King was looking closely at him, and knowing how much
the King liked this particular kind of fish, the fisherman made his
obeisance, and skilfully bringing his boat to the shore, came before
the King and begged that he would accept the fish as a present. The
King was greatly pleased at this, and ordered that a large sum of money
be given to the fisherman.

But before the fisherman had left the royal presence, the Queen turned
towards the King and said: "You have done a foolish thing." The King
was astonished to hear her speak in this way, and asked how that could
be. The Queen replied:

"The news of your having given so large a reward for so small a gift
will spread through the city and it will be known as the fisherman's
gift. Every fisherman who catches a big fish will bring it to the
palace, and should he not be paid in like manner, he will go away
discontented, and secretly speak evil of you among his fellows."

"Thou speakest the truth, light of my eyes," said the King, "but can
not you see how mean it would be for a King, if for that reason he were
to take back his gift?" Then perceiving that the Queen was ready to
argue the matter, he turned away angrily, saying: "The matter is
closed."

However, later in the day, when he was in a more amiable frame of mind,
the Queen again approached him, and said that if that was his only
reason for not taking back his gift, she would arrange it. "You must
summon the fisherman," she said, "and then ask him, 'Is this fish male
or female?' If he says male, then you will tell him that you wanted a
female fish; but if he should say female, your reply will be that you
wanted a male fish. In this way the matter will be properly adjusted."

The King thought this an easy way out of the difficulty, and commanded
the fisherman to be brought before him. When the fisherman, who by the
way, was a most intelligent man, stood before the King, the King said
to him: "O fisherman, tell me, is this fish male or female?"

The fisherman replied, "The fish is neither male nor female." Whereupon
the King smiled at the clever answer, and to add to the Queen's
annoyance, directed the keeper of the royal purse to give the fisherman
a further sum of money.

Then the fisherman placed the money in his leather bag, thanked the
King, and swinging the bag over his shoulder, hurried away, but not so
quickly that he did not notice that he had dropped one small coin.
Placing the bag on the ground, he st