Two Friends who tried to empty the sea

Two Friends who tried to empty the sea

Once upon a time, there were two good friends. They promised to help each other if they were-in trouble. Soon, one of them married a very good woman but the other married a bad one.

One night, the man with the good wife said, 'How shall we make a living?'

'What would you like to do’ his wife asked. 'You can order me to do anything and I'll obey you.'

A few nights later, the husband said, 'Wife, I've thought of a plan which will make us rich. We'll have silver and gold and golden plates and trays.'

'What is your plan’

'A long time ago,' her husband said, 'there were many rich ships on the sea. Some were lucky and crossed the sea safely. Others sank to the bottom with all their gold and silver. Now, let's go to the shore and take all the water from the sea. When the sea is empty, we'll find all kinds of gold and silver and fish on the bottom. Tomorrow morning, boil some rice and we'll start off early for the shore.'

The next day they went down to the shore together. The man took a basket and his wife took another. They began to lift water out of the sea onto the beach. They worked hard, carrying up the water, 'Sloosh, sloosh, sloosh,' until it was time to eat. When they had finished eating, they started to work again. In the afternoon, they went home and the next morning they came back. They worked hard for five days. Then the husband looked out across the sea. 'Look,' he said, 'the sea is lower al­ready.'

'Good,' said his wife. 'Let's keep on working and in two weeks the sea will be quite dry. Then we'll have fish to eat and fish to sell and all the gold and silver from the ships at the bot­tom.'

In the evening they went home, and returned to the shore the next morning. While they worked, they said again, 'In two weeks the sea will be quite dry. Then we can take all the fish and gold and silver.'

The fish in the sea heard them and became frightened. They said to each other, 'If that is true, we'll all be dead very soon. We must go and speak to the king of the fish. Perhaps lie can save us.'

They swam off to see the king of the fish. They told him what had happened. The king listened to them and then said, "Take five jars of gold and five of silver and some golden trays. Tell the man and woman that if they stop taking the water out of the sea, you will give theta gold and the silver.'

The fish did what the king said.

When the man and his wife received the gold and silver, they were very happy. From then on, they never took any water out of the sea.

A few months later, the man with the bad wife remembered his friend. He decided to visit him. When he arrived, he found his friend was as polite and friendly as before. But he was richer now.

'My friend was very poor before,' he thought. 'I wonder what he's done to become so rich.' He said to his friend, 'I've become very poor but you are rich now. How did you do it’

'Well,' said his friend, 'I got rich by taking water out of the sea. My wife and I did it alone. She boiled some rice before day­light and we went to the shore at sunrise. In the afternoon we came home. The king of fish became frightened. He told the fish to give us jars of gold and silver to stop us from emptying the sea.'

The man with the bad wife said goodbye to his friend and went home. That night, he said to his wife, 'Boil some rice be­fore daylight and we'll start off early for the shore. We're going to empty the sea.'

But, in the morning, his wife got up late. She boiled the rice so carelessly that half of it was spilt. They left home when the sun was already high in the sky.

Day after day, they lifted the water out of the sea with their baskets. But the work was hard and they soon became angry. The fish were frightened again. They waited near the shore. They watched the man and woman_ and listened to what they said.

On the fifth day, the wife threw down her basket and said, ' We've worked here for five days and I haven't seen any gold or silver. I'm not a fool. I'm going to stop.'

When he heard this, her husband was angry. They began to quarrel. They shouted at each other. Then they started fight­ing. They fought so hard that the woman tore off her husband's sarong and he tore off hers. There they stood, naked on the beach, tired and ashamed.

'We've always been slaves,' they said, 'and we always will be. We won't become rich like this. Let's stop.'

When the fish saw them naked and ashamed on the shore, they jumped out of the water and laughed. They were very happy because they did not have to give away their gold and silver.

One fish laughed so hard that it stretched its mouth and that is why some fish now have big mouths.