By the Brothers Grimm
Download the Golden Fish
A fisherman catches a golden fish. When the fish announces that he is a prince under an evil spell, the fishermen throws him back into the sea. On his return to his hovel, his wife tells him that he should have asked the magical creature to grant him a wish. And so the fisherman returns to the sea to call out to the fish and ask that the lives of the impoverished couple should be transformed – but the better life that ensues is not quite enough for them.
This story of over-reaching greed and ambition is known well in many countries including Germany and Russia, but not so much in the English speaking world. It’s told with the Brothers Grimm’s usual insight into human frailty.
Read by Natasha. Duration 19.30
There was once a fisherman who lived with his wife in a pigsty, close
by the seaside. The fisherman used to go out all day long a-fishing;
and one day, as he sat on the shore with his rod, looking at the
sparkling waves and watching his line, all on a sudden his float was
dragged away deep into the water: and when he reeled in his line, he pulled out a
golden fish. But the fish said, ‘Pray let me live! I am not a real
fish; I am an enchanted prince: put me in the water again, and let me
go!’ ‘Oh, ho!’ said the man, ‘you need not go on much more about
the matter; I will have nothing to do with a fish that can talk: so
swim away, sir, as soon as you please!’ Then he put him back into the
water, and the fish darted straight down to the bottom, and left a
long streak of blood behind him on the wave.
When the fisherman went home to his wife in the pigsty, he told her
how he had caught a golden fish, and how it had told him it was an
enchanted prince, and how, on hearing it speak, he had let it go
again. ‘Did not you ask it for anything?’ said the wife, ‘we live very
wretchedly here, in this nasty dirty pigsty; do go back and tell the
fish we want a snug little cottage.’
The fisherman did not much like the business: however, he went to the
seashore; and when he came back there the water looked all yellow and
green. And he stood at the water’s edge, and said:
‘O man of the sea!
Hearken to me!
My wife Ilsabill
Will have her own will,
And hath sent me to beg a gift of thee!’
Then the fish came swimming to him, and said, ‘Well, what is her will?
What does your wife want?’ ‘Ah!’ said the fisherman, ’she says that
when I had caught you, I ought to have asked you for something before
I let you go; she does not like living any longer in the pigsty, and
wants a snug little cottage.’ ‘Go home, then,’ said the fish; ’she is
in the cottage already!’ So the man went home, and saw his wife
standing at the door of a nice trim little cottage. ‘Come in, come
in!’ said she; ‘is not this much better than the filthy pigsty we
had?’ And there was a parlour, and a bedroom, and a kitchen; and
behind the cottage there was a little garden, planted with all sorts
of flowers and fruits; and there was a courtyard behind, full of ducks
and chickens. ‘Ah!’ said the fisherman, ‘how happily we shall live
now!’ ‘We will try to do so, at least,’ said his wife.
Everything went right for a week or two, and then Dame Ilsabill said,
‘Husband, there is not nearly room enough for us in this cottage; the
courtyard and the garden are a great deal too small; I should like to
have a large stone castle to live in: go to the fish again and tell
him to give us a castle.’ ‘Wife,’ said the fisherman, ‘I don’t like to
go to him again, for perhaps he will be angry; we ought to be easy
with this pretty cottage to live in.’ ‘Nonsense!’ said the wife; ‘he
will do it very willingly, I know; go along and try!’
The fisherman went, but his heart was very heavy: and when he came to
the sea, it looked blue and gloomy, though it was very calm; and he
went close to the edge of the waves, and said:
‘O man of the sea!
Hearken to me!
My wife Ilsabill
Will have her own will,
And hath sent me to beg a gift of thee!’
‘Well, what does she want now?’ said the fish. ‘Ah!’ said the man,
dolefully, ‘my wife wants to live in a stone castle.’ ‘Go home, then,’
said the fish; ’she is standing at the gate of it already.’ So away
went the fisherman, and found his wife standing before the gate of a
great castle. ‘See,’ said she, ‘is not this grand?’ With that they
went into the castle together, and found a great many servants there,
and the rooms all richly furnished, and full of golden chairs and
tables; and behind the castle was a garden, and around it was a park
half a mile long, full of sheep, and goats, and hares, and deer; and
in the courtyard were stables and cow-houses. ‘Well,’ said the man,
‘now we will live cheerful and happy in this beautiful castle for the
rest of our lives.’ ‘Perhaps we may,’ said the wife; ‘but let us sleep
upon it, before we make up our minds to that.’ So they went to bed.
The next morning when Dame Ilsabill awoke it was broad daylight, and
she jogged the fisherman with her elbow, and said, ‘Get up, husband,
and bestir yourself, for we must be king of all the land.’ ‘Wife,
wife,’ said the man, ‘why should we wish to be the king? I will not be
king.’ ‘Then I will,’ said she. ‘But, wife,’ said the fisherman, ‘how
can you be king–the fish cannot make you a king?’ ‘Husband,’ said
she, ’say no more about it, but go and try! I will be king.’ So the
man went away quite sorrowful to think that his wife should want to be
king. This time the sea looked a dark grey colour, and was overspread
with curling waves and the ridges of foam as he cried out:
‘O man of the sea!
Hearken to me!
My wife Ilsabill
Will have her own will,
And hath sent me to beg a gift of thee!’
‘Well, what would she have now?’ said the fish. ‘Alas!’ said the poor
man, ‘my wife wants to be king.’ ‘Go home,’ said the fish; ’she is
king already.’
Then the fisherman went home; and as he came close to the palace he
saw a troop of soldiers, and heard the sound of drums and trumpets.
And when he went in he saw his wife sitting on a throne of gold and
diamonds, with a golden crown upon her head; and on each side of her
stood six fair maidens, each a head taller than the other. ‘Well,
wife,’ said the fisherman, ‘are you king?’ ‘Yes,’ said she, ‘I am
king.’ And when he had looked at her for a long time, he said, ‘Ah,
wife! what a fine thing it is to be king! Now we shall never have
anything more to wish for as long as we live.’ ‘I don’t know how that
may be,’ said she; ‘never is a long time. I am king, it is true; but I
begin to be tired of that, and I think I should like to be emperor.’
‘Alas, wife! why should you wish to be emperor?’ said the fisherman.
‘Husband,’ said she, ‘go to the fish! I say I will be emperor.’ ‘Ah,
wife!’ replied the fisherman, ‘the fish cannot make an emperor, I am
sure, and I should not like to ask him for such a thing.’ ‘I am king,’
said Ilsabill, ‘and you are my slave; so go at once!’
So the fisherman was forced to go; and he muttered as he went along,
‘This will come to no good, it is too much to ask; the fish will be
tired at last, and then we shall be sorry for what we have done.’ He
soon came to the seashore; and the water was quite black and muddy,
and a mighty whirlwind blew over the waves and rolled them about, but
he went as near as he could to the water’s brink, and said:
‘O man of the sea!
Hearken to me!
My wife Ilsabill
Will have her own will,
And hath sent me to beg a gift of thee!’
‘What would she have now?’ said the fish. ‘Ah!’ said the fisherman,
’she wants to be emperor.’ ‘Go home,’ said the fish; ’she is emperor
already.’
So he went home again; and as he came near he saw his wife Ilsabill
sitting on a very lofty throne made of solid gold, with a great crown
on her head full two yards high; and on each side of her stood her
guards and attendants in a row, each one smaller than the other, from
the tallest giant down to a little dwarf no bigger than my finger. And
before her stood princes, and dukes, and earls: and the fisherman went
up to her and said, ‘Wife, are you emperor?’ ‘Yes,’ said she, ‘I am
emperor.’ ‘Ah!’ said the man, as he gazed upon her, ‘what a fine thing
it is to be emperor!’ ‘Husband,’ said she, ‘why should we stop at
being emperor? I will be pope next.’ ‘O wife, wife!’ said he, ‘how can
you be pope? there is but one pope at a time in Christendom.’
‘Husband,’ said she, ‘I will be pope this very day.’ ‘But,’ replied
the husband, ‘the fish cannot make you pope.’ ‘What nonsense!’ said
she; ‘if he can make an emperor, he can make a pope: go and try him.’
So the fisherman went. But when he came to the shore the wind was
raging and the sea was tossed up and down in boiling waves, and the
ships were in trouble, and rolled fearfully upon the tops of the
billows. In the middle of the heavens there was a little piece of blue
sky, but towards the south all was red, as if a dreadful storm was
rising. At this sight the fisherman was dreadfully frightened, and he
trembled so that his knees knocked together: but still he went down
near to the shore, and said:
‘O man of the sea!
Hearken to me!
My wife Ilsabill
Will have her own will,
And hath sent me to beg a gift of thee!’
‘What does she want now?’ said the fish. ‘Ah!’ said the fisherman, ‘my
wife wants to be pope.’ ‘Go home,’ said the fish; ’she is pope
already.’
Then the fisherman went home, and found Ilsabill sitting on a throne
that was two miles high. And she had three great crowns on her head,
and around her stood all the pomp and power of the Church. And on each
side of her were two rows of burning lights, of all sizes, the
greatest as large as the highest and biggest tower in the world, and
the least no larger than a small rush light. ‘Wife,’ said the
fisherman, as he looked at all this greatness, ‘are you pope?’ ‘Yes,’
said she, ‘I am pope.’ ‘Well, wife,’ replied he, ‘it is a grand thing
to be pope; and now you must be easy, for you can be nothing greater.’
‘I will think about that,’ said the wife. Then they went to bed: but
Dame Ilsabill could not sleep all night for thinking what she should
be next. At last, as she was dropping asleep, morning broke, and the
sun rose. ‘Ha!’ thought she, as she woke up and looked at it through
the window, ‘after all I cannot prevent the sun rising.’ At this
thought she was very angry, and wakened her husband, and said,
‘Husband, go to the fish and tell him I must be lord of the sun and
moon.’ The fisherman was half asleep, but the thought frightened him
so much that he started and fell out of bed. ‘Alas, wife!’ said he,
‘cannot you be easy with being pope?’ ‘No,’ said she, ‘I am very
uneasy as long as the sun and moon rise without my permission. Go to the
fish at once!’
Then the man went shivering with fear; and as he was going down to the
shore a dreadful storm arose, so that the trees and the very rocks
shook. And all the heavens became black with stormy clouds, and the
lightnings played, and the thunders rolled; and you might have seen in
the sea great black waves, swelling up like mountains with crowns of
white foam upon their heads. And the fisherman crept towards the sea,
and cried out, as well as he could:
‘O man of the sea!
Hearken to me!
My wife Ilsabill
Will have her own will,
And hath sent me to beg a gift of thee!’
‘What does she want now?’ said the fish. ‘Ah!’ said he, ’she wants to
be lord of the sun and moon.’ ‘Go home,’ said the fish, ‘to your
pigsty again.’
And there they live to this very day.
114 Comments
i like the story it was good
that was a good story
it is a very good story i red it 4 times thanks
Very good story,My children and I loved it =)
It was too long!!!
it was nice
A very good story! Colin the carp cant compeare to that fish! Oh and bertie can you tell Colin that no one would want to be the wife of a grumpy carp like him!
I liked thisv story ver much
I liked this story very much
this story is very very good
517772960
nataliakamela@op.pl
8288894
Dear Bertie,
is the golden fish really under a spell??THe golden fish should’t grant the womens wish as she is to greedy,don’t you think so???
sheryl
I think this was a very good fable
Don’t be greedy forever..
Is that??
I think this goldden fish will be shinning as a golden star!!!!
OK,I promise everyone I will never that greeedy ever in my whole entire life!
u happy now colin huh huh?xC
child.Listen.Brothers Grimm.
I really really like this story
our class of 19 students enjoyed the story
i love it
not bad
Not bad
very good story
it was a good story
i have a fish to it is a boy and a girl.i love my fish so much i feed it everday .he is a babby boy
it was so bad
i love thish book
I like it
hiiiiiiiiiii i like this storynory and i want to listion more
hiiiiiiii
wooooooooooooooooooooooo
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
muuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuch
This is a great story and easy to read. I didn’t quite like the ending.
Nice
اتفدم بالشكر الوافر والاحترام الى مقدم هذه الباقه الرائعه من القصص الجميله
عصام ربيع اسحاق
القاهره مصر
Not bad you know
This is a nice story
40 I loved this book
40 loved this book!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
yyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaa
hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I LOVE STORY NORY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I loved this tale because it had a lot of ajetives and dialoge and writed in paregravs .
this story was great and it was a bit like a fable.
I think that the story was very interesting.
It was kind of a fable and i think if it was really a fable the moral should be you have to work hard to make something look easy and just be you’re self.I loved it.
I like this story and it is very interesting.But why was not the golden fish angry?
I like the story alot
this story had lots of adjectives and diologe
this story had lots of adjectives and dialog
hi hi hi hi hi hi hi hi hi hi !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hi I love reading story but I love this story this is the best story I read!!!!!!!!:-)
i kind of liked it. A little long. I like the short ones under a minute, but good. Buh BYe =~{)
SFSDD
DDD
good.
정말 짱입니다 마음에 들어요 ㅎㅎㅎ
太长了,不过很有趣呀!!good
pretty cool its awesome
hi nitash
yo yo yo whats up my diggy dog of
mooooooooooooooooooo mooooooooooooooooooo gilferd
its a good story but its to long it made me sleeply lolz
Helo,I am student of english and your stories help me a lot to improve my english. So thanks
Hello , I need czech short story.So thanks
wow a golden fish.
let blaine Sign up ON Webkinz.
mario party
I LIKE YOUR STORY BECAUES IT WAS GOOD AND I LIKE THE FISH
i likethis story becauseit’s sointerested
the end was not satisfacotory.
I liked this story it is about a fish
great story! =)
ceritane apik banget yow….
umm…a good one I think. Though I think it was cut short. If I was to ask the golden fish.. I would ask for a baby boy “_” !
It’s good!!!!!!!!!!! If I was to ask that golden fish, I would wish for a new basketball and rollerblades!!!!!!!!!
iolljlijl;
I thought it was lovely!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I like the story, especially with Natasha’s sound. Can we ask for Natasha? How can we meet with her? or can we?
Kindest Regards
JackS
If you are in London then anything can be arranged. Obviously, I can’ tell how old you are – but any meetings with young people need to be arranged with parents. First email bertie@storynory.com.
Thank you for reply.
Actually I am not in London, but I will go to London and I would like to meet you, I am fan of you. I am not English and am learning English. Your voice teachs me english. Thank you for being you
Love you.
Best Regards
23,11,2008 I like the story because it was a little bit funny. I liked the ending.
But it was so long!!!!!!!!!!
Also I have the book of Brothers Grimm,what is a pope?
I like storynory,next time I will find another
story on storynory.
We think that the wife is very,very GREEDY !!!!!!!!!!! Also we thought the story was almost to long,but we still liked it. Boy the wife just annoyed us! What story on storynory do you recomend for us next?
Sincerely,
Maggie&Abbie.
Hi Maggie and Abbie Thanks for listening to so many stories – You ask for recommendations. it seems that you like the more artistic stories. I think the Blind Man’s Daughter and The Boy Who Flew too high are little gems. Of the Bertie stories, Bertie and the Lion is quite touching ( I think).
A good story ！I downloaded the story and copy to my Mp4, and i listen to it everyday , it did improve my English listening. Thanks a lot.
i love this story!!!!!!!!! i want to read the other story and i think the wife is sooooooooo selfish and greedy
i LOVE THIS ,i REMEMBER IT SINCE I WS A KID
这个故事书非常好看， 我每天早啊和故事，很好！！！！！！！
I love this storyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!! my daddy had told me this story before!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This story shows that greed dosn’t get what you want.
Thanks. This is a great story and easy to read.
this story is really cool. i really enjoyed it.
p.s. check out my website
Thank you. I like this story very much and I really liked the way you told the story. Thank you again.
May God bless you!
Dearest colin the hansomest carp,you are much like me I dont like beartie at all dont you agry We diserve more!!!
I want to kiss you colin
Love,Amy
dearest colin the hansomest carp,
I am much like you,WE DESERVE MORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dear colin the most hansome carp, I am much like you, wenever I think abought beartie oh, I dont like him one bit!!! WE DESERVE MORE!!!!WE both shall be the Pope and Popess
p.s wright back colin
Dear Amy, you obviously have very good judgment and taste. There are too many frog lovers on this site, and not enough appreciation of Carp.
Colin
Posted July 19, 2009 at 12:13 am | Permalink
Dear Amy, you obviously have very good judgment and taste. There are too many frog lovers on this site, and not enough appreciation of Carp.
(P.S.) Real colin not amy’s
Amy and Colin, shut up please
Very good story that help me improving my listening skills
Thanks alot
This story is sooooo cool I love it!
Who wants to hear about Colin anyway?Colin’s a idiot!
That was for Amy!
Thisss
storyy
is sooooooo long
but its pretty good!
hi! thank you very much for all the stories.
this is a wonderful story i hawe heard of this story in my class
this is a wondeful story i hawe heard this story in my class
please give a ex. of fantasy stories
yes i like the story
(Kayla)the fisherman’s wife is greedy and foolish! THe fisherman is a good person but he is too weak to defend his instincts. HE SHOULD BE living in a rich house and his wife is a servant!(Kendra) Why should the fisherman have a greedy wife? Esssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!! WHY DID THE FISH DO THAT FOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Why Bertie, that the fisherman obeyed his wife for when he knows what is right or wrong?
I’ve heard about gold fish but golden fish??? D:
g0od b%e!!
hated
i like this story kind of
I like the story and i’m throwing you a kiss!
i really like your stories. your voice is warm and clear when reading. i learn a lot of things from your website. i learn english by listening your stories. thanks a lot.