text: A long, long, time ago, in a flourishing seaside kingdom ruled by a benevolent King, there was a humble Fisherman. One day he cast his net out and caught the most brilliantly green sunfish. So beautiful was the fish that the Fisherman thought it a pity to for it to be served as dinner, thus he let it go. In gratitude, the fish spoke and asked the man. “You seem a kind, and honest soul with a deep love. Tell me, how can I reward you for sparing my life?” The Fisherman, surprised at the talking fish, was at a loss for words, gaping at the creature, before he replied, “Well, I live in a small, peaceful village. Everything is great except for my shack by the sea, it's cold and uncomfortable in the winter. It would be nice if it could be a better house.” “It is done. When you return home, you’ll have a new house.” The fish declared. When the Fisherman returned home, he found his wife excited in a new abode with a pretty yard, wonderfully furnished. “What happened? I was sitting in our hut one moment, then the next, our shack became beautiful!” The Fisherman explained the story, and the wife became ponderous. “You’ve met with a magical fish and all you asked for is a house?” She queried, “Why didn't you ask for land and a farm? That way, we can have wealth beyond this hut.” The Fisherman thought for a moment and he came to agree. Taking his wife's advice, he went back to the sea, to the same place as the fish and he asked, “Sunfish sunfish, bless me with your magic. I have a request.” To sunfish rose from the sea and listened to the Fisherman as he requested for a farm. “...So we can be self-sustaining you see.” The man explained nervously. “I quite admire that,” the Fish said. “It is good to labor over long yielding fruits. When you return, you will have a farm. Just remember that abundance doesn’t compare to quality. Sometimes a single sweet berry one cultivates could taste sweeter than a thousand others.” The Fisherman returned home and he and his wife were happy for days, but then one night, his wife sighed. “Husband, I am tired of working the fields and tending to the animals. Go ask the fish if we can have a manor instead, where we can rule over the others like lords.” The man’s heart grew weary. “The farm is grand, our gardens are filled with fruit and food, our stocks are plump with creatures, we will never go hungry. Why would you want to be a lord?” “Like cattle, we labor and give money to the lord. Why not be lords ourselves?” The wife chided, “The fish can do it, if its magic can do this much. Just go.” The man hesitantly approached the sea, sailing to the same spot again in his small craft. “Sunfish, sunfish, bless me with your magic. I have a request. It is at the behest of my wife.” The sea churned, and from the blue ocean waves rose the fish. “Very well. What does she want?” “My wife wishes to live in a manor and become a lord.” He said. “And your wish?” “The same.” He lied. “Very well, go home. You both will have the title and manor.” The fish said, its eyes flashing, noting the change in the Fisherman. When the man returned home, he was confronted with a stone manor, with a grand entry and servants running about the home. Food and the best wine overflowed the oak tables, and he indulged with his wife until they nearly collapsed. “Now,” said the wife, “Isn’t this nice?” “Oh yes, I am very satisfied.” The man said. "Hmmm,” said the woman, “Let us sleep on this for now.” The next few mornings the couple passed contently with their servants and control over their lands. Though dealing with the many complaints of the farmers and peasants wore on the man, and he found himself curt and often unnecessarily cruel when he needed to dole out punishment, work he did not enjoy. Then one day his wife suggested, “Husband, I’ve been thinking, what if we become king and queen over all the land?” “Why would we want to be rulers?” He asked, “I’m already doing too much as lord, and there’s so many households to care for.” “But as King you would have people to take care of that for you, for us!” the wife advised. “Ask the fish to make you King.” “I don’t know. I don’t think that’s a good idea.” “Then ask to make me Queen. I want a crown.” The woman insisted. Begrudgingly, the husband went back to the ocean. “Sunfish, sunfish, bless me with your magic. My wife has a request.” He said to the sea surrounding his boat, and soon it churned turbulent purple. The sunfish rose out from the water and asked, “What does your wife want?” “She wishes to be Queen...” The man frowned. “And what do you want?” The fish asked. The man sighed. “I have noticed that I’ve been more unlike myself and I don’t know...” “I do not have the power to make her Queen on my own.” The fish interrupted, shaking off two brilliant green scales and gave them to the man. “She will need to exchange life for magic if she wants to rule. You both may borrow my magic infused in these scales. Passing willing life force into these will transfer magic to me, and give you power over others. Know this - you can convince others to give years off their lives.” The man took both scales and thought it a solution to his woes. He gave one to his wife while he secretly kept the other out of caution, fashioning it into a ring upon his hand. She fashioned it to a pendant, and within the week; she visited the crown. At the end of the month, she summoned the Fisherman to the palace. Visiting the capital, he traversed the winding road to the gilded stone palace, then passed obedient rows of gentry walking across the echoing hall at the kingdom’s center. Till, at last, he found his wife on the throne. “Look darling, I’m Queen!” she greeted, seated high with a crown too big for her head, and he trembled. “Aren’t you glad to see it?” “Yes dear, of course, I’m so happy for you,” He lied, eyes unable to leave the marbled floor, then added, “What happened to the King?” She didn’t answer, but he knew. He felt the power glowing from the necklace on her chest. Afraid, he made up an excuse: he preferred the quiet life compared to the lavishment of the palace, and left to return to his house by the sea. Days passed, then weeks. The humble Fisherman began hearing of missing people, the gathering of armies, consulting with dark wizards. Even in the remote sea-side village, there were rumors of how the Queen’s desire to conquer neighboring kingdoms pushed the nation on the brink of war. Soon, strange figures intruded into the small town, and while the Queen's ambition spread, his deep love he felt for her waned. With a heavy heart, the Fisherman returned to the sea in his tiny boat, “Sunfish, sunfish, bless me with your magic. I have a request.” The sea toiled in dark black water, and the fish rose from the ocean. “What do you want?” The fish asked. And before the man answered, boats he hadn’t noticed rushed to surround his vessel, capturing the man and the fish. “Let us go!” The man demanded, but the soldiers didn’t listen. He tried to push his life into the green scale on his ring to gain control of their captors, but the fish stopped him. “She is stronger than you. She had fed on many willing lives.” The Fish advised. “Let us see what her wish is.” The man nodded, resigned to his fate, and the two were brought to the Palace, bound in chains of steel and a meager bowl of water. They were led through golden doors and tapestries threaded with silver, but the ornate furnishings no longer caught the Fisherman's eyes, and instead he gasped in horror. “Sunfish, sunfish, bless me with your magic.” The Queen declared on her throne, a bloody sword in one hand. Around her were bodies, lifeless eyes stared up to the ceiling. “I’m about to go to war, but I needn’t have to if the scale you gave me worked properly. The neighboring prince was immune to me even after I sacrificed a dozen people!” She gestured with the blade, scattering blood drops across the ground. The Fisherman recoiled at the sight. “My Queen, please, isn’t this enough? Why must you demand more?” The Queen scoffed, “Silence, peasant, I wasn’t speaking to you.” And in his chains, the Fisherman’s fist gripped tight, scowling at the pool of blood staining the hall, letting regret seep into his veins. “There are men who will be incompatible with the magic I have leant you, and for those, you can not control them as you can others.” The Fish replied cooly. “Your husband, for example, is immune to such magics.” The Queen sneered, “I want more than kingdoms. I want to control the very fabric of reality across the realm, like you.” “Across the realm? I’m afraid I don’t have that much power,” the Fish said. “Oh, but you could,” the Queen insisted. “Lives sacrificed in war are the same, are they not?” “Yes, some, but--” “But what? You grow stronger too, every time a life passes in sacrifice.” the Queen rose from her throne, her blade aimed at the Fish and the Fisherman, “And I know your secret Fish. The King, before he died, told me he rid the land of demons, beings that corrupted and consumed souls, before he came into the throne. But he did not speak of ridding the ocean. So a demon is what you are, is it not?” She took a bold step away from her seat at the front of the room, kicking away the rotting body of some noble, long dead. “The wizards too repeat the same, that the scale you gave me is not of this world but of another, higher magic. Shouldn’t you want me to succeed? So that we can bend the world to our will and feed your power?” “Is...is what she said true?” The Fisherman looked at the Fish. The creature whipped its tail. “She’s obviously mad. I have done nothing but help you and given you what you’ve asked for. Now, her thirst for power threatens to destroy us.” “My thirst?” The Queen declared, cackling, “I am only claiming what is right, to set the world right--” “By killing?” the Fisherman interrupted, disgust strewn across his face. “By sacrifice.” The Queen corrected, pressing the sword to Fisherman’s chest. He cliched his fist and wished and wished for it to be as it was before the gifts, before he met the Fish, when he had been kind and honest, before his love for his wife was ruined. Yet he knew reversing time was beyond his power, so as his ring gleamed--blinding green, he settled for another wish. For it all to end. And the Fish smiled, savoring the single fruit that it labored over while the hall and the lands bathed in a green glow. In the aftermath of the mad Queen, those under her control woke from her spell as if from a nightmare, but the damage was already done, and the kingdom tore itself asunder, before the neighboring empires picked apart its bones. A benign version of the tale was passed down generations, though the ending was changed: When the Fish tired of the escalating requests, the Fish simply returned the Fisherman and his wife to their humble home. Through tales, the Fisherman’s last wish came true.