Reading Notes: Part A for Week 15: Crane - The Fisherman and His Wife

There was once a poor fisherman and his wife who lived by the sea shore. They lived in an old hovel, and the wife was quite unhappy with it. One day, the fisherman went fishing and sat waiting all day long for a single catch.

At last, he reeled in a great flounder, but he discovered that it was an enchanted prince. The prince begged the fisherman for his life, adamant that he will not taste well. So, the fisherman released the flounder back into the water, walking home empty-handed from a long day of hard work.

Upon coming home, the fisherman is met with dismay and outbursts from this wife for coming home with no fish. He then told his wife of the enchanted flounder he caught, to which she asked if he had asked it for a wish. Hearing his reply, the wife insisted that the husband return to the fish and ask for a little cottage, for the old hovel was much too small and cramped for the wife.

So, the fisherman returned to see the fish, and the sea was green and yellow, quite a peculiar sight to behold. Now, the flounder swam towards the man and asked what he wished for. So, the fisherman wished for a little cottage to fulfill his wife's wishes, and the fish made it true.

Now, the fisherman returned home to discover his wife sitting before a little cottage, for the enchanted flounder had made her wish come true. Yet, after a few days, the wife grew weary of her new home. It was too confined, and the yard and garden were much too small. So, she bid her husband to do her bidding once more, and ask the fish for a castle.

The fisherman was very reluctant at this request, for he did not want to upset the mystical fish. Still, the wife was adamant in her request, so the fisherman left to find the fish, quite unwillingly.

This story illustrates how a humble fisherman spared the life of an enchanted flounder. Yet, the wife, greedy as she was, persisted that the fisherman return to ask the flounder for a better home. Now, this persisted for a couple weeks, the wife increasingly asking for more and more, and the fisherman doing her bidding. Until, it was too late, and the fish got quite angry and undid all their wishes.

Fisherman and the Enchanted Flounder - Courtesy of Wikipedia


Bibliography: The Fisherman and His Wife from Household Stories by the Brothers Grimm, translated by Lucy Crane and illustrated by Walter Crane (1886)

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