When we were small children, Valliammachy used to come visiting us and stay with us occasionally. Dinner time was also story time. We four children used to love her stories.
This is the story of a fisherman who had four or five sons. The fisherman used to take his boat to sea every evening and return with his catch. He was a specialist in catching very big fish. His wife then took the catch to the market and that was how then made a living. His fishing techniques were not known to others.
All his sons were however useless boys who were only interested in loitering around and did not help the father in earning for the family. So naturally, they didn't learn their father's fishing techniques. This saddened the parents much, but could not do much about it.
The fisherman was getting old and he grew worried about the future of his sons after his death. As years passed, there came a time when the old man could no longer go out fishing. He was now on his death bed. With no money to make the ends meet, he summoned his sons and told them that if they did not learn the art of fishing, there was no future for them. The sons realising their plight pleaded with their father to teach them his specialised fishing technique before he died. The fisherman agreed.
He told them to arrange a boat. They, along with the frail father, set sail out to the sea at dusk. The old man was too weak now and so he kept lying inside the boat and directed the sons on which direction to sail. It was pitch dark at night out at sea.
After they reached deep in the sea, the father told his sons to light a bright lantern on the boat. He then told his sons to carefully look out in all direction for any other lantern visible anywhere. If they spot another light anywhere around them it was a sign of danger. The boys did not understand how.
After a long wait, they suddenly saw the light of another lantern in the horizon. The father then screamed and directed the sons to row the boat with all their might towards the land. The other lantern was closing in at good speed. If that other light caught up with them, then all of them would be in danger of being killed. The boys struggled and rowed the boat towards the shore with all their might. Finally as they rammed their boat on the shore the other lantern was almost on them.
The father then shouted to the boys to pick him up and run towards the land. It was when they reached a safe distance that the boys realised that the other "lantern" was the reflection from the eyes of a whale. The whale seeing the light on their boat was attracted to it and was trying to catch up with it. It swan behind the boat at such speed that it ran ashore and got trapped on the beach.
It was then that the boys learned that this was the technique that their father used to catch big fish.
This is the story of a fisherman who had four or five sons. The fisherman used to take his boat to sea every evening and return with his catch. He was a specialist in catching very big fish. His wife then took the catch to the market and that was how then made a living. His fishing techniques were not known to others.
All his sons were however useless boys who were only interested in loitering around and did not help the father in earning for the family. So naturally, they didn't learn their father's fishing techniques. This saddened the parents much, but could not do much about it.
The fisherman was getting old and he grew worried about the future of his sons after his death. As years passed, there came a time when the old man could no longer go out fishing. He was now on his death bed. With no money to make the ends meet, he summoned his sons and told them that if they did not learn the art of fishing, there was no future for them. The sons realising their plight pleaded with their father to teach them his specialised fishing technique before he died. The fisherman agreed.
He told them to arrange a boat. They, along with the frail father, set sail out to the sea at dusk. The old man was too weak now and so he kept lying inside the boat and directed the sons on which direction to sail. It was pitch dark at night out at sea.
After they reached deep in the sea, the father told his sons to light a bright lantern on the boat. He then told his sons to carefully look out in all direction for any other lantern visible anywhere. If they spot another light anywhere around them it was a sign of danger. The boys did not understand how.
After a long wait, they suddenly saw the light of another lantern in the horizon. The father then screamed and directed the sons to row the boat with all their might towards the land. The other lantern was closing in at good speed. If that other light caught up with them, then all of them would be in danger of being killed. The boys struggled and rowed the boat towards the shore with all their might. Finally as they rammed their boat on the shore the other lantern was almost on them.
The father then shouted to the boys to pick him up and run towards the land. It was when they reached a safe distance that the boys realised that the other "lantern" was the reflection from the eyes of a whale. The whale seeing the light on their boat was attracted to it and was trying to catch up with it. It swan behind the boat at such speed that it ran ashore and got trapped on the beach.
It was then that the boys learned that this was the technique that their father used to catch big fish.
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