The Fisherman's Wife And the merchant' Wife
once upon a time, long ago, there lived a very poor couple. The husband was a hard-working Fishman. Each evening he would send in the river his traps
made of bamboo and reeds and then, the next morning, he would collect the fish caught in them . His wife was a very pretty woman but careless and untidy.
Their small hut on the river bank was never clean and as she was too lazy to mend their clothes both of them walked around in latter.
Every morning, the couple would go out together to collect the fish caught during the night. The husband would put them in a big basket his wife carried
on her back while he gathered in the traps. The basket had a hole in it which the lazy woman never bothered to repair so that as she followed her husband along the river's
edge many fish fell out. This meant that although the market and so could not earn much money to buy vegetables, rice and clothes.
Another couple lived on the riverside the husband was a trader who bought and sold cloth and household good up and down the river. One day the merchant's
wife saw that about half the fisherman's who worked so hard and whose fish were lost because of his wife's carelessness. with only a latter effort both f them could be much better off she thought, so she said to the woman why don't you take some reeds and grass and mend basket? it wouldn't take you long.
when her husband heard her speak like this he was very angry why do you interfere? he said what they do is none of your business then he saw that although
the fisherman's wife was very untidy she was very, very pretty. If you care so much for that poor man, he told his wife you can go and live with him and I'll
take his wife to live with me. And the more he looked at the fisherman's wife the prettier she seemed. shall we exchange wives, Fishman? he asked.
the poor Fishman didn't know what you say. It doesn't seem right. I have so litter how could I keep a woman who is used to having everything she wants?
she's so concerned about you she must like you replied the merchant I am happy to exchange her for your wife And so the fisherman agreed and the merchant's
wife went to live with him and the fisherman's wife became the mistress of the trading boat.
Straight away the merchant's wife ended the fish basket and the next day for the first time in his life, the had a big surplus of fish to sell at the market
Every day from then on the couple had plenty of fish to sell and soon they were able to leave the hut by river and river in a good house
the woman looked to the future too she didn't want husband to remain a Fishman all his life she hoped he would find an easier job that brought in more
money. because his previous wife hadn't fed him well, he wasn't very fit, so she prepare good food for him and encouraged him to do exercises every morning and go
for a run before breakfast to build up his body .At same time she showed him how to be thrifty When you run don't waste your time she told him if you see
any small piece of wood lying around pick them up and bring them back to me so that we don't have to buy wood to cook with
soon the fisherman became strong and could run far into the forest each morning one day he brought back a piece of sandalwood among the other sticks.
because she sent her had lived so long with the merchant the woman knew this perfumed wood was very valuable and much in demand for making ornament fan and boxes she
sent her husband back into the forest to look for sandalwood trees and very soon they stopped earning their living from fishing Instead, the husband cut down sandalwood that
his wife sold to merchants she was so careful in the house and managed the selling so pleasantly and they could hire people to work for them they became very rich And because they worked
well together they were also very happy.
in the meantime, the pretty , lazy woman who had to live with the merchant cared for nothing but herself. she don't clean the boat or help with the business. She didn't cook or make clothiers.
she just bought whatever she wanted and ate and slept her life away when she had a baby she didn't even bother to wash its nappies but simply threw
the dirty ones away and cut new ones from the supply of cloth her husband had on the boat she was so careless and helped so litter that the business
went badly and the husband had to sell his boat. because he was the only one who worked and his new wife didn't look after the money he earned they became
poorer and ended up as beggars.
