ay as he was fishing
he caught in his net the finest fish he had ever seen, the scales all
gold and eyes as bright as diamonds; and just as he was going to take
it out of the net what do you think happened? The fish opened his jaws
and said, "I am the King of the Fishes, and if you throw me back into
the water you will never want a catch." The fisherman was so surprised
that he let the fish slip into the water, and he flapped his big tail
and dived under the waves. When he got home he told his wife all
about it, and she said, "Oh, what a pity, I have had such a longing to
eat such a fish."

Well, next day the fisherman went again a-fishing and, sure enough, he
caught the same fish again, and it said, "I am the King of the Fishes,
if you let me go you shall always have your nets full." So the
fisherman let him go again; and when he went back to his home he told
his wife that he had done so. She began to cry and wail and said, "I
told you I wanted such a fish, and yet you let him go; I am sure you
do not love me." The fisherman felt quite ashamed of himself and
promised that if he caught the King of the Fishes again he would bring
him home to his wife for her to cook. So next day the fisherman went
to the same place and caught the same fish the third time. But when
the fish begged the fisherman to let him go he told the King of the
Fishes what his wife had said and what he had promised her. "Well,"
said the King of the Fishes, "if you must kill me you must, but as you
let me go twice I will do this for you. When the wife cuts me up throw
some of my bones under the mare, and some of my bones under the bitch,
and the rest of my bones bury beneath the rose-tree in the garden and
then you will see what you will see."

So the fisherman took the King of the Fishes home to his wife, to whom
he told what the fish had said; and when she cut up the fish for
cooking they threw some of the bones under the mare, and some under
the bitch, and the rest they buried under the rose-tree in the garden.

Now after a time the fisherman's wife gave him two fine twin boys,
whom they named George and Albert, each with a star on his forehead
just under his hair, and at the same time the mare brought into the
world two fine colts, and the bitch two puppies. And under the
rose-tree grew up two rose bushes, each of which bore every year only
one rose, but what a rose that was! It lasted through the summer and
it lasted through the winter and, mos