THE KING AND THE FISHERMAN | PERSIAN FAIRY TALES | Stories from Persia

The King and the Fisherman


Illustrating the advantage of being able to formulate a judicious reply
to an embarrassing question, especially when material plenitude may
ensue.

THE countries washed by the great rivers Tigris and Euphrates were once
ruled by a certain King who was passionately fond of fish.

He was seated one day with Sherem, his wife, in the royal gardens that
stretch down to the banks of the Tigris, at the point where it is
spanned by the wonderful bridge of boats; and looking up spied a boat
gliding by, in which was seated a fisherman having a large fish.

Noticing that the King was looking closely at him, and knowing how much
the King liked this particular kind of fish, the fisherman made his
obeisance, and skilfully bringing his boat to the shore, came before
the King and begged that he would accept the fish as a present. The
King was greatly pleased at this, and ordered that a large sum of money
be given to the fisherman.

But before the fisherman had left the royal presence, the Queen turned
towards the King and said: "You have done a foolish thing." The King
was astonished to hear her speak in this way, and asked how that could
be. The Queen replied:

"The news of your having given so large a reward for so small a gift
will spread through the city and it will be known as the fisherman's
gift. Every fisherman who catches a big fish will bring it to the
palace, and should he not be paid in like manner, he will go away
discontented, and secretly speak evil of you among his fellows."

"Thou speakest the truth, light of my eyes," said the King, "but can
not you see how mean it would be for a King, if for that reason he were
to take back his gift?" Then perceiving that the Queen was ready to
argue the matter, he turned away angrily, saying: "The matter is
closed."

However, later in the day, when he was in a more amiable frame of mind,
the Queen again approached him, and said that if that was his only
reason for not taking back his gift, she would arrange it. "You must
summon the fisherman," she said, "and then ask him, 'Is this fish male
or female?' If he says male, then you will tell him that you wanted a
female fish; but if he should say female, your reply will be that you
wanted a male fish. In this way the matter will be properly adjusted."

The King thought this an easy way out of the difficulty, and commanded
the fisherman to be brought before him. When the fisherman, who by the
way, was a most intelligent man, stood before the King, the King said
to him: "O fisherman, tell me, is this fish male or female?"

The fisherman replied, "The fish is neither male nor female." Whereupon
the King smiled at the clever answer, and to add to the Queen's
annoyance, directed the keeper of the royal purse to give the fisherman
a further sum of money.

Then the fisherman placed the money in his leather bag, thanked the
King, and swinging the bag over his shoulder, hurried away, but not so
quickly that he did not notice that he had dropped one small coin.
Placing the bag on the ground, he stooped and picked up the coin, and
again went on his way, with the King and Queen carefully watching his
every action.

"Look! what a miser he is!" said Sherem, triumphantly. "He actually put
down his bag to pick up one small coin because it grieved him to think
that it might reach the hands of one of the King's servants, or some
poor person, who, needing it, would buy bread and pray for the long
life of the King."

"Again thou speakest the truth," replied the King, feeling the justice
of this remark; and once more was the fisherman brought into the royal
presence. "Are you a human being or a beast?" the King asked him.
"Although I made it possible for you to become rich without toil, yet
the miser within you could not allow you to leave even one small piece
of money for others." Then the King bade him to go forth and show his
face no more within the city.

At this the fisherman fell on his knees and cried: "Hear me, O King,
protector of the poor! May God grant the King a long life. Not for its
value did thy servant pick up the coin, but because on one side it bore
the name of God, and on the other the likeness of the King. Thy servant
feared that someone, not seeing the coin, would tread it into the dirt,
and thus defile both the name of God and the face of the King. Let the
King judge if by so doing I have merited reproach."

This answer pleased the King beyond all measure, and he gave the
fisherman another large sum of money. And the Queen's wrath was turned
away, and she looked kindly upon the fisherman as he departed with his
bag laden with money.