The Tale of the Gold-Plated Fish

Once upon a time, there was a fisherman who lived on the shore of a large lake. Every morning he set out onto the water to catch some fish. It was his livelihood.

One beautiful, sunny morning, he sat in his boat again and went out to fish. He had been sitting in the boat for a long time, and not even a fin had appeared. When he had been sitting there all morning and was beginning to despair, his rod started to twitch strangely. He pulled and began to haul. After a long struggle, he pulled a fish onto the deck of the boat.

But it was no ordinary fish; in his eyes, it seemed to be golden. So he remembered a fairy tale from his childhood and said: "Golden fish, if you grant me three wishes, I will let you back into the water."

The fish rolled its eyes and replied: "Since when did you fall from the sky, fisherman? Gold is very expensive these days, that's why I'm only gold-plated." The fisherman frowned, scratched his chin, and said: "Golden or gold-plated, it's all the same to me, if you grant me those wishes, I'll return you to the water."

The fish rolled its eyes, took a breath, and barked: "You humans, you always want some wishes granted. I'm telling you, I'm only gold-plated, but since it's you, I'll grant you one. So please think it over carefully, so you don't complain later that I cheated you."

The fisherman looked at her, thought hard, and finally said: "Gold-plated fish, I would like a beautiful house. But a really big, beautiful house. No, wait! I would like a beautiful, large house full of beautiful rooms!"

The fish grinned, a thought flashed through its head... "Wait, you fisherman, I'll show you." It smiled at the fisherman and said: "Your wish shall be granted. Now throw me into the water and row to the shore, you'll see for yourself what kind of house I've prepared for you."

The fisherman throws the fish into the water and rows back. When he reaches the shore, he sees a house as big as a barn, huge and magnificent. The fisherman rubs his hands and says to himself: "What a beautiful day I've had today."

But his good mood vanished immediately when he opened the door and a guy stood behind it, saying: "Hello, I'm from the Mortgage Bank and I need two signatures from you." The fisherman thought: "Aha, probably just some formality," picks up a pen, and signs. When the guy leaves and the fisherman reads the papers, he finds out he has just signed a mortgage for forty years and the monthly payment is twelve thousand. At that instant, he almost had a heart attack. When he calmed down after a while, he said to himself: "No, not like this, I won't leave it this way," gets into the boat, and rows to the middle of the lake. He casts his line and waits.

After about an hour, a fish gets caught on the hook. The fisherman pulls and prays in his mind that it's that gold-plated brat. And look, there really is a gold-plated fish at the end. As soon as it spots the fisherman, it knows there's trouble. It begins to beg and reassure the fisherman: "Fisherman, please don't hurt me and let me into the water, please." The fisherman smiles and says: "Sure, I'll let you go, but only after you wipe out that little debt and grant me one more wish." The fish frowns and then says: "Fine, so be it."

The fisherman's mortgage vanished, and he started on the next wish. "I would like you to create a never-ending account for me at the bank." The fish snapped its fin, and it was done. Since then, the fisherman hasn't had to go out on the water to make money. He lives in his big house and has no shortage of cash.

The bell has rung, and the fairy tale is done.