Russian fairy tale: The golden fish

Since I have to read Russian fairytales for my Russian classes, I thought about posting some of them on my blog. I think that if you really want to know a culture, you should also know some of their fairytales =). Plus, they are just fun to read sometimes :P

Soo...the first fairy tale is called "Золотая рыбка" - 

"The golden fish"

Once upon a time a fisherman and his wife lived in an old,  run-down shack. One day, the fisherman went to the nearby sea to catch some fish. After some time he finally did catch a fish, but it was a fish he had never seen before. The fish was golden and was able to speak like a human. The fish said:

"Spare me, old man. Through me back into the sea and some day I will be of great use to you.". The man answered: "I will never need you" - and threw the fish back into the sea. He trudged back home and told his wife what had happened. "You poor old bastard! Can't you even see luck when it's right in front of you? We don't even have a bit of dry bread left. What do you want us to eat?!" The old man went back to the sea and shouted:  "Little fish, little fish! Come here! Stay with your tale in the water but come closer with your head!". The fish came and asked: "What is it that you need, old man?" "My wife is ranting. She wants me to beg you for bread." "Return home. You will have bread"

The man returned home and saw piles of bread on the table. "Yes, bread we have", the old woman said, "but our trough split apart". So the man went to the fish again and asked him for a new trough- which was granted. No sooner had he entered the shack, than the woman urged him to go back and ask for a big new house. He went back and again shouted: ""Little fish, little fish! Come here! Stay with your tale in the water but come closer with your head!" He told the fish that his wife wanted a new house, returned home, and instead of the old shack there was a beautiful big new house.  The man entered the house and already heard the old woman shouting:

"You silly fool! You think you ask for a house- and now everything is perfect? Go back and tell the fish I no longer want to be a fisherman's wife. I want to be a tsarina, so that everyone bows down to me." The man went back to the sea, shouted: ""Little fish, little fish! Come here! Stay with your tale in the water, but come closer with your head!" and told the fish what had happened.

The fish granted the wish, and when the man came back he saw his wife sitting on a huge throne. "Hello, wife", he said, causing his wife to start ranting again. "This old fool dares to call me, the tsarina, his wife. Guards, take him to the horse stable and flog him until it hurts". After the man was flogged and beaten, he had to work as a servant. Every day he was to clean the stable ,and if any dirty space remained, he was flogged again. One day, he was sent to the tsarina.  "Old man, go to the fish. Tell him I'm tired of being only  tsarina. I want to reign over the whole ocean and over all the creatures in it." The man did as he was told, but this time the fish refused to answer. Instead, the fish swam back into the depths of the ocean. Scared what would happen to him, the old man returned to his residence. But nothing was the way it had been. The huge palace, the soldiers in front of it as well as the servants were gone. What remained was the old run-down shack and the fisherman's wife. They were poor again, and had to live like this for the rest of their lives. Many times the fisherman tried to catch a golden fish again - but the golden fish was never seen again.