The Fisherman and the haul of gold

Once upon a time a fisherman was fishing on a lake when, in his net, among the flapping fish, he found a golden crown.

“Why”, he said, laughing out loud, “What wonderful luck. I shall be able to sell this and buy fine things for my wife and children”.

But then, when he got home that day, he started to think to himself, “Well, if there was a crown in that lake then perhaps there might be even more riches. Perhaps a whole heap of treasure”.

And so, the next day, going out onto the lake in his boat again, he cast his old net into the water and, pulling it back up, he found a beautiful golden goblet; four golden plates and four golden knives and forks.

“This is simply amazing”, he thought, putting the golden treasure into a sack, “The lake is a treasure trove”.

And now, when he took the golden plates and knives and forks home and showed them to his wife, her eyes lit up and even she began to get greedy, urging him, “Go back again tomorrow and get more. Who knows, soon you may never have to work again”.

And so the fisherman went down to the lake for a third time and, as he had before, he threw in his net.

However, this time, when he tried to pull his net back up, he found that he couldn’t because something with all the might of a sea monster was pulling on the other end.

And then, suddenly, the fisherman saw an angry old face peering up out of the water at him; the face of the Mer-king and he was scowling and shouting, “So, it is you who stole my crown from off my head and my best gold plates and knives and forks from off my table. Well, now you shall have iron chains instead and live as a prisoner in my watery dungeon”.

Panicking, the fisherman tried to let go of the net but only found that, somehow, he had gotten tangled up in it.

“No! No! No!”, he screamed as he felt himself being dragged under the water.

But then, just at that moment his wife woke him up.

“You silly man”, she said, shouting at him, “You were having a nightmare”.

And looking down at his bed clothes, the fisherman realized that the net he thought he had been tangled in was really his blanket.

Nevertheless, the next day he threw away his fishing net, vowing never to fish in the lake again.

“Gold can lift an honest man up”, he told his wife, “But greed can only drag him down”.