History Literature / TheFishermanAndHisWife

A kindly but poverty-stricken fisherman catches a magical fish. The fish begs him to let it go, claiming to be a prince. The fisherman lets it go and tells his wife all about it. The fisherman's wife is overbearing and greedy and she demands that he go back and ask the fish to grant him a wish out of gratitude. The fisherman does not have any desires, so the wife tells him to make the fish give them a nicer house, which is what ''she'' wants.

** In one version, the fish tells the fisherman to wish for something for himself or the fish will turn his wife into a jellyfish. The wife doesn't believe this, and guess what happens...
* EarnYourHappyEnding: Inverted. The fisherman has to risk life and limb to grant his wife's wishes. The wife meanwhile, gets to stay in her increasingly lavish home wondering what else she should wish for.

* HappilyEverAfter: In a way, the fisherman. He doesn't have to risk life and limb to keep getting his selfish wife wishes anymore and gets his shack back when he never wanted any of the lavish houses his wife wished for.

* NoNameGiven: The fish and the fisherman. PlayedWith concerning the wife as in some versions she's not named; in others she's called "Isabelle" or something similar.

* WealthyEverAfter: {{Subverted|Trope}}. The fish takes away all the wife's wishes and her and her husband go back to living in their shack.

* AnAesop: You can't always have what you want, but you can always want what you have.

* WealthyEverAfter: Subverted. The fish takes away all the wife's wishes and her and her husband go back to living in their shack.

** In a famous Russian version, the wish that finally pushes the fish over the edge is when the wife wishes to be the ruler of the sea, and to command the fish itself.

** In yet other versions, the fish would ask what the fisherman's wish is, and fisherman would say he wished his wife would be happy, to which the fish would make the wife happy with what she already has.

** Or, in the original version, rather than revoking his wishes, the fish grants the final one with a clever twist: when the fisherman tells the fish that his wife wants to be like God, they are returned to destitution, as God has no need for titles or material possessions. The "revoking wishes in outrage at just how greedy she's gotten" is a common bowdlerization to avoid mentioning God.

* SpoiledBrat: The fisherman's wife. No matter how powerful she gets or how much material wealth she acquires, she's never satisfied and keeps wanting more.

* RagsToRoyalty: The wife's increasingly powerful wishes sees her going from a peasent to a rich woman to a princess to a queen to a lord to the ruler of the entire world. [[BerserkButton The fish draws the line when she asks to be greater than God.]]

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: When the wife wishes to be like God in the original version of the story, the fish grants it by taking away all her wealth and status, for God has no need for such earthly and materal things.

* BerserkButton: The wish to control the Sun, Moon and stars. Depending on the version of the story, this is the point where either the fisherman or the fish draw the line

* BerserkButton: The wish to control the Sun, Moon and stars.

* NoNameGiven: The fish and the fisherman. PlayedWith concerning the wife as in some verisons she's not named; in others she's called "Isabelle" or something similar.
* RagsToRoyalty: The wife's increasingly powerful wishes sees her going from a peasent to a rich woman to a princess to a queen to a lord to the ruler of the enitre world. [[BerserkButton The fish draws the line when she asks to be greater than God.]]
* ResetButton: The ending. Apperantly sick of the wife's selfish desires, the fish reverts everything back to the way it was before the wishes, [[EarnYourHappyEnding much to the delight of the fisherman.]]

The fisherman's wife can not be satisfied. After gaining her castle, she demands wealth and political power. The poor fisherman is sent to ask for everything she wants. Each time, the sea becomes more turbulent and stormy. It gets to the point where the fisherman risks his very life to have his wife's wishes granted. When the wife demands to have power over the Sun, Moon and stars, ([[AGodAmI and be more powerful than God]]) the fish refuses to grant this wish and undoes all the other wishes. The fisherman then goes home to his now humbled wife in their meagre hovel.

* AGodAmI: The fisherman's wife ultimately wishes for this.

* AStormIsComing: With every wish, the sea gets a increasingly turbulent.

"The Fisherman and His Wife" is a fairy tale recorded by the Creator/BrothersGrimm. It is notably one of their few stories to have a Christian theme, given the tale's ending.

!!"The Fisherman and His Wife" provides examples of the following tropes:

* IWantMyBelovedtoBeHappy: In one version, this is what the fisherman wishes for when asked by the fish. It's implied that the fisherman would keep doing this whole routine if the fish didn't step in when he did.

* RagstoRoyalty: The wife's increasingly powerful wishes sees her going from a peasent to a ricj woman to a princess to a queen to a lord to the ruler of the enitre world. [[BerserkButton The fish draws the line when she asks to be greater than God.]]

%%* HappilyEverAfter: In a way, the fisherman.

%%* {{Jerkass}}
%%* NoNameGiven
%%* RagstoRoyalty
%%* ResetButton: The ending
%%* SpoiledBrat: The fisherman's wife.

%%* WealthyEverAfter: Subverted.

It is perhaps one of their more well-known stories, and even has its own number in the Aarne-Thompson folktale classification system.

The plot of the story is that a kindly but poverty-stricken fisherman catches a magical fish. The fish begs him to let it go, claiming to be a prince. The fisherman lets it go and tells his wife all about it. The fisherman's wife is overbearing and greedy and she demands that he go back and ask the fish to grant him a wish out of gratitude. The fisherman does not have any desires, so the wife tells him to make the fish give them a nicer house, which is what ''she'' wants.

''The Fisherman and His Wife'' is a fairy tale recorded by the Creator/BrothersGrimm. It is notably one of their few stories to have a Christian theme, given the tale's ending.

''The Fisherman and His Wife'' is a fairy tale recorded by the Brothers Grimm. It is notably on of their few stories to have a Christian theme, given the tale's ending.

It is perhaps one of their more well-known stories, and even has its own number in the Arane-Thompson folktale classification system.

''The Fisherman and His Wife'' is a fairy tale recorded by the Brothers Grimm.

The fisherman's wife can not be satisfied. After gaining her castle, she demands wealth and political power. The poor fisherman is sent to ask for everything she wants. Each time, the sea becomes more turbulent and stormy. It gets to the point where the fisherman risks his very life to have his wife's wishes granted. When the wife demands to have power over the Sun, Moon and stars, the fish refuses to grant this wish and undoes all the other wishes. The fisherman then goes home to his now humbled wife in their meagre hovel.

%%ZeroContextExamples are hidden. Tropes must always have context. A name by itself does not count as context.

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: Averted, as nothing bad happens to the couple, the wife just wants more. The fish decides to ultimately undo all these wishes, as the lack of consequence was more harmful in the end.

'''The Fisherman and His Wife''' is a fairy tale recorded by the Brothers Grimm.

* Animorphism: In some versions, the fish was originally a human prince who had everything (including his own ''species'') taken from him and must serve the peasants he originally looked down upon. Could be seen as {{Foreshadowing}}.

* EvilMatriarch

* HappilyEverAfter: In a way, the fisherman.

* IWantMyBelovedtoBeHappy: In one version, this is what the fisherman wishes for when asked by the fish. It's implied that the fisherman would keep doing this whole routine if the fish didn't step in when he did. [[FridgeHorror What more might the wife wish for if she had her way and how dangerous might the ocean become next time?]]
* {{Jerkass}}
* NoNameGiven
* RagstoRoyalty
* ResetButton: The ending
* SpoiledBrat: The fisherman's wife.

* WealthyEverAfter: Gloriously subverted.

'''The Fisherman and His Wife''' is a fairy tale by the recorded by Brother's Grimm.

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!Tropes associated with this fairy tale:

* AGodAmI: The fisherman's wife ultimately wishes for this.

* BenevolentGenie: The fish, until the fisherman's wife demands to have the powers of a god.

* SpoiledBrat: The fisherman's wife.