Once upon a time in the faraway
land there lived a fisherman named John on the banks of a river in his small
shack. He lived there with his wife. Now, the fisherman was a nice person,
happy with his work & content with his life, he used to get up early in the
morning, sail in is small boat to the middle of the river & catch some fish
in the strong net which he had made himself & then head to the market place
to sell them. He was poor but earned enough money for two square meals. He had
also cultivated some vegetables required for his household in a small piece of
land besides his shack & used to make money by selling the excess yield. He
was happy with his life, but his wife was a very greedy woman, she always kept
complaining no matter what & was very lazy too. She never helped John
either in catching fish or in the farm, but wanted to grow rich &
lead a life of luxury. She always kept
nagging him for new clothes & jewellery, but poor John couldn’t afford it
all. He used to explain to her that if they work hard they will grow rich one
day & she used to rudely answer, “I don’t want to work hard & ruin my
beauty & look ugly when I grow rich.” John kept on doing all the work while
his wife dream't about richness.
Days passed by & one day as
usual when John was fishing, suddenly his net seamed very heavy, so he put all
his strength & pulled it. He couldn’t believe his eyes; a big fish was
caught in his net, he felt very happy thinking about the price it would fetch
at the market. When he was about to pull it out of his net he heard a voice
saying, “Please leave me, kind man”, John looked around but there was nobody
except him, then the voice said, “It’s me the fish, caught in your net, look
down”. John couldn’t believe it & thought that he was dreaming, he pinched
himself, but realized that he was wide awake. He sat down in his boat &
thought, is this some kind of magic that the fish is actually speaking to me
& got frightened thinking that it could be some evil witch. “Don’t worry
don’t get scared, I will do nothing, I am just an angel who lives in the water
to look after the life under the water, please be kind & leave me, in
return I will help you & fulfil your wishes”, the fish pleaded. Now john
was a kind fellow he thought, “I catch so many fish everyday but never has any
fish spoken to me like this, if this fish is really an angel I think that I
should let it free & as such it has promised to help me”, then john removed
the angel fish from the net & tossed it back to the river, the fish felt
very happy & thanked john profusely, “Thank you my boy, you have done me a
great favour, I will never forget it & as a reward you can ask me
anything”. John did not know what to ask for, so he kept thinking, then the
fish spoke, “Doesn’t matter John if you can’t think of something right now. Whenever
you need my help come to the river & say these magic words
Angel of the river,
Thou oh! Fish,
I am in trouble,
Help me, grant me a wish!!!
& I will appear right in front
of you immediately & solve your problem”. John felt happy & went back
home excitedly to tell his wife. He reached back home & told her
everything, her eyes bulged listening to that, but felt irritated to know that
her husband had returned home empty handed. This was indeed a golden
opportunity. She suggested, “Why don’t you go & ask for a decent hut for us
to live in, it would be better than this shaky shack.” The fisherman agreed
& went to the river bank & said the magic words,
Angel of the river,
Thou oh! Fish,
I am in trouble,
Help me, grant me a wish!!!
The angel fish immediately peeped
out of the water & said, “What is it kind John?” John hesitantly told him
about the shack & wished for a hut. Then the fish flapped its tail &
said, “Go back home John, you will see that your wish is fulfilled”. The fisherman
then thanked the fish & went back home, when he reached he saw that the
shack had disappeared & in its place was a beautiful, little thatched hut.
His wife was standing at the door grinning wide. John went inside & looked around;
the hut seemed very warm & quite bigger than the shack. He asked his wife,
“Are you happy now?”, she nodded & replied, “Its good for the time being.”
Days passed by & now their condition had improved, John’s had started earning
more money & they were living happily in their hut. But his wife was not a
kind of woman who would be happy with what she had got, her greed awakened
again. One day as John was about to go fishing, his wife said, “I am bored staying
in this hut, why don’t you go & ask the fish for a cosy bungalow to live
in”, John tried to make her understand, “Dear we cant trouble the angel all the
time, we can ask for something when we really need it badly, we are living
happily in this hut”, but his wife sternly disagreed, “You are such a stupid
person, seize the opportunity. Why stay in this hut when we can get a nice big
bungalow, now go”… John couldn’t stand her nagging so he went down to the river
bank & said the magic words
Angel of the river,
Thou oh! Fish,
I am in trouble,
Help me, grant me a wish!!!
Days passed by, now John was living happily in
his house, it was more comfortable & warm than his hut; he always thanked
his stars & the angel fish. But do you think that his wife was happy with
the house, absolutely not, she always kept thinking about what to ask the fish
for…. Then one day suddenly an idea cropped up in her greedy mind & she
started pestering poor John, “Why don’t you ask the fish to make you a King?,
then you needn't work & yet we will be so rich, we will have servants for help, good food to eat & fine jewellery
& clothes, guards, horses & a big palace. & I will be the Queen; I
will have diamonds, emeralds, pearls, rubies, silk robes… Go, hurry up &
ask the fish” John was irritated with his wife as there was no end to her
greed, “I don’t want to be a King, I am happy with what I am & what I
have”. His wife started threatening him “Ok fine, but I want to be a Queen
& if you don’t go & ask the fish I will go away & never return”. John
had no choice left; he went to the river bank, said the magic words, narrated
his story to the fish & wished what his wife had asked for. As usual the
fish told him that his wish was fulfilled & asked him to go home.
He went
back & saw that a big stone palace stood in place of his humble house, with
armed guards at the gate, he went inside & saw that there was a beautiful garden,
being tended to by gardeners, exquisite horses in the stable, servants
everywhere doing their chores. He stepped inside the palace & was amazed to
see that his wife was sitting on the throne with a crown on her head, guards
stood besides her & everybody greeting the queen. John thought to himself,
“For once I think she will be happy now”. Days passed by, John’s wife was
basking in the richness but as a queen never did she ever take care of her
subjects, John had to do all the work & manage everything. John had left
fishing as he had got busy with managing the affairs of the kingdom. One day
while speaking to the nobles she came to know that she was not the powerful
person of the world & there were many other kings ruling their kingdoms
& some of them even being bigger than hers. Suddenly a thought crept in to
her mind, “If I become the Empress of the entire world then I will have the
biggest palace of all & also riches that nobody can ever imagine”, in order
to turn her greedy plan in to a reality she started pestering John again. He
was tired by now & felt embarrassed to face the fish, but he had no chance
against his wife so he had to go. As usual the fish fulfilled his wish &
told him to go home.
He returned to a huge palace, so big that he seemed like a
tiny ant in front of it, there were armed guards everywhere, big garden in front,
he went inside & his eyes sparkled with the huge glass chandeliers hung
from the ceiling, silk carpets, drapes everywhere & his wife seated on the
big throne higher from the ground, dressed in finest robes he had ever seen
& wearing the huge crown, there were servants & guards serving her
& people stood in front of her in
respect. John thought to himself, “I hope
that she will be happy now & will stop nagging me & even I can lead a
peaceful life now”. Yes his greedy wife was indeed happy as there were no
riches that an Empress of the world did not have, finally she could sleep
peacefully now. Days passed by & John’s wife was becoming very lazy day by
day, there were servants to do all the work so she did nothing, she just ate
good food, wore exquisite jewellery & clothes & slept. John had to look
after the affairs of the world, he had to bear the burden of all the work, and
he could not even sleep properly or have food in peace. He was becoming thin
& his wife was becoming plump.
One day when it started to dawn, the sun
rays entered their room & filled it with light, John immediately got up as
he had work to do but his lazy wife started complaining about the sunrise as
she did not want to get up from the bed, she became so cross that she started
quarrelling with John over the silly matter, she then ordered John, “Go rite
now to your fish & tell him that I want to possess the power to control the
Universe including the Sun & the Moon. Its an order of the Empress go rite
now”, John got irritated at the absurd wish, “I will never do that, aren’t you
ever happy, there is a limit to greed”, “If you don’t do as I said I will lock
you up in the prison in the dungeons forever”, threatened his wife. John was
left with no choice he sadly went to the river bank & uttered the magic
words
Angel of the river,
Thou oh! Fish,
I am in trouble,
Help me, grant me a wish!!!
The fish appeared & asked,
“What is it that your wife wants now? Is she not happy with what she has?” John
told the angel about his wife’s new wish. The fish was quite irritated by now
& listening to the new wish he became very angry, “How can you humans be so
greedy & how can you even listen to her? There is no one in this world who
can control the Universe, how can you even think of such a thing” John
apologised to the fish, but the angel fish was too furious to even listen to
John, “I know John that it is your wife who is greedy, but is it not your duty
to make her understand, you are very submissive, you must at least speak up
what is right. You don’t even have the courage to do the right thing. Shame on
you, go back home now & don’t ever come again to me, I am never going to
help you again” saying this, the fish leaped back in to the water. John felt
very sad, he went back home & saw that the palace had disappeared & in
its place stood the same old shack in which they lived earlier. He went inside
& saw that his wife was crying & she had learnt her lesson to be
content in what they had & never to be greedy & even John had learnt
his lesson, never to support wrong things & to always have the courage to
do the right thing. They both apologised to each other & the angel fish
& decided to live happily ever after…
Moral: Greed is evil. If one desires
more than what he is getting, loses everything. One should always be satisfied
with what he has got.
No comments:
Post a Comment