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The man’s eyes widened when he heard something even more spectacular: the Fish began to speak!

“Help me, dear human!” the fish called out in a voice musical even when filled with fear. “Unhook me, and I shall grant a wish!”

“What sort of wish?” the man replied with narrowed eyes.

“Any sort! Of any kind! One worth as much as me.”

“If it’s only as much as you, surely just keeping you would be safest? I can sell your scales and eat of your flesh.”

“Oh but then dear sir, you would be eating of the flesh of an intelligent creature such as yourself, one with consciousness and feelings and, of course, a family!” The fish cries out with such emotion that tears emerge from the corner of its diamond eyes and drip down to the ground with a clatter.

“A family…” the man drawls. His mind is not on families, but instead on the rubies and emeralds and sapphires produced from the fish’s suffering.

The fish unceremoniously finds itself stuffed into a bag, pole and bracelet and all. The man swiftly returns home, avoiding the townspeople along the way.

His wife welcomes him home at the door. Her worn apron is patched over with scraps of old sun-faded curtains. She wears a bitter smile, not at all hidden as her hair is tied up with a piece of yarn leftover from when she made the fisherman’s sweater.

“Have you brought home supper?” she asks. “It usually takes much longer, the sun hasn’t even reached peak. I know you haven’t rushed here for love of me.”

“Oh, you nag, you curious black cat of bad luck! No, I haven’t got supper. Cook up some stew with old jerky or go buy a chicken to slaughter. Leave me be.” The man rushes to the bath with his prize, jealously still hidden in his bag.

He tosses the fish into the small tub and splashes it with a bucket of water reserved for face washing. He leaves the fish hooked upon the rod and holds the rod between his hands which have turned white with the strength of his clutching.

“You cruel man! You could have slaughtered me and been done with it! You could have let me free! Why would you catch me and keep me here?” The fish, despite its dire circumstances, finds itself at no loss for words. Perhaps that is the magic of a magic fish.

“Hah! You will never see your family again! You will stay here and suffer!” The man shouts in order to scare out more precious tears.

The wife, long forgotten, hears these words. She thinks of her parents, whom they see seldom even near the holidays. She thinks of her dowry, spent on nothing. She thinks of her life and her empty love.

She thinks of herself and of her husband and their rotten, empty life.

The husband sits in the bathroom until the an hour before twilight, at which time the lady of the house calls him for supper. The fish lays in the tub, spirits fallen and tears still falling.

Meanwhile, the man eats almost the full chicken that the wife had gone out and bought and gutted and cleaned and cooked. He ate of it with the gusto of a poor man made rich.

A handful of gems lies heavily in his pocket. “You be good and stay here!” he tells his wife as he prepares for a night on the town. “And remember to stay out of the bath! A hag like you doesn’t need to wash anyway!”

Of course, when one so disagreeable tells you you ought not do something, the first natural impulse is to partake in whichever activity they find vile. And so, the wife no sooner than sees her husband leave than sprints to the bath and shoves open the door.

At this point, the sun has set over the hills and the bathroom lies in shadow. At least it should, that is. In the tub, that most precious fish glows with a beautiful light refracted by a tub full of gems and tears.

The fish remains quiet and still for only a moment before again crying out:

“Oh lady, has that horrible man kidnapped you as well? Or are you one just like him and come to torture me?”

“I am both, I am afraid.” The woman responds. “I am that man’s partner, willing before, begrudgingly now, and perhaps unwillingly in the future. I take it that he did not propose marriage to you, so at what price have you come to be here?”