A big pot of nothing -

Once upon a time, a miserly old skinflint, within his will, left his poor Nephew Cuthbert  a big pot of nothing.
"Instead of leaving money to my lazy Nephew, Cuthbert", his uncle's solicitor said, reading his will, "Which would only encourage him to be more lazy, not to mention wasteful, I have hidden all my money and instead leave him this old empty pot so that he may be encouraged to go out and work and fill it with money for himself".
Undoing its lid and looking in the pot that his uncles solicitor handed him, full of nothing but air, Cuthbert groaned, hearing the echo of his groan in the pot.
"What good is this?",  he thought to himself, "I have a wife and children to support. I need money not an empty pot".
But Cuthbert was not the type to be bitter and resentful and so, rather than breaking the pot or throwing it away, he thanked his uncles solicitor and his late uncle and took the pot away with him.
As Cuthbert was walking home however, past a large lake, a Mannerfish jumped out and threw its large Manning net over him, dragging him down into the lake with it.
Mannerfish, incase you don't know, are a type of fearsome fairy fish with arms and hands that live in lakes and rivers and catch men in nets the way that a Fisherman catches a Fish; kill them by dragging them into the lake or river and drowning them then take them back to their caves to cook them for supper.
This particular Mannerfish had caught many men in its manning net and he may well have killed poor Cuthbert too but then Cuthbert remembered his uncles big pot of nothing.
"It may be full of nothing", he thought, "But it has air inside it" and, making a hole in the lid of the pot, he put his mouth up to the hole and breathed in the air that was in it.
And while this was happening, the Mannerfish carried him back to its underwater cave which, to Cuthberts surprise and joy, he saw was full of treasure, gold and jewels.
Then, lying still, Cuthbert pretended to be drowned and when he did the Mannerfish turned its attention to preparing its cooking pot, lighting a special magical green fire underneath it that burned underwater.
And while the Mannerfish was busy preparing its Man stew, adding spicy seaweed to make a seaweed sauce; picking up the net, Cuthbert crept up behind it, throwing it over the monsters head.
Then he tied up the net tightly so that the Mannerfish could not escape and then, while the Mannerfish was struggling to break free, Cuthbert filled up his uncles pot with as much gold and treasure as he could before swimming back up to the surface of the lake.
Then, fearing that the Mannerfish might get loose and catch him again, Cuthbert did not wait around by the edge of the lake but ran home as fast as he could.
And when Cuthbert got back home and his wife saw all the gold and jewels she was amazed.
"Wow", she said, "Did your uncle leave you all that in his will?".
"Oh no", said Cuthbert, with a smile, "He left me a big pot of nothing but, thankfully, that was all that I needed".