middaeg | closed; Out on the Water

Who: Iramaat and Mira
When: Septeril 7th
Where: The Harbor
What: Iramaat has invited her friend boating. Things will probably be fine. Probably.
Warnings: None, yet.

[ Iramaat was actually a fan of the cooler weather, even if it meant she was going to have to layer up a bit for the journey out onto the harbor. She had prepared meticulously, packing a lunch, water, a bottle of wine (perhaps optimistically), and extra clothing. It didn't hurt to be prepared. The little craft she was manning was a little boat - perhaps meant for fishing more than pleasure cruising - but it would fit two people comfortably and the sails would help it scudd along quite nicely once they were out on the water. She was examining some of the ropes and making a few adjustments to the trim as she waited.

Hopefully Mira would be along soon - she wasn't late yet, but Iramaat was always one to want to get an early start if at all possible. As it is, she's singing a tuneless sort of sailing song to herself as she works, her hooves skipping over the wooden planks as sh practically prances from one end of the small boat to the other, looking for all the world like an experienced deckhand. Whether she is or not remains to be seen. ]

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Oh, no! There's more to it. I just wanted to see what you would say...

[ She clears her throat and checks her line before continuing. ]

So, the fisherman returned to his little hovel by the sea and he told his wife all about the fish he'd caught and then release, but she berated him for it - she said, "Why didn't you ask him for a wish? He would've given you one! Why not give us a better home! You had a magic fish and you let it get away!"

And so on. The fisherman told her, "Well, I don't want to make the fish angry," but she wouldn't hear of it and finally he gave in and went back to the calm, calm sea and called out for the flounder, who soon appeared.

"Fish," he said, "My wife says I ought to ask you for a favor - please, give her a cottage."

And the flounder said, "She is already standing at the door."

And so it was! When he returned home, instead of their miserable hovel, there was a neat and tidy cottage with a garden and a stone well and everything one could ask for...

[ There's to be more, of course, but it seems like a good spot to pause again. ]

Let me guess: there was a catch?

[There usually is. Mira is normally one fine with waiting to hear the rest but all the pauses are just...there for asking.]

Isn't there always...?

[ Iramaat smiles and then continues. ]

So, they seemed content with their lot, but after a little while the fisherman's wife said to him, "You ought to go back and ask for more. Why, if this flounder can give us a cottage, surely he can give us a mansion!"

And the fisherman, of course, didn't think this was a good idea, but his wife begged and cajoled until finally, finally the fisherman went down to the sea again and called the flounder and the flounder came and asked what it was he wanted.

"You see," said the fisherman, "My wife would love to live in a glorious mansion, with servants and all of the finery."

"Go home," replied the flounder, "She is already on the front steps."

And so she was! And again everything seemed well, until the wife again told her husband he ought to go back - "I should be empress," she told him. Again, the fisherman seemed to think this a poor decision, but again he followed his wife's instructions and called up the flounder once more.

"My wife," he said, "Would like to be empress."

"Go home," said the flounder, "The crown is on her head."

And so it was. She was surrounded by dukes and king and nobility of all sorts, waited on hand and foot and living in luxury. Finally the fisherman thought they might be content. But it wasn't to be - for shortly afterward his wife summoned him and told him, "I wish to command the sun and the stars and the heavens! Tell the flounder this!"

The fisherman did his best to persuade her not to ask such a thing, but he eventually gave in and again he returned to the sea - only this time the surface was whipped by froth and wind, but as always the flounder returned.

"My wife wishes to command the sun and the stars and the heavens," he told the flounder, sounding very wretched, "And commands that you do this for her."

The flounder merely said, "Return home. She is once again in that hovel of yours."

And so she was and so they are both there until this very day.

[ She has clearly ended her tale and she shoots Mira a grin. ]

One doesn't need fineries in order for that last one to come true.

[Probably not the moral of the story but she gets it a little. A little.]

He loved her very much to do all those things for her and even without a thank you.

I suppose he did. Although she ought, perhaps, to not have asked for quite so much as she did and been content with what she had, don't you think?

She would be considered lucky. There are many stories when those who express greed who get punished for it; losing everything that may also may be their life.

It's true. But some people don't realize that...

[ She shrugs and glances out over the waves. ]

I suppose you can take a couple different morals from it.

Appreciate what you have, don't be greedy, do good things not for honor or glory but rather just to do good for another being?

[It's a common lesson really. Mira has been paying attention to the story a bit more that she hadn't noticed her fishing line getting tighter.]

Something like that. And don't look a gift fish in the mouth, perhaps?

[ She's butchering that saying, but oh well. Then she blinks. ]

Oh-! You have a bite!

closed; Out on the Water

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