Chapter 14: The Silver Scale

ONCE UPON A TIME, when most of the world was covered by water and only islands had dry land, there was a poor fisherman named Carpface, who lived on his boat with his nets and scaling knives and little else. He fished the waters of the great sea, trading his catch on docks of the various islands that he came to.

It was a time when the world was still filled with mystery and new discoveries. Carpface heard stories of new wonders each time he docked at the islands, but he never imagined that he would experience one of these wonders himself.

So, it was a surprise to Carpface when on a night with a sliver of moon for light, as he plied his nets in a deep lagoon, he heard a voice from the water.

“Help me! Help me!” said the voice. “I don’t want to come from the water. Let me go!”

Carpface looked around to find out who was calling to him. He was alone on the water for as far as the eye could see. But when the voice came again, he looked down at his nets. There, caught in the web, was a silver fish, whose scales shone in the faint moonlight. The fish was so beautiful that it made Carpface gasp for breath. But most amazing was the voice coming from the fish.

“Please don’t take me away from the clear blue waters of the sea!” begged the fish. “Let me go and I will give you amazing good fortune.”

“What a wonder!” said Carpface. “I never thought to see such a thing. My fortune could be made by taking this amazing fish to the villages. People would give me a great house because Carpface has a talking fish with silver scales!”

At this, the fish thrashed desperately in the net.

“This I will give to you and more,” said the fish. “I will give to you a wife and wealth and a home and more, if only you will leave me in the sea.”

Carpface considered this.

“But how am I to know this?” asked Carpface. “If I let you go in the sea, I will have nothing. You will swim away and I will continue to spend my life a poor soul without so much as a story to tell.”

“Fisherman,” said the silver fish, “this is how you will prove you have seen me. Take one of my silver scales. You can show people the scale to prove that you saw me. But my scales are more than pure silver. If you dip the scale in the sea, I will come to you.”

Now, Carpface was a simple man, but he was basically good of heart. He believed the fish, and having plucked a silver scale from its side, he set it free in the deep sea. No sooner had the fish slipped away than Carpface’s nets were overwhelmed with a catch of fish larger than any he had seen before. He struggled to haul his nets and the fish into the boat, almost swamping it, and rowed the foundering craft to the nearest island.

It was daybreak when Carpface reached the docks. People were standing at the shore and all the other boats had docked before him. Carpface despaired that he was the last to reach the dock and that people would all have bought their fish from the other fishermen before he got there.

But when he beached his boat, he discovered quite the opposite. For the fifth day in a row all the fishing boats for this island had come back empty. The people were becoming desperate for food and were near rioting against the fishermen. But when Carpface arrived with a boat laden with fish, the angry crowds calmed.

The other fishermen rushed to help Carpface with his haul and he was treated as a savior for both the people and the fishermen. When the fish had all been sold or traded, Carpface had more money than he had ever seen before. The fishermen all wanted to know where he had made such a fine catch. The innkeeper gave Carpface his best room and a meal made of his own fish. Carpface was a hero.

After he had eaten a fish-filled breakfast in the morning, Carpface walked out along the beach near the village. When he was alone, he pulled the silver scale from his pocket and dipped it in the sea. In only a moment, the water churned and the silver fish appeared a few feet away.

“What is it you want?” asked the fish.

“Why, I only wanted to thank you,” said Carpface. “I have sold a great number of fish and am now a wealthy man. The catch I made after I set you free saved this island from starvation. I am truly grateful to you.”

“And you called me just to thank me?” asked the fish.

“Yes, sir fish. I am a humble fisherman. You have made me a gentleman,” answered Carpface sincerely.

“Then you shall have more,” said the fish. “I am not finished yet.”

The fish disappeared beneath the waves and suddenly Carpface heard a distant scream. He looked around and saw a young woman on a spit of land some ways away. She had been gathering clams when the tide turned. Now, she was wholly surrounded by the sea that closed in on her rapidly.

Carpface did not stop to think, but dove into the waters and swam to reach the woman. He picked her up in his arms and carried her to safety with his strong strokes. When they had reached the safety of the beach, he set her gently on the sand.

“You are the bravest of men,” said the young woman. “I will take you to my father so you can be rewarded for saving me.”

With that, she led Carpface to the finest house in the town. Her father, as it happened, was the wealthiest man on the island, and was deemed both a wise man and a prince. When he heard what his daughter had to say about how Carpface bravely swam the sea to rescue her, and saw the way his daughter looked at the fisherman, the prince made his judgment.