The Fisherman and His Wife: A Grimm's Fairytale

Cecile Ghosh was a librarian living in Rigaud, Quebec.

The Fisherman and His Wife by Lunn is a humourous adaptation of the original by Grimm. The fisherman releases a talking fish and instantly, wish fulfillment begins. His rusty truck becomes new, and his wife asks for exotic plumbing, household help, and a promotion for her husband as chief inspector for the Fisheries Department. The wife is returned to her humble origins after she demands the deaths of seagulls. (Another version is by Elizabeth Shub, who translated Twelve Tales from Grimm, New York: Macmillan, 1971.)

The book would attract a younger audience through its numerous bold pictures that depict the follies of the fisherman’s wife. The prose might confuse younger children, because the regional vocabulary and the too numerous incidents detract from the simplicity and power of the original (as faithfully rendered by Elizabeth Shub and illustrated with simple line etchings in the Macmillan version).

Grimm’s tale is about the ugly effects of greed, but, because Lunn harps on about a rusty truck, and a silly woman whose only wishes are for exotic plumbing and household help, the main theme is rendered ineffective. Too much irrelevant material is packed into a small book, with the result that the wrath of the fish, depicted by his ever-increasing size, toward the funny wishes of a supposedly greedy wife is inexplicable. The fish states explicitly why the wife must be punished, but the blatant statement indicates a lack of storytelling skill. In the original, the fish was an enchanted prince. Why an ugly catfish? It seems that the writer tries too hard to differ from the original, where the beautiful flounder and the shrewish wife made for a more effective rendering of contentment versus greed.