatiently for his return all day. “There were none to be found, wife, none but one.”  And so he went on to tell her of the strange fish and of how he had been tricked into freeing it. “You were a fool,” said his wife with disgust after hearing his story. “If you believed every fish who said she was queen, we would have no dinner on our table, ever! I do not know why I married such a fool as you, I am leaving! And with that she stalked out of the house, and the man suddenly found himself a bachelor.

The unfortunate man woke the next morning with a heavy heart, but the emptiness in his stomach forced him out of his bed, and he picked up his nets and headed for the river. When he arrived, however, all traces of weariness fell away and he was amazed to find a pile of gleaming pearls heaped on the bank. “Perhaps the fish truly was a queen…” he mused to himself as he gathered the pearls. He set out for town, which was not far from the edge of the forest in which he lived. He sold the pearls to merchants in the town, and they all marveled over the poor looking man who brought objects of such value, for they had never seen such flawless pearls in all their lives. The man bought enough food to last him for a few days with the money from the pearls and then returned to his cabin in the wood, coins jangling heavily in his pockets with every step.

The next day he again went to the river, and found, to his great delight, two large piles of pearls! This went on for several days, and each day the number of pearls increased. On the seventh day, with seven piles waiting for him on the bank, the man took all of the peerless pearls to the town to sell as he had on the first day. The merchants were truly baffled by the man with his pearls, where did they all come from? Surely no commoner could have come by all of those pearls honestly, and so they concluded that he must have been a lord in disguise.

At this time there was a king who ruled over the area, and the rumor of this young lord soon reached his ears. This news pleased him immensely, as he had a daughter who would take the throne after his death, and she had not yet chosen a husband to rule beside her. Suitors from every land paraded before her day and night, bringing her priceless gifts in attempt to woo her, for she was beautiful, witty, and charming, in short she was everything a woman should be. She had no interest in these men however rich or handsome they were, for they were every one of them large headed and prideful. She wanted to marry a humble, gentle man, not some dashing young lord who only saw her as a way to gain power and influence. She needed a man who was wise and kind, and none of these men fit this description in the least. The king’s health was failing, and he hoped to see his daughter take a husband before he passed away; this new lord had as good a chance as any other at winning the princess’s fastidious heart. The king sent an invitation to the man in the cottage, and you can imagine his surprise when he learned that he was requested at the King’s table!

Before setting out, he made a last trip to the river, and there he found the Fish Queen, waiting for him. “You are a good man,”   she said, looking up at him through the water. You set me free when many men would not have done so and for that I owe you my life. I will give you one last gift; take one of my scales.” The man lifted the fish lightly from the river, and plucked off one of her many glistening scales. As soon as it came away in his hand, he held not a scale, but the most beautiful gown ever seen, set with millions of sparkling diamonds, and a plain man’s ring of green jade. “Give the gown to the princess and she will remain young and beautiful all of her days, but keep the ring for you. Wear that ring always, for it will give you the wisdom and knowledge to serve well the kingdom that you will rule. Farewell, my friend.” That said, the Fish Queen swam away, leaving the man standing speechless with thanks on the bank.

Back at his cottage he packed all of his belongings together, for if what the fish had said was true, and he had no doubt that it was, he would not be returning. With a last glance at his homely cabin, he set out for the royal palace. Everything went as the Fish Queen had said, the man’s quiet but confident manner impressed the princess, and she accepted the beauteous gown along with his proposal of marriage. They were married that very day, and though the man revealed that he was not a lord, the king approved. When the good king passed away, the man took his place, with his lovely bride by his side. The jade ring truly proved its worth, he wore it at all times, and all of his decisions bettered his kingdom. He and his princess raised a large family of their own, and all of his children told their own children of their father’s encounter with the Fish Queen, and of how the poor fisherman became a renowned king through a simple act of mercy.