"The Fisherman and His Wife" Excerpt

Passage from "Fairy Tales by the Brothers Grimm"

There was once a fisherman who lived with his wife in a pigsty, close by the seaside. The fisherman used to go out all day long a-fishing; and one day, as he sat on the shore with his rod, looking at the sparkling waves and watching his line, all on a sudden his float was dragged away deep into the water: and in drawing it up he pulled out a great fish.

But the fish said, “Pray let me live! I am not a real fish; I am an enchanted prince: put me in the water again, and let me go!”

“Oh, ho!” said the man, “you need not make so many words about the matter; I will have nothing to do with a fish that can talk: so swim away, sir, as soon as you please!” Then he put him back into the water, and the fish darted straight down to the bottom, and left a long streak of blood behind him on the wave.

When the fisherman went home to his wife in the pigsty, he told her how he had caught a great fish, and how it had told him it was an enchanted prince, and how, on hearing it speak, he had let it go again.

“Did not you ask it for anything?” said the wife, “we live very wretchedly here, in this nasty dirty pigsty; do go back and tell the fish we want a snug little cottage.”

The fisherman did not much like the business: however, he went to the seashore; and when he came back there the water looked all yellow and green. And he stood at the water’s edge, and said:

“O man of the sea!

Hearken to me!

My wife Ilsabill

Will have her own will,

And hath sent me to beg a boon of thee!”

Then the fish came swimming to him, and said, “Well, what is her will? What does your wife want?”

“Ah!” said the fisherman, “she says that when I had caught you, I ought to have asked you for something before I let you go; she does not like living any longer in the pigsty, and wants a snug little cottage.”

“Go home, then,” said the fish; “she is in the cottage already!”

So the man went home, and saw his wife standing at the door of a nice trim little cottage. “Come in, come in!” said she; “is not this much better than the filthy pigsty we had?”

And there was a parlour, and a bedchamber, and a kitchen; and behind the cottage there was a little garden, planted with all sorts of flowers and fruits; and there was a courtyard behind, full of ducks and chickens. “Ah!” said the fisherman, “how happily we shall live now!”

“We will try to do so, at least,” said his wife…

Reading Comprehension Questions

1) In the above passage, which adjective best describes the fisherman’s wife?

a. optimistic

b. dissatisfied

c. content

d. stoic

2) When the fisherman goes back to visit the fish, he says, “My Wife Ilsabill, Will have her own will.” Why does he include these lines?

a. to say that his wife is always right

b. to hint that his wife will go along with what others say

c. to declare that he does not love his wife

d. to stress that he does not agree with his wife

3) Shown above is the beginning of a story that has a moral. Based on the events in the opening scene, the lesson it teaches probably focuses on which theme?

a. don’t go fishing

b. don’t be ungrateful

c. don’t live in a dirty house

d. don’t tell lies

4) When the main character goes back to the lake, he says “O man of the sea!” Who is he talking about?

a. the fisherman

b. the “pigsty” of a house

c. the fish

d. the ocean waves

5) The fisherman goes back to the sea and recites this poem:

“O man of the sea!

Hearken to me!

My wife Ilsabill

Will have her own will,

And hath sent me to beg a boon of thee!”

What is it about these lines that is most important in making it a poem?

a. the rhythm and word choice

b. the subject of the lines

c. the total number of words

d. the punctuation and spelling

6) The above passage can best be described as which of the following?

a. biographical

b. factual

c. folk tale

d. historical fiction

Answer Key

1) In the above passage, which adjective best describes the fisherman’s wife?

a. optimistic

b. dissatisfied

c. content

d. stoic

2) When the fisherman goes back to visit the fish, he says, “My Wife Ilsabill, Will have her own will.” Why does he include these lines?

a. to say that his wife is always right

b. to hint that his wife will go along with what others say

c. to declare that he does not love his wife

d. to stress that he does not agree with his wife

3) Shown above is the beginning of a story that has a moral. Based on the events in the opening scene, the lesson it teaches probably focuses on which theme?

a. don’t go fishing

b. don’t be ungrateful

c. don’t live in a dirty house

d. don’t tell lies

4) When the main character goes back to the lake, he says “O man of the sea!” Who is he talking about?

a. the fisherman

b. the “pigsty” of a house

c. the fish

d. the ocean waves

5) The fisherman goes back to the sea and recites this poem:

“O man of the sea!

Hearken to me!

My wife Ilsabill

Will have her own will,

And hath sent me to beg a boon of thee!”

What is it about these lines that is most important in making it a poem?

a. the rhythm and word choice

b. the subject of the lines

c. the total number of words

d. the punctuation and spelling

6) The above passage can best be described as which of the following?

a. biographical

b. factual

c. folk tale

d. historical fiction