The Silver Scale

Once upon a time when most of the world was covered by water and only islands had dry land, there was a poor fisherman named Carpface who lived on his boat with his nets and scaling knives little else. He fished the waters of the great sea, trading his catch on docks of the various islands that he came to. It was a time when the world was still filled with mystery and new discoveries. Carpface heard stories of new wonders each time he docked at the islands, but he never imagined that he would experience one of these wonders himself.

So it was a surprise to Carpface when on a night with a sliver of a moon for light as he plied his nets in a deep lagoon, he heard a voice from the water.

“Help me! Help me!” said the voice. “I don’t want to come from the water. Let me go.”

Carpface looked around to find out who was calling to him. He was alone on the water for as far as the eye could see. But when the voice came again, he looked down at his nets. There, caught in the web of his net was a silver fish whose scales shone in the faint moonlight. The fish was so beautiful that it made Carpface gasp for breath. But most amazing was that the voice was coming from the fish.

“Please don’t take me away from the clear blue waters of sea!” begged the fish. “Let me go and I will give you amazing good fortune.”

“What a wonder,” said Carpface. “I never thought to see such a thing. My fortune could be made by taking this amazing fish to the villages. People would give me a great house because Carpface has a talking silver fish!”

At this the fish thrashed desperately in the net.

“This I will give to you and more,” said the fish. “I will give to you a wife and wealth and a home and more,” said the fish, “if only you will leave me in the sea.”

Carpface considered this.

“But how am I to know this?” asked Carpface. “If I let you go in the sea, I will have nothing. You will swim away and I will continue to spend my life a poor soul without so much as a story to tell.”

“Fisherman,” said the silver fish, “this is how you will prove you have seen me. Take one of my silver scales. You can show people the scale to prove that you saw me. But my scales are more than pure silver. If you dip the scale in the sea, I will come to you.”
Now Carpface was a simple man, but he was also basically kind. He believed the fish, and having plucked a silver scale from its side, he set it free in the deep sea. No sooner had the fish slipped away than Carpface’s nets were overwhelmed with a catch of fish larger than any he had ever seen before. He hauled his nets and the fish into his boat, almost swamping it, and rowed the floundering craft to the nearest island.

It was daybreak when Carpface reached the docks. People were standing at the shore and all the other boats had docked before him. Carpface despaired that he was the last to reach the dock and that people would all have bought their fish from the other fishermen before he got there. But when he pulled up, he discovered quite the opposite. For the fifth day in a row all the fishing boats for this island had come back empty. The people were becoming desperate for food and were near rioting against the fishermen. But when Carpface arrived with a boat laden with fish, the angry crowds calmed. The other fishermen rushed to help Carpface with his haul and he was treated as a savior for both the people and the fishermen. When the fish had all been sold or traded, Carpface had more money than he had ever seen before. The fishermen all wanted to know where he had made such a fine catch. The innkeeper gave Carpface a fine room and a meal made of his own fish. Carpface was a hero.

After he had eaten a fine breakfast, Carpface walked out along the beach near the village. When he was sure he was alone, he pulled the silver scale from his pocket and dipped it in the sea. In only a moment, the silver fish appeared in the water a few feet away.

“What is it you want?” asked the fish.

“Why, I only wanted to thank you,” said Carpface. “I have sold a great number of fish today and am now a wealthy man.”

“And you called me just to thank me?” asked the fish.

“Yes, sir fish. I am a humble fisherman. You have made me wealthy,” answered Carpface sincerely.

“Then you shall have more,” said the fish. “I am not finished yet.” The fish disappeared beneath the waves and suddenly Carpface heard a scream. He looked up and saw a young woman on a spit of land some ways away. She had been gathering clams when the tide began to come in and was now wholly surrounded by the sea that closed in on her rapidly. Carpface did not think, but dove into the waters and swam to reach the woman. He picked her up in his arms and carried her to safety with his strong strokes. When they had reached the safety of the beach, he set her gently on the sand.

“You are the bravest of men,” said the young woman. “I will take you to my father so you can be rewarded for saving me.” With that she led Carpface to the finest house in the town. Her father, as it happened was the wealthiest man in the community, and was deemed both a wise man and a prince. When he heard what his daughter had to say about how Carpface bravely swam the sea to rescue her, and saw the way his daughter looked at the fisherman, the prince made his judgment.

“Carpface the Fisherman,” he said, “you have saved our town and now you have saved my daughter. It is only fitting that you should be rewarded according to your bravery and your beneficence. You shall have the hand of my daughter in marriage, and from this day forward you shall be my son and heir to my estates.”

It was not long thereafter that Carpface and the young woman were married. He lived in the finest house of the island and when his father-in-law died, he became the ruler of all the land and people. He became old and rich with years and happiness, all because of his mercy to the silver fish, and his politeness in thanking it.

You might believe that Carpface lived happily ever after, and not be far from correct. But when Carpface’s son came of age, Carpface decided to tell the story at last. He rose and told all that I have told you now, but people did not believe him. They thought the story was the sign of the dotage of a respected leader. That is when Carpface pulled the silver scale from his pocket and held it so that all could see.

They were amazed. No one had ever seen silver so pure and so brilliant. The silver scale became the talk of the city, and soon the story spread from island to island. This drew strangers to the city over which Carpface ruled—strangers who came for no other reason than to see the scale and perhaps to gain it for themselves. And so it happened that as he walked one day by the sea where he had walked so many times before, Carpface was set upon by robbers and was killed. The silver scale disappeared with the attackers and in his death, Carpface was honored and buried by the people and his son ascended to the throne.

Over the years, people have whispered about the silver scale and have speculated about where it is and what happened to those who stole it, but only I know what happened next.

The brigands fought among themselves over who would own the silver scale until only one was left. This one set out in a boat and when he was alone on the seas, he dipped the scale in the water. The silver fish that rose to greet the pirate was not a tiny fish like Carpface had seen. Many years had passed and the fish had grown to almost the size of a man.

“Carpface, is that you?” asked the fish.

The pirate was awed by the size of the fish and all the glittering silver scales that covered its body.

“Ah… Greetings Silver Fish,” said the pirate as he maneuvered closer. “I bring you news. Your old friend Carpface has died. I have come at his last request to return your silver scale to you.” Now the great silver fish was saddened, for Carpface had been kind, grateful, and a good leader for his people.

“Thank you for bringing me this news,” said the fish. “And for returning the scale I gave him.”

The pirate waited for a reward from the fish, but the fish said nothing further.

“Is that all?” asked the pirate angrily. “Is there no reward for this?”

“What do I owe you for returning that which is mine?” asked the fish.

“Carpface had wealth, family, power,” said the brigand. “That is what I would have.”

“You are not worthy of these,” said the fish, “for I see now that you did not bring me word of these things for any reason but that you caused them to happen. You shall reap the reward of your deeds, just as Carpface reaped wealth and happiness.”

At that the pirate was so angered that he threw the anchor at the great fish and struck him senseless. It was still a great struggle, however, before the pirate was actually able to kill the silver fish and pull him into his boat. He greedily began to strip the fish of the silver scales, declaring over and over that he was now rich and would be a great man with the silver of the fish’s scales.

But this was an age of wonders, and the wonders were not over yet. The pirate scarcely noticed that as he stripped the scales from the great fish, they clung to his hands and then his arms. In his greedy scaling of the fish he scarcely noticed that the scales covered his face and his body. And when he finished scaling the fish and had dumped the body overboard, he looked around him and saw only one silver scale left in the boat, for the rest coated his own body. Now, looking at his hands and body, he began to itch and yearn for a bath in the sea. He dove into the water and disappeared. For all that had happened, only one silver scale was left.

Now, you might ask how I know this part of the tale. It is because I have that silver scale and I have spoken to the great silver fish and heard his story. Any man who catches and kills the silver fish is cursed to become him in his turn.

***

Steven watched as Tavis the Fisherman removed a leather pouch from his waist and emptied its contents into his hand. There lay one large silver fish scale. This, the fisherman handed to Steven.
“It is yours now,” said the fisherman. “As I get older, I get more tempted to use it to call the fish and take its wealth for my own. But that path is doom for a fisherman. Perhaps you will find a better way.”

Steven began to protest, but when he looked up at the fisherman, he found him sound asleep. Steven dropped the scale in his pocket and drifted off to sleep himself. In the morning he told his story to Tavis the Fisherman.

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