Once upon a time there was a nice couple who had
no children. The man was a fisherman.
They had a dog and a cat that they treated like children.
One day, the old fisherman fished at a nearby river
until dark,but had very little luck.
"It's strange! I can't
catch a thing.
I guess I'd better call it a day,"
he said,
gathering up his things to go home.
But at that very moment, his fishing pole moved.
He grabbed up his fishing pole and pulled in a gold-colored carp.
The old fisherman looked happily at the carp
but was surprised at what he saw:
The carp was weeping as if it was pleading for its life.
"Well, I guess a day without a fish wouldn't hurt me.
"This poor fish really seems to be
begging me to spare its life,"said the fisherman
and he set the carp free.
The next day, the old fisherman went fishing as usual.
Again, he got a surprise:
A man walked out of the water and bowed to him.
"I'm a messenger from the Sea King," said the man.
"The gold carp you released yesterday is
the Sea King's son.
The Prince ordered me to bring you to the palace."
"But . . . How can I go there?"
"Don't worry. Accept his invitation, please."
As soon as the man finished speaking,
he helped the old fisherman onto
the back of a turtle
he had brought and they all went under water.
How could the old fisherman breathe under water?
Well, maybe the man from the underwater
world cast a spell on him.
Anyhow, the fisherman arrived at the palace
and the Sea King and the
Prince greeted him warmly.
"Welcome to our palace!
Thank you for saving my life," said the Prince.
"I would like to repay the kindness you showed my son.
Enjoy yourself,"said the Sea King .
The fisherman enjoyed life at the palace,
wearing luxurious clothes and
tasting delicious dishes
that he had never seen before.
Nevertheless, as time went by, he grew
bored with
partying everyday
and missed his wife very much.
The Prince realized that the fisherman was sad and said to him,Tell him you would like to have a blue bead."
Without knowing why, the fisherman did as the Prince said.
The Sea King gave a blue bead to the
old man as a gift and
told him,
"There is nothing like this bead in my kingdom.
It will provide you with anything you want."
The fisherman took the blue bead and
returned home on a turtle's back.
"I have a surprise for you. Look at this bead.
We can have whatever we want."
The old fisherman told his wife how he had spent
the past few days.
With a happy smile, she made her first wish.
"bead, oh my bead!
Let me have a luxurious house instead of this shabby cottage!"
Immediately, a superb house appeared right before their eyes.
The old couple became very rich because
they could get everything they possibly wanted.
A greedy hag who lived right across the river
heard about the old couple and their bead.
"I want that bead. If only I had that
blue bead . . .How can I take it away from them?"
After thinking about it for a long time,
the hag disguised herself as a
peddler of fancy goods and stopped by
the old couple's house with a fake bead.
"I heard that you had a magical bead like this one,"
she said, showing the fisherman's wife her bead.
"Could you show me yours?
I wonder how much alike they look?"
The fisherman's wife was so naive that
she showed her blue bead to the hag.
Pretending to compare the beads, the hag replaced
the blue one with her fake one.
With the loss of
the bead,
the old couple's nice house turned into a small
cottage again and all their fortune disappeared.
"My goodness! The wicked woman fooled me!
What can I do?"
the fisherman's wife cried out with anger.
On learning about their misfortune,
the old fisherman became dumbstruck.
Aware of their masters' grief, the couple's
dog and cat discussed the matter,
"Well, Kitty, we should get the bead
back for them.
They have always
treated us so nicely, just like
we were
their children.
Now is the time for us to help them."
The dog and cat found out where
the hag lived and crossed the river with
the cat riding on the dog's back.
But the greedy hag had locked all her doors
to keep from losing the bead.
"Do you have a plan?" asked the dog.
It seemed like there was no way to enter
the house.
As they were passing by a shed,
they heard the squeaking of mice.
The cat rushed to the chief mouse like an arrow.
She put her foot on the mouse's neck
and shouted to the other mice,
"If you want to save
your boss, go find the blue bead."
"Please, spare his life. We'll be back with the bead.
The mice ran into the hag's bedroom and
brought
the bead back to the
dog and the cat.
"Yes, that's it!" cried the cat and perked up proudly.
The dog and the cat hurried to cross the
river before the hag could chase them.
Half way across the river,
the dog began to worry about the bead.
"Kitty, is the bead all right?"
he asked. But how could the cat
answer with the bead in her mouth?
Impatiently, the dog growled at the "cat".
"Why don't you answer my question?
Do you intend to keep it for yourself?
This made the cat angry and she forgot
about the bead in her mouth.
"What?" she asked and as soon as she opened
her mouth, the bead dropped into the river.
"My goodness!
You made me drop the bead into the water!"
At a loss for words, the dog continued
across the river.
"Kitty, I'm sorry you lost the
bead because of me," said the dog
when they got to shore.
"But what can we do about it?
The bead is deep in the water."
The dog suggested that they just go home.
However, the cat couldn't
take a step because of her great regret.
At sunset, she was still sitting beside the
river when a group of fishermen
returned from fishing.
"What's that cat doing here?
It must be hungry. Here you go!"
One of the fishermen, happy after a good day
on the river, threw a fish to the cat.
The cat was very hungry so
she took a bite of the fish immediately.
"Crack!"
"Ouch! What is this?"
As soon as the cat felt something hard
between her teeth, she spat it out.
Do you know what it was?
The lost bead was inside the fish's stomach.
"It's the bead! I found it!"
The happy cat returned home at once.
"Oh, my sweet kitty, you're a really good girl!"
The old fisherman and his wife
were delighted to have the bead back.
They became rich again and loved
the cat even more.
They gave the cat tasty food and let
her live in the house with them.
"The dog, on the other hand,
had to live in the backyard and was given
only leftover
food.
The cat said to the dog,
"You, stupid dog!
You should feel lucky to get scraps."
Since then, dog's and cat's have growled
at each other whenever they meet.
