The Carter And The Fish

Once upon a time there was an old greedy carter who delivered the stones from the quarries to the castle grounds. His job was very tiring and monotonous and he always wished for a better life. But nobody in town cared for the carter at all and viewed him as a despicable man who never paid off any of his debts. And it was true that the carter borrowed money from almost all the townsfolk and has yet to pay them back.

But one fateful day, as the sun beamed heavily across a meadow and all the grass glistened and waved softly in the breeze, the old carter took a wrong turn on his usual route and came upon a completely new path he’d never seen before. He glared at the sun as it reached its zenith and it made him thirst. As soon as the thought had raced through his mind he began to feel a light mist blowing in the breeze and swiping across his face. And sure enough, a lustrous spring welcomed the path as it took a bend a few meters away from the carter.

“Why let this godsend waste and pollute before me when I could just take a little sip from its delicate waters.” So, the carter knelt beside the spring and drank until his heart was content. But by the time this happened the spring was dry as a bone. As he wiped his chin he chanced upon a lone fish flopping in the arid spring. Without warning the fish spoke up and filled the silenced meadow with voice.

“Kind Sir!” the fish began. “Please, please save me from withering away to dust in this waterless hole. I have a gift if you are to lend me your services.”

Seeing that the fish was in a dire predicament, the carter formulated a plan to use the fish’s position to his advantage. So, he began to haggle the value of the gift. The fish, seeing how the carter was playing the game, finally agreed to the carter’s demands to save his life. And with that the carter got what he wanted. Three wishes. But on one condition. He would have to take care of the fish until it passed on.

So, the carter took the fish back to his home and used the three wishes. The first wish was for eternal wealth. He used this to purchase a manor and hire many slaves to till the farms on his land. The second wish was for eternal life, so he could live forever and always stay in power. The final wish was for eternal wisdom, which he used to cheat and rip off merchants, for he was miserly even with eternal wealth.

As the years passed and the fish got older, the carter began to wonder why he needed to keep the fish anymore. He had already received his three wishes, so he began to plot ways to dispose of the fish. Until one day, the carter thought of a plan. He would eat the fish!

That night, as the fish was asleep, the carter crept upon him and gobbled him up whole. He licked his fingers in satisfaction until a chilling voice penetrated the night silence.

I gave you wishes in exchange,

For a home and place to stay,

But seeing as my fates reversed,

I’ll make your life a living curse,

Wealth and wisdom from you leave,

But everlasting life you’ll keep,

For you the day to die is never,

As you’ll live poor forever and ever.

The greedy, miserly old carter took no heed of the fish’s words and slept throughout the rest of the night and the whole of the following day. But his dreams kept showing a vivid nightmare of the fish’s corpse coming closer and closer and nothing the carter did hindered the fish’s way. When the carter aroused after his long sleep, he resumed his daily tasks of cheating, lying, and gambling, but he soon grew nervous about the fish’s words.

Suddenly, the prophecy the fish had stated soon became a work of reality. The carter’s money disappeared completely and with what he had left, he gambled it all away with no wisdom to win it back. And as the years passed he never did die. The fish’s curse came true and the carter lived in his old hut year after year after year. And he still lives in that same hut cursing the fish to this very day.