It's Fairy Tale Appreciation Month!

First off, I spent a whole of fifteen minutes this morning making this image for the blogfest.  I know, you've never seen such talent, have you?  ;)

Feel free to take it and post on your sidebar to let all the world know about this awesome contest!

Yes, that is a UFO and it shot a fairy.  What can I say, I'm a little sadistic.  You all should know this by now.

And so in honor of my Fairy Tale Blogfest/Contest (which if you haven't signed up, do so now because you just don't want to miss out on these awesome prizes), I'm turning the whole of August into Fairy Tale Appreciation Month!

We all know about popular fairy tales like Cinderella, Snow White, the Frog Prince, etc., but a few years ago I bought Grimm's Complete Fairy Tales, and let me tell you, there are a lot more than the ones we knew growing up!  And so, to help you in your story writing quest, I'm going to share a few you might never have heard of before.

Today's Tale:

The Fisherman and His Wife


A fisherman catches a flounder that actually turns out to be an enchanted prince.  Upon hearing the fish speak, he immediately lets him go.  His wife, however, is very upset and insists her husband should have asked for a wish.  In fact, she concludes she would have liked their little hovel to be turned into a cottage.  The man goes back to the lake and calls for the fish.  When he returns home, the hovel has indeed been turned into a cottage, but the wife is not satisfied.

She instead wants a castle.

The man, though terrified he might anger the fish, listens to his wife and goes back to the lake to ask for another wish.  When he returns home, the castle is waiting for him.

The next day, the wife goes to the fisherman and says she would very much like it if they were King over all the country.  The man had no interest in that at all, so the wife said she would then be King.

So the man went to the lake again, even more terrified than before that he would offend the enchanted prince, but his wife was made King.

Almost immediately, the wife insisted she must be Emperor.  The fisherman said he would NOT go back to the fish and his wife must be happy with what she received already.  But the wife was now King and ordered him to go.

The fisherman called for the fish and his wife was made Emperor.  But still, she was not happy.  Instead, she wanted to be made Pope.  The man went to the fish and his wife was made Pope.  But still, she was not happy.  She tossed and turned all night, unable to sleep.  Finally, she rose from her bed and looked out the window and was very put out that she could not order the Sun and the Moon to rise.

The wife ordered her husband to immediately go to the fish and tell him to make her God.

Terrified more than he had ever been, the fisherman concedes to go to the fish.  But when he makes his wife's request this time, the fish tells him he will find his wife in their old hovel.  They had lost everything.

The end!  

Hmm...I've got a few ideas of how that could be twisted into a different genre, but I'll let you guys come up with your own.  :)

Though I'll be sticking to Grimm's fairy tales in my posts, all of you are welcome to use fairy tales from any culture for your story.  I'm really looking forward to seeing what all of you come up with!