the old man and the golden fish

hey! what do you know? it’s sunday morning, there’s a light rain and i have done half of my schoolwork and so - i can share another story about a golden fish. oh yummmmm!!!!!
the last one was from russia. this one comes from china. there are some pretty substantial differences between the two so you can jump back to the earlier one (go to the archives at the right) and not be bored by two slight variations on the same theme. no sirree, these are both cool stories and very different. this one’s not quite as warm (and i was going to say fuzzy but the last one wasn’t that fuzzy in places, what with the mean old lady and the kids asking at the end if the old man could smack his wife - ouch!!! - that’s not alright - but overall a good story) “the old man and the golden fish” has more of the feel of a moralistic fable about it, but it still reads well all the same. here y’are. your sunday morning story.



this is an example of zhou dynasty fish money. wouldn't it be cool if instead of having pictures on our money. the money was a beautiful object of art like this.

The Old Man and the Golden Fish
(A Chinese Folk Tale)
Retold by Hoh Chee Bin

“There was once an old man who liked fishing. He always fished in a lake, which was near his house. One day, the old man brought his fishing rod and fishing tackle and went out to the lake to fish after he had eaten his dinner. When he reached the lake, the sky was becoming dark.
There was a boat beside the lake. The old man used the boat and rowed to the center of the lake. He began fishing in the center of the lake. After a while, the old man fell asleep. Suddenly, the old man woke up as his fishing rod was shaking.
The old man pulled up the fishing rod and caught a fish. To his surprise, the fish's body was covered with golden scales. Even more surprising, it could talk to the old man. "Can you let me go, please?" The fish begged the old man. "No, I am going to eat you," The old man said. "Please! Let me go. If you let me go, I will give a golden rope," the fish said. "Golden rope? Is that true? How can I trust you?" the old man asked. "You can put your fishing rod into the lake and a few minutes after, you are going to get the golden rope, " said the fish.
The old man listened to the fish and put the fishing rod in to the lake. After he pulled up the fishing rod, he saw a golden rope attached to the fishing line. The golden rope must be very long the old man thought because he could not see the end of the golden rope. The man was very happy and he continued to pull up the golden rope. "Let me go now that you have gotten the golden rope," said the fish . "No, I won't let you go. I am going to sell you. I think someone will pay a very high price to get you." The old man said.
The man then put the fish into a container, which was full of water. As the man was pulling up the golden rope, his boat was sinking into the lake but he was too greedy and still wanted to get all of the golden rope. Finally, his boat sank completely into the lake, and the old man died.”

a very tough break for the old man but then he wasn’t fair and he was very greedy and so . . . .