A tale of greed and dissatisfaction

This tale tells a story about dissatisfaction and greed. Hans Dudeldee who is an honest and hardworking fisherman, was granted wishes by a fish. Instead of being thankful of what they they have received, his wife became greedier and kept wanting more. In the end their life was back to what it was before.

*after reading this tale, this text was used for my student's story telling competition.
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Hanns Dudeldee

Germany, Albert Ludewig Grimm

A long time ago, many hundreds of years ago, there lived a fisherman with his wife. His name was Dudeldee. They were so poor that they did not have a real house, but lived in a hut made of boards without any windows. They looked out through the knot holes. In spite all this, Dudeldee was satisfied, but not his wife. She wished for this or that and constantly tormented her husband because he could not give it to her.

Dudeldee usually said nothing, thinking only to himself, "If only I were rich," or "If only I could have everything I wished for."

One evening he was standing with his wife before their front door looking around their neighborhood. There were a number of handsome farmhouses nearby. Then his wife said to him, "If we only had a hut as good as the worst of our neighbors' houses. We could have such a one, but you are too lazy. You can't work the way other people work."

Dudeldee asked, "What? Don't I work as hard as other people? Don't I stand there fishing the entire day?"

"No!" answered his wife. "You could get up earlier and catch as many fish before daybreak as you now get during the whole day. But you are too lazy. You don't want to do anything." And thus she scolded him on and on.

So the next morning he got up early and went out to the lake to fish. By the time he saw people going to their fields to work he still had caught nothing. Noon came, and the mowers sat in the shade and ate their noon meals, and still he had caught nothing. Sadly he sat down and pulled his moldy bread from his pocket and ate it. Then he went back to fishing. The sun moved downward, and the mowers went home, the shepherds drove their herds into their enclosures, the cow herds returned home, and the fields grew quiet. But Dudeldee still stood there, and still he had not even one little fish.

It was almost dark when he thought about going home. He would throw out his net just one more time and try to catch something. He threw it out, and as if were trying to lure the fish into it, he called out:

"Little fish, little fish, in the sea!"

"What do you want, Hanns Dudeldee?"

asked a little fish that had swum up, sticking his head a little above the water.

Poor Hanns Dudeldee was startled to see the little fish, but he collected himself and thought, "If all I have to do is to want something, you will not have to ask me again."

He looked around to see what he might wish for. On the other side of the lake there stood a handsome palace from which he could hear the beautiful music of horns resounding. At the same time he thought of his wife's wish to have a better house, so he said, "I would like a country house like that one over there. I would like such a palace instead of my little board hut."

"Just go home," said the little fish. "Your board hut is now such a palace."

More running than walking, Hanns Dudeldee returned home. Already at some distance, he saw that at the place where his house formerly stood there was now a splendid palace with brightly illuminated rooms. Entering, he saw that everything was so splendid that he did not know how to behave. The entryway was paved with marble. The living-room floor was of inlaid wood, and polished with wax. The walls were covered with wallpaper. Magnificent chandeliers hung in the high halls. In short, everything was so beautiful that Hans Dudeldee did not dare to walk around inside. He could not believe that this was his property. He thought he had entered the wrong house and would have left, if his wife had not met him on the steps. He had scarcely seen her when he asked her, "Now are you satisfied with the house?" and he told her what had happened.

"What?" she answered. "Do you think that what we have here is a miracle? I saw much better houses in the city when I was in service there. It is passable, but how could you be so stupid? You forgot the best things. Just look at our clothes against this nice house! See how they stand out! At the same time you should have wished for beautiful clothes for me and for you. But you are too stupid and lazy. You don't even make use of the little bit of intelligence that you have." And thus she continued to scold and bicker until she fell asleep.

The next morning at daybreak Hanns Dudeldee went back to the same place, once again threw out his net, and once again called out:

"Little fish, little fish, in the sea!"

"What do you want, Hanns Dudeldee?"

Thus replied the little fish once again, and Dudeldee did not have to think long before saying that he wanted beautiful clothing for his wife and for himself, clothing that was appropriate for their new house.

"You have it," said the little fish, and Dudeldee stood there wearing a cloth jacket with gold braid, silk stockings and shoes, and an embroidered vest, everything in keeping with the fashion of the time.

Returning home, he would have scarcely recognized his wife in her silk clothing, but she looked out the window and asked, "Hanns, is that you?"

"Yes," he answered. "Are you satisfied now?"

"We'll see!" she answered.

Thus they lived peacefully for a time. But one day, when her husband wanted to go out fishing again, she said, "Why do you need to go fishing? Give that up and instead wish for yourself a chest filled with gold."

"Hmm, that is true!" thought Dudeldee, and he went out to the lake, once again threw out his net and called out:

"Little fish, little fish, in the sea!"

"What do you want, Hanns Dudeldee?"

asked the little fish once again.

"Oh, a chest filled with gold," he said.

"Just go home," said the little fish

And when he arrived home, standing in his bedroom was a chest filled with gold pieces.

Thus they lived high and well. She bought herself a coach and horses, and a riding horse for her husband. They often drove into the cities, and they engaged a cook and servants.

The neighbors always called her the arrogant fishwife. This annoyed her greatly, so she told her husband to make her the ruler over all the neighbors. Once again he went out with his net, threw it into the water, and called out:

"Little fish, little fish, in the sea!"

"What do you want, Hanns Dudeldee?" asked the little fish.

"I would like to be a nobleman or a count and to rule over all my neighbors."

"Just go home. It is so."

When he arrived home the neighbors were paying homage to his wife. She already had had a few of the neighbor women locked up who previously had called her the arrogant fishwife.

Now they often drove to the capital city where the king resided, wanting to join company with other counts. But they did not know how to conduct themselves with the manners of nobility, and everyone ridiculed them. Some countesses would refer to her only as Fish Countess and him as Fish Count Dudeldee.

So she again spoke to her husband, "Go out and have yourself made king. I do not want to be called Fish Countess any longer. I want to be queen."

However, Hanns Dudeldee advised her against this, saying, "Just remember how it was when we were poor, and we wished for a little hut as good as the worst of our neighbors' houses. Now we have a surplus of everything. Let us call it enough."

But his wife did not want to call it enough, and she said, "What? I am to put up with being called Fish Countess? I am to bear the city women's pride? No! They must know who I am. I shall show them! And yet you want to be so simple as to accept all this?" And thus she scolded forth, until he promised to make her queen.

Consequently he went out to the sea, repeated once again his little verse, and the little fish again appeared and again asked, "What do you want, Count Dudeldee?"

He presented the request, that he would like to be king. The little fish said, "You are!"

Returning home, he found that his palace had changed magnificently. It was now much larger. Marshals and ministers with a golden star and golden keys received him with deep bows. His head suddenly became very heavy. He wanted to take off his hat, but behold! Instead of a hat he had a heavy golden crown on his head. And when he saw his wife, he hardly recognized her, so much did her gown glisten with gold and jewels.

When he asked her if she was now satisfied, she said, "Yes, until I once again come to know something better. I would be a fool if I could be better off, and did not do so."

Thus they lived contentedly for a time, and Dudeldee's wife did not wish for anything further, for she had everything that she possibly could want. She had even taken revenge on the countesses who had called her Countess Fish. But finally she came to lack something. She read in the newspaper about the luxury and the expenditures at other kings' courts, and heard that there were other kings and emperors who ruled over many more people and over much more powerful kingdoms than did Dudeldee. Consequently she again approached him, and tormented him until he promised her to become the most powerful king on earth.

Once again he threw out his net, and called out:

"Little fish, little fish, in the sea!"

"What do you want, King Dudeldee?"

asked the little fish, and Dudeldee said, "Just make me the most powerful king or emperor on earth." And immediately that is what he was.

When he arrived home ambassadors and deputies from all the kingdoms and all the parts of the earth were there. Poor poets with poems to Atlas awaited him. Schoolmasters who needed better salaries were there with their petitions. Chamberlains, with their hats under their arms, walked back and forth. Peasants engaged in lawsuits wanted an audience. Guards walked up and down. A coach with ten horses, twenty cavaliers, and six couriers was standing there, ready to depart. In an adjacent courtyard there were peacocks and guinea fowls. In short, everything was there that would please such a great emperor. There were even two court jesters who were always near him.

 The new Emperor Dudeldee was of course angry that these two foolish people were always following him about wherever he might go, and he complained to his wife about them, for after all, he would rather be in the company of reasonable people than of fools. But she told him that he did not understand. It just had to be that way. All important gentlemen preferred to be with fools. Now he was not going to be a fool himself and make an exception.

Finally he gave in, and was happy that his wife was satisfied, but their happiness did not last long. One day he came to her and found her very sad.

"What is wrong?" he asked her.

"Oh," she said, "I am unhappy about the rainy weather. It has lasted four days now, and I would like to have some sunshine. In fact, I wish that I could do everything that God can do, so that I could have spring and summer and fall and winter exactly when I wanted them."

Thus she spoke to him, and he liked her idea as well. "Why," he thought, "then I could go out in the rain and come home in the sunshine that my wife had made. I could even get rid of the fools." Thinking this to himself, he immediately took his fishing net and slipped out a back entrance into the rain. He went to the sea, threw in his net, and again said, as before:

"Little fish, little fish, in the sea!"

"What do you want, Emperor Dudeldee?"

the little fish asked.

"Oh," he said, "only that my wife would like to be able to do whatever God can do: make rain and sunshine, and have spring and summer and fall and winter exactly when she wants them."

"So! Is that all?" asked the little fish. "No, no, Emperor Dudeldee, I see that nothing is good enough for you and your wife. Therefore become the old fisherman Dudeldee once again, for then you were not as proud and unsatisfied as you are now.

Then the little fish disappeared. Hanns Dudeldee called out repeatedly:

"Little fish, little fish, in the sea!"

But no little fish asked:

"What do you want, Hanns Dudeldee?"

And there he stood, as before, without a jacket, wearing only his dirty leather trousers. And when he returned home, the palace was gone. His little board hut was standing there again, with his wife inside in her dirty clothing and looking out through a knothole, as before, and once again she was the wife of Fisherman Dudeldee.