The Fisherman and His Wife- The Brothers Grimm
Summary: A poor fisherman captures (and very nicely releases) a magical fish prince. His wife makes increasingly greedy wishes until they wind up back where they started.
Commentary: Really enjoyed this one! I think this is the first time I've actually sat down and read a direct translation of a Brothers Grimm story, and not an adaptation of some kind.
This was also the first time I had to dig around to try to find the correct translation. Gutenberg's formatting is much better for copying and pasting, but they don't always have T5FSOB version. There was no specific translation listing that I could find, so after some research I went with one that was common at the time and seemed close. "15 minutes a night" indeed.
I like that the fish has a whole speech to ask to be let go, but the fisherman just goes, "you can talk, of course I won't eat you!" There's not enough respecting sapient animals in fairy tales. Also, very amused by a fish based wish gone wrong story. Fish are inherently silly, you can take any story and make it less creepy and more funny by making it about a fish (instead of a mummified primate hand).
While it's obvious from the setup that the wife is going to wind up being greedy, the husband comes off harsh initially. She asks to live in a small cottage, not rule the world (yet), and he's all "she wills not as I'd have her will." Sorry she wants a house, man, she's allowed to want stuff. (He's probably a lousy lover.)
Of course, it only takes another page for her to devolve into cliché greed, while he turns into a pushover. Cicero would've told him that friends don't ask friends to abuse magical fish privileges. She even says she'd go ask the fish herself. I think he'd be totally fair to say she can ask, but he doesn't want to.
I appreciate halfway though when he just says he doesn't want to be king. Way too much responsibility and/or not respecting others rights. I'm also curious why it's king and not queen for her. Maybe king is just more prestigious.
When she decided to be emperor, all I could think of is the classic God Emperor of Dune cover (the new foresty one is weak), but fish instead of worm based.
The slow decay of the sea is such fun classic fantasy stuff:
1. Clear and calm
2. Green/yellow, "not smooth"
3. Purple/blue, grey, and thick
4. Dark grey, heaving, and putrid
5. Black, thick, boiling, bubbly, and "curdled" from the heavy winds
6. Somehow causes huge storm, leaves fall from the trees, ships sinking, mostly red sky
7. A tsunami that destroys houses.
Likewise, her cartoonish hair sticking out when she's mad near the end. It's just so fun and visual, even if unrealistic. It's a magic fish story, go nuts! Modern pop culture is so influenced classic cartoons/comics, but there's none of the style.
I like the slight ambiguity in the ending. Is she being punished, is it a statement on the omnipresence of God, or both? I think it's intended mostly as the first, but I like it as both.
Finally, have a sweet illustration I found on Wikipedia by Anne Anderson:
I don't think I'd want to ask that fish for anything either.
Overall, a fine ATU-555. Why don't we have serial numbers for more modern plots and tropes? "Yeah, Battlestar Galactica is a pretty good QRJ-77 (searching for Earth), but I'm really a bigger fan of the QRJ-77a variant used by Planet of The Apes (it was Earth all along)."
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