Once upon a time, in a land far far away lived a very poor couple in a
shack not far from the edge of the sea. Their only means of food was
the fish that the old man caught in the sea. One morning, as was his
usual routine, the fisherman took his fishing net down to the sea. But
on this day something unusual happened, on this day the fisherman
caught the Golden Fish. The Golden Fish begged for the fisherman to
spare his life, and offered in return to grant the fisherman any wish he
would like. But the kindhearted fisherman asked for nothing, and
returned the Golden Fish to the sea. However, the fisherman’s wife
was not so kindhearted, she became irate when he related the story to
her, and sent him back to the sea to catch the Golden Fish and to
wish for a loaf of bread. The fisherman did as he was told, he caught
the fish and wished for a loaf of bread. When he returned home he
found a fresh baked loaf of bread on the table.
The fisherman’s wife then decided that she wanted more than just a
loaf of bread. The next morning she sent her husband to ask for a new.
He returned home to find his wife with a new washtub, but she still
wasn’t satisfied.
The following day the husband was sent to the sea to find the magic
fish and to wish for a new house. This wish was, like the ones before
it, granted to the fisherman. But the fisherman was sent back again
the next day to wish that his wife would become governor. This time
he returned home to find his wife dressed in riches and ordering about
servants. But the woman was still unhappy, and demanded to become
Queen of all the land.
Eventually, even being Queen of all the land did not satisfy the wife,
and so she sent her husband once last time to the sea to catch the
Golden Fish and to wish that she would be ruler of the sea and of all
creatures who live in it. The fisherman caught the fish, and made the
wish. However, when he returned home his wife was dressed in her
old rags, standing by her old broken washtub, inside the old shack,
with not even a loaf of bread to eat.