The Clever Fisherman

• Matthew Palmer, Grade 7
• Short Story
• 2008

Long ago, near a palace in Japan, a prince saw a baby deer and told his guards to capture it.

Days later, just before the sun came up, a fisherman started for the river but just before he left the palace he heard something. At first he thought it was just his imagination but then later on in the day, when he was bringing back the fish he had caught for the village, he heard it yet again.

That evening, after he had taken the fish to the village, he went back and started looking. A few minutes later he found the cause of the noise. It was the deer the prince had caught. It’s slowly dying the fisherman thought, it’s not in the environment it’s meant to be in.

That night he turned into his monkey form and crept passed all the guards and got to the cage the deer was in. He then put a hole in the cage big enough for the deer to get through without hurting itself. Then he turned back to his human form and helped the deer out. It was at that moment the prince came down to check on the deer but instead found the fisherman putting the deer down. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING!” cried the prince.
“I am returning it to its natural environment. You were killing it,” replied the fisherman calmly.
“GUARDS!” yelled the prince. “Take him to the dungeons. He will be executed in one week.”

The day before the fisherman was to be executed the prince came down and told him he would be escorted to any loved ones to say goodbye, however the fisherman said he wanted to take the prince to a nearby forest. When they got there the fisherman told the prince how much better the deer was out there. Once they had finished the prince took the fisherman back to the dungeons.

Deep into the night the prince went down to the dungeons to tell the fisherman he was free because he agreed with the fisherman how much better the animals were in there environment.

At the crack of dawn the next day the prince sent messengers all over the land to stop people from cutting down the forests and to save as many trees as possible.