A FISH WITH GOLDEN GILLS

A fish with golden gills
 Author: Rizwan Ahmed Memon

There were different creatures in the River Indus, and they came from various parts of Pakistan and India. The river flowed far away into the Arabian sea. Many creatures were caught by humans for their food and other uses. Among those creatures was a fish with golden gills.

A scholarly traveler from Egypt had brought the fish, and he had thrown it into the River Indus in a village called Akil. People said the traveler had been sent by God with that special gift which humans had lost.

One fine morning Faizal, an old fisherman, was fishing, and he saw that something golden had come into his net. He didn’t notice what it was. He took all the other fish from the net but left the golden fish. When he threw his net on the bank—half submerged in water—the golden fish started to move. Only then did he realize it was a fish. He quickly tried to catch it, but the fish was gone. That afternoon, he said to Khan, a young fisherman, “You are not gonna believe this, I saw a golden fish. It lives in the river.”

“Look at him, folks. He has a screw loose. He is saying there is a golden fish in the river,” said Khan to people around him.

“It is not his fault. He has grown so old that he is seeing things!” said a man sarcastically.

At first, all the sailors made fun of him saying derogatory words, but then after a few days, Khan saw it, too. “Faizal is right. Believe it or not, I also saw the golden fish today,” he gasped to the sailors.  

They all decided to catch the fish and keep it in a separate pond where it might give them baby fish with golden gills.

All the fishermen gathered and threw their nets in the river from different directions. They continued their search for three days. The sailors caught a lot of fish and other creatures. They distributed a large amount of fish among the villagers and sold everything else in the nearby city Larkana for a lower price. On the third day, Khan’s youngest son, a little boy, brought a little net in his hands to the sailors and said, “Are you looking for this fish? It is already dead!”

The villagers and fishermen thought that they must have killed the fish. “If you had not brought disturbance in the ecosystem of the river, all Pakistanis would have gotten golden fish,” a villager commented. They thought that God had sent them a gift which they lost because of their greed.
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Respond to the story:

If you were one of the fishermen, what would you have done?

What is the moral of this story?

In your life have you ever been that greedy about something? Share the experience with a classmate, friend or the teacher.

How many days did the fishermen continue their search?

What damage did they cause to the life of fishes, frogs, tortoises, and other species?

Greed is a curse. Explain. Write a short essay and show it to the teacher, friend etc..

Tell the story to your friend, classmate or teacher in your own words.

Send your feedback, ideas about the story to the author at his email, RizwanAhmedMemon@gmail.com