The king of the fishes

       There were two brothers, Amin and Idris, who lived in a fishing village. One day, while they were out in their boat, Amin's knife fell into the sea. It was a good knife and he did not want to lose it. He dived over the side of the boat into the water. When he reached the bottom of the sea, he was surprised to see a great palace. Many fishes of every kind were swimming, in and out of the front door. One fish, bigger than the rest, came to meet him. It had a blue and gold body and red eyes.

"Welcome to the Kingdom of the Fishes," he said to Amin. "Where do you come from?"

Amin explained to him that he was looking for his knife. "Oh yes. It fell in front of the palace."

Amin guessed he must be the King of the Fishes.

"Please come in," the King said. "Now you have come so far you'd better stay to dinner." He called his wife and daughters to prepare a meal for him.

Amin looked round the palace. He saw there were fishing nets, traps and hooks hanging on the walls.

"Do you know what these things are?" the King asked Amin.

Amin was about to say "yes" when he stopped himself. He thought it would be best to say that he knew nothing about fishing. The King seemed to be pleased with the way he an­swered. "Come, dinner is ready," he said.

Amin ate as much as he could and the time came for him to leave. The King gave him back his knife and a beautiful box made from sea shells. Amin opened it ... "Oh!" he cried. It was full of gold, silver, diamonds and other precious stones. The King explained to him that so much treasure was lost at sea when boats were sunk that the fishes could not use it all.

Amin swam up through the sea towards the light. His boat was still there. His brother Idris was waiting impatiently for him. "Where have you been?" he asked him. "I was just going home. I thought you would never come back."

He was amazed when Amin told him all that had hap­pened. He decided to visit the King of the Fishes himself. He went to the side of the boat and dropped his knife into the wa­ter. He dived in after it. Down, down, down he went through the green water. Just as his brother had told him, there was a great palace at the bottom of the sea. The King of the Fishes came out to meet him.

Inside the palace, he saw all the fishing nets, traps and hooks that his brother had described to him.

"Can you make fishing nets?" the King asked.

"Of course." Idris liked to boast how clever he was. "I also know how to use traps. I have some bigger hooks at home than you have here. I am a fisherman and I have caught hundreds and hundreds of fish. In fact, I was fishing from my boat just now when my knife fell into the water."

The King said nothing but some fishes who were listening swished their tails angrily.

The King called his servants to cook some food for Idris. "Do you like to eat fish?", he asked.

"Oh, yes," said Idris. "I eat fish every day at home."

After finishing the meal, Idris rose to go. The King apolo­gized for not being able to give him back his knife.

"I'm so sorry. We were unable to find your knife. But I would like to give you this present." He handed over a box to Idris.

Idris could hardly wait to leave the palace before opening it. But there were only fish heads and fishing hooks inside.

He turned back towards the palace. "Your Majesty," he cried out. "There must have been some mistake. You've given me the wrong box. I — I — I ... " He could not finish what he wanted to say because he was attacked by hundreds of fishes. He tried to escape but he slipped and fell down, and he was soon eaten up by them.

Meanwhile, in the boat far above, Amin waited for his brother until the sun sunk down. He then realized that his brother was never coming back. He sailed his boat home with his treasure-box. From that day on, he never fished again. In­stead, he bought some rice-fields with the treasure that the King of the Fishes had given him. He became well known as a farmer and lived to a great old age with his wife and family.