Tev
07-10-2013, 10:48 AM
When I was younger, I used to have a book of fairy tales that I read through all the time. I have since lost it to the annuls of time (may have loaned it to one of my innumerable cousins who has since lost it decades ago).
Anyway, in a bout of nostalgia, I told my girlfriend about said book from my childhood and, being the puzzle cracking librarian that she is, she wanted to help me find a copy of said book. The problems lie in the fact that my memory of this book is not what it once was. I only remember bits and pieces about it (it was a larger cream color book, it may have been attributed to Hans Christian Andersen as many of the stories in it were from his collection, it was probably published in the late 80's, etc.).
Importantly, all I can really recall with some clarity is a single story from the book about a boy who discovers a magical stone that attracts fish. I believe that it was called "The Fishing Stone," but no matter how I ply my Google-fu skills, I cannot come up with a retelling of this tale. I'm pretty sure that if I can find out more about this one story, it will help lead us to the book it was published in because a great many fairy tale books just don't have said story.
So this is where I'd like your help. I'm going to describe what I can remember from the story and see if it rings any bells for any of you.
The Fishing Stone (A re-telling from the deepest recesses of Tev's brain)
From what I remember the story centers around a young poor boy living in a village by a river that may or may not lead out to the sea. He fishes to support his family and does a decent enough job of it.
One day, he spies a glowing stone in the riverbed (in my recollection it may be emerald-like). As he watches the stone, he notices that it attracts the fish of the stream; fist small ones, then larger fish. He lights upon the idea to take the stone and use it to fish with by setting it down in the stream and grabbing the large entranced fish to toss in his fishing basket to take to market.
This plan goes over really well for a while. I forget if there is some drama in town or not about him becoming such a great fisherman. People may or may not learn about the stone. Either way, on one of his fishing excursions, he is either gobbled up by a gigantic fish that takes him to the bottom of the sea, or he runs across a talking fish that talks him into journeying with it to the bottom of the sea.
Either way, at the bottom of the sea, there is this gigantic colorful fish mural with a gaping black hole where the eye should be. The boy figures out that he needs to give up his stone and place it in the eye. It turns out that the mural is really some great sea god and, after being made whole again, may or may not do something cool for him.
And I'm pretty sure that's the end of the story.
So yeah, ring any bells?
Anyway, in a bout of nostalgia, I told my girlfriend about said book from my childhood and, being the puzzle cracking librarian that she is, she wanted to help me find a copy of said book. The problems lie in the fact that my memory of this book is not what it once was. I only remember bits and pieces about it (it was a larger cream color book, it may have been attributed to Hans Christian Andersen as many of the stories in it were from his collection, it was probably published in the late 80's, etc.).
Importantly, all I can really recall with some clarity is a single story from the book about a boy who discovers a magical stone that attracts fish. I believe that it was called "The Fishing Stone," but no matter how I ply my Google-fu skills, I cannot come up with a retelling of this tale. I'm pretty sure that if I can find out more about this one story, it will help lead us to the book it was published in because a great many fairy tale books just don't have said story.
So this is where I'd like your help. I'm going to describe what I can remember from the story and see if it rings any bells for any of you.
The Fishing Stone (A re-telling from the deepest recesses of Tev's brain)
From what I remember the story centers around a young poor boy living in a village by a river that may or may not lead out to the sea. He fishes to support his family and does a decent enough job of it.
One day, he spies a glowing stone in the riverbed (in my recollection it may be emerald-like). As he watches the stone, he notices that it attracts the fish of the stream; fist small ones, then larger fish. He lights upon the idea to take the stone and use it to fish with by setting it down in the stream and grabbing the large entranced fish to toss in his fishing basket to take to market.
This plan goes over really well for a while. I forget if there is some drama in town or not about him becoming such a great fisherman. People may or may not learn about the stone. Either way, on one of his fishing excursions, he is either gobbled up by a gigantic fish that takes him to the bottom of the sea, or he runs across a talking fish that talks him into journeying with it to the bottom of the sea.
Either way, at the bottom of the sea, there is this gigantic colorful fish mural with a gaping black hole where the eye should be. The boy figures out that he needs to give up his stone and place it in the eye. It turns out that the mural is really some great sea god and, after being made whole again, may or may not do something cool for him.
And I'm pretty sure that's the end of the story.
So yeah, ring any bells?