The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish

What it is

Written by Alexander Pushkin in 1833 and first published in 1835, this verse tale follows a poor fisherman who catches a talking golden fish that grants wishes, and his wife whose demands grow ever more extravagant.

Why it matters

Scholars have traced the tale's roots to the Brothers Grimm's "The Fisherman and His Wife" as well as Russian folk collections such as Alexander Afanasyev's. It shows Pushkin absorbing both foreign and native folklore and reshaping it into distinctly Russian verse, a process that in turn influenced later folktale collectors. The story has echoed through later literature, including a reference in Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov.

Look closer

• Why does the story end with everything returned to how it began, rather than a clear "happy ending"?
• What might the old man's fear, when the fish first speaks, tell us about how the tale treats the supernatural?
• How does the illustrator's choice of color and setting shape how we imagine the fisherman and the sea?