THERE once lived in a hut on the shores of the Isle of Buyan an old man
and his wife. They were very poor. The old man used to go to the sea
daily to fish, and they only just managed to live on what he caught. One
day he let down his net and drew it in. It seemed to be very heavy. He
dragged and dragged, and at last got it to shore. There he found that he
had caught one little fish of a kind he had never before seen—a golden
fish.
The fish spoke to him in a man’s voice. “Do not keep me, old man,” it
said; “let me go once more free in the sea and I will reward you for it,
for whatever you wish I will do.”
The old man thought for a while. Then he said, “Well, I don’t want you.
Go into the sea again,” and he threw the fish into the water and went
home.
“Well,” said his wife, when he got home, “what have you caught to-day?”
“Only one little fish,” said the man, “a golden fish, and that I let go
again, it begged so hard. ‘Put me in the blue sea again,’ it said, ‘and
I will reward you, for whatever you wish I will do.’ So I let it go, and
did not ask anything.”
“Ah, you old fool!” said the wife in a great rage, “what an opportunity
you have lost. You might, at least, have asked the fish to give us some
bread. We have scarce a crust in the house.”
The old woman grumbled so much that her husband could have no quiet, so
to please her off he went to the seashore, and there he cried out—
“Little fish, little fish, come now to me,
Your tail in the water, your head out of sea!”
The fish came to the shore.
“Well, what do you want, old man?” it asked.
“My wife,” said the man, “is in a great passion, and has sent me to ask
for bread.”
“Very well,” said the fish, “go home and you shall have it.”
The old man went back, and when he entered the hut he found bread in
plenty.
“Well,” said he to his wife, “we have enough bread now.”
“Oh yes!” said she, “but I have had such a misfortune while you were
away. I have broken the bucket. What shall I do the washing in now? Go
to the fish, and ask it to give us a new bucket.”