A poor fisherman and his wife lived in a shack beside the sea. They were extremely poor and the fisherman just about managed to catch a couple of fish for their own table.
One day when he went fishing, he caught a large flounder. The flounder begged him to let him go. “I’m not really a flounder,” said the fish, “I am a Prince who has been bewitched and changed into a fish.”
The kind and gentle fisherman flung the flounder back into the sea. That day, he returned home without a single fish. His wife was very upset and asked him why he had wasted his time. Then he told her all about the talking flounder who was actually an enchanted Prince.
“And you didn’t ask him for any boon?” exclaimed his wife, “You must go to him and ask him to give us a good house to live in. I’m tired of this shack.”
She nagged the fisherman till he went to the sea and called the flounder. When the fish appeared, the fisherman explained what his wife had wanted. The flounder said, “When you go back, you’ll find her living in a mansion, my friend.”
The fisherman found his wife in a mansion with beautiful furnishings and a lovely garden. She was happy for a while wearing good clothes and eating good food. But soon, she began to nag the fisherman again. This time, she wanted a castle.
Back went the fisherman to the sea and called the flounder. He was embarrassed but he told the fish what his wife wanted. The flounder blessed him and, sure enough, he found his wife living in a magnificent castle, with hundreds of servants!
But she became discontented and greedy again. She wept and scolded and threw tantrums till the fisherman went back to the sea. The flounder came up and asked, “What does your wife want now?” Looking very sad, the fisherman said, “She wants to be a Queen!”
And when he returned, there she was, seated on a throne, holding court in a palace. But her greed got more and more, and she wanted to be God, ordering the Sun and the Moon and the stars!
The miserable fisherman went to the sea and when the flounder came, he told him his wife’s new wish. The flounder was angry and said, “Go back! You’ll find her in your old shack! She deserves no better!” And so the fisherman and his wife ended up living in the shack once again.
