Monday, November 14, 2016

Reading Notes: Brothers Grimm (Crane) Part A

Fisherman and the Flounder
By Alexander Zick found on Wiki

There was a fisherman who lived with his wife by the sea. The fisherman went every day to fish. One day he caught a flounder. The flounder said he was an enchanted prince, not a flounder, and to let him go. The fisherman, appalled at the talking fish, decided quickly to let the flounder go. The fisherman then went home to his wife. The wife told the fisherman to go catch the flounder again, and this time wish for a little cottage. The fisherman called back to the flounder. The flounder appeared and the fisherman wished for a cottage. The flounder told him to go home because he already got his wish. The fisherman went home and saw his wife happy to have a cottage. They were happy for a week before the wife wanted something even batter. The fisherman reluctantly went back to the flounder and asked for flounder. He then went home to see a castle where his cottage was. After about a week, the wife wanted to be kings. The fisherman did not want to ask the flounder but the wife demanded. So, the fisherman asked the flounder to make them kings, and the flounder granted it. Again, the wife became unhappy and wanted to become emperor. Because the wife was now a king, she demanded that the husband go ask for her to become emperor. The flounder granted the fisherman the new wish. Like always the wife wanted more. She demanded that her husband go to the fish and have him make her pope. The flounder again granted this wish. Lastly, the wife wanted power over the sun and moon. The husband begged her to let it go and just be happy. The wife forced the fisherman to go and ask. The flounder, instead, returned the wife to her old hovel. There, they are sitting till this very day.

Bibliography:
Household Stories by the Brothers Grimm, translated by Lucy Crane and illustrated by Walter Crane (1886). Link

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