ASSIGNMENT 1: Creative Writing: A Fairy Tale
Selection: The Fisherman and his Wife
Research:
The Fisherman and his wife is a German Fairy Tale, written down by the Brothers
Grimm in 1812. (Wikipedia, Accessed Apr 2022-04-24). It is a tale of greed, centred on
the question: When is enough, enough?
The tale follows the life of a fisherman with a kind heart that happens to catch a magical
talking fish upon day. As the fish begs to be released for he is an enchanted prince, the
fisherman agrees and he is offered a wish. The Fisherman and his wife live in a
shack/hovel, so he wishes for a little cottage to make his wife happy. Unfortunately no
matter how many wishes they get, the wife remains ungrateful, and dissatisfied and
keeps sending him back for more material objects. The sea grows stormier with every
wish till inevitably the magical fish has had enough and sends the man back to his
shack/hovel.
It is not a typical Fairy tale with a happily ever after ending, but rather an anti- fairy tale
ending in disappointment. There are however some versions where the wife realise she
has all she needs in her life and with her husband and it ends on a slightly happier note.
I chose the Fisherman and his Wife as it has a more original fairy tale ending, before
Tales became “Disneyfied”. Fairy Tales as we have learnt were not written for children
originally and carried moral and life lessons. As adults this is an applicable theme and
challenge to overcome.
Reference list:
Wikipedia/ Common Domain/ The Fisherman and his Wife
The Fisherman and his Wife- Fairy Tale (March 25, 2019)
https://classicalteachersjournal.com. #8 The Fisherman and his Wife.
Arengo, S.,(2017)
https://theyellowtilepath.files.wordpress.com/2017/the_fisherman_and_his_wife_ocr.pdf.
The Fisherman and his Wife.
https://www.anderson1.org/cms/lib04/SC01000609/Centricity/Domain/1668/The%20Fis
herman%20and%20His%20Wife.pdf
Mental Floss- 11 Lesser Known Fairy Tales, www.mentalfloss.com>article
Owens, G.,(2013) History of Fairy Tales- A short Essay on the creation of Fairy Tales,
https://youtu.be/NIFOIQU56FY.
Top 10 Dark Fairy Tales, https://youtu.be/2mTpu-BfAGk
Fairy Tale Illustrations, A 130 years of Brothers Grimm, http://www.pinterest.com.
Netflix Series: (2021) A Tale Dark & Grimm (Accessed 17 Apr 2022)
The Simpsons Season 23: E6 – The Book Job, Homer and Bart write a Novel, Part 1,
(Accessed 13 Apr 2022)
The Three Wishes
Once upon a very recent time, in a place not too far away, a man was driving home,
wondering what he could get his wife to make her happy. She was always complaining
that the neighbours had more. He wasn’t a very rich man, and they didn’t have much,
but he always tried to do something special to show her how much he appreciated her.
In fact, as the man sat in traffic he couldn’t help but think she was no housewife, but he
still loved her.
As he was deep in thought about how he could make his wife happy, he saw an old lady
crossing the road. As he waited for the light to turn green he suddenly saw a taxi
coming from the other side at a terrifying speed. The old lady was so focussed on
crossing the road, she was not aware of the danger approaching her.
As the man jumped out of the car he could see the taxi speeding closer. He could hear
honking and shouting. He wasn’t sure if it was for the taxi, the old lady or because he
just left his car running. Just in time he managed to pull the lady out of the way to
safety. The taxi sped past. He turned towards the old lady. “Are you ok, ma’m?” he
panted.
“My dear man, you have saved my life today! If not for you I would be dead! How can I
repay you?” What the man didn’t realise was that he had inadvertently saved the life of
a very, very old witch. She offered him three wishes.
Now this man was a simple and content man and he didn’t want or wish for much. After
some thought he said that if anything, he would like make his wife happy. The witch
replied that it was already done and turned to walk away. The man watched as she
entered a little hovel with a blue door, and then drove home, not thinking much more of
it.
As the man pulled up in his driveway where their tiny but cozy house stood, he was
surprised to see that in its place was a beautiful townhouse surrounded by a neat little
garden. A brand new car was parked in front. He rushed in excitedly to see his wife’s
expression.
Elated, the wife rushed to him, laughing and showing him everything new. He had not
seen his wife smile in many years. Finally she would be happy and would not have to
compare herself to the neighbours.
Of course his wife wanted to know how this all came about and so he told her about the
witch’s life he saved and the three wishes she had offered him. Immediately her little
beady eyes started shining and she insisted that he should use another one of his
wishes. She wanted all the trimmings of a luxury life, the mansion in the right suburbs,
the designer clothes, the handbags, the gym membership, the golf membership for that
matter as well, and sent him straight back.
Reluctantly, the next day the man walked up to the old witch’s house and knocked on
the blue door. When she opened the door a ghastly wind started blowing all around
them.
As he asked for everything his wife now wanted he felt embarrassed and sad. Did his
wife not know that some of the poorest people in the world are the ones that have all the
money? Still, the old lady replied:“It is already done”.
As he drove back slightly faster than usual, he desperately hoped that this would be
enough to keep his wife happy for the rest of their lives. What more could she possibly
desire? As he pulled up to the security gate and drove across what looked to be a lake,
he was astonished to see the latest, fastest cars parked outside what the biggest
mansion he had ever seen. His wife was already waiting for him inside, looking almost
happy. Could it be?
Only a week later he was sitting at the dinner table being served by the new staff,
enjoying his meal of roast leg of lamb, baked potatoes and all the dessert he could think
of, when his wife looked up and very slyly asked him to go back to the old witch as she
had decided she wanted more. She wanted to own a building, live in the penthouse, be
on the Forbes list and travel all over the world in a private jet.
Once again the man drove back to the old witch’s place. As he did, dark clouds started
building up, rain poured down. With a bad feeling and a heavy heart he knocked on the
blue door for his third and final wish. He knew this was not going to bode well. As the
old woman opened with a sad face he relayed his wife’s wish. And as before but ever so
irritated the old lady replied “Go home, it is already done”.
Knowing that no person should be so greedy, he drove back with trepidation. Surely she
knew that you should not look a gift horse in the mouth? A sense of misery washed over
him as he turned into their street. As he had suspected, he parked in front of their old
house, cozy but tiny. Unfortunately he also realised that nothing would ever be enough
for his greedy, lazy wife. And that they would spend the remainder of their lives, forever
dissatisfied.