The Fisherman and the Giant

The Fisherman and the Giant

Once there was a poor fisherman. He never caught many fish and so he had no money. On some days he did not catch any fish. He couldn't buy food for his wife and three children. They only ate fish!

Usually he caught very small fish, but one day he caught a dead horse. 'Today is a bad day,' he thought.

Angrily, he began to fish again. This time he caught a bag of old cups. Sadly, he threw them back in the water. 'What can I do?' he said. 'I am a poor man. I want to sell fish. I want to buy food for my children.'

He tried again. This time he caught an old jar. It looked green, but then he looked again. It was dirty. So he washed it and it was gold. There were some words on the top of the jar, but he couldn't read.

The fisherman jumped up happily. 'I can sell this now,' he said.

'Today is a good day.'

He looked at the jar carefully. 'Perhaps there is something inside,' he thought. 'I'll open it.' So he opened the jar and looked inside. Suddenly white smoke came out of the jar and a great giant appeared. The fisherman was very afraid. The giant spoke.

'Now, fisherman. I am going to kill you.'

'Why?' cried the fisherman. 'What did I do?'

'You opened the jar. For that I am going to kill you. How do you want to die? I can kill you with my hands, or I can throw you into the sea.'

'But why do you have to kill me?'

'I will tell you,' said the giant. 'One day, the King of the Giants was very angry with me. I took his youngest and loveliest daughter for a walk by the sea and he didn't like it. So he put me in this jar. I could not get out because he wrote his name on the top of the jar. I could hear him from inside the jar. "Because you love the sea, you dog," he cried, "you can live in it!" And he threw me in the water.

'I was in the jar for days and weeks. "One day somebody will open this bottle," I thought. "And I will make them into a great king or queen." But after a hundred years, nobody opened the bottle. So I thought, "I will make them into a king or queen but not a great king or queen." After 200 years, I thought, "Where is this person? Now I will make them rich, but I will not make them a king or queen." After 300 years, I was very angry." When somebody opens the jar, I will kill them," I thought. You are that person, Fisherman. How do you want to die?'