"The Fisherman's Plea"

Cast, cut and painted glass shapes mounted above panel of sewn thread and appliqué, 24"x33", 2019

Here is my version of a story told by the Grimm brothers.

One day a very poor man went fishing, hoping to catch something for himself and his wife to eat. Soon after he dropped his line in the water there was an enormous tug for he hooked a large flounder.

The fish could talk! It begged the man to release him and promised to could grant the man any of his wishes if the man gave him his freedom. The man, so the story goes, said "deliver me from a fish that talks!" He unhooked the flounder and returned to his hovel to tell his wife the story.

The wife was enraged that her husband hadn't made a wish and sent him back to the shore to call the fish and ask for a pretty little cottage.

Here comes the plea (my favorite part):

"Oh Fish of the Sea, come, listen to me, For Alice, my wife, the plague of my life, Has sent me to beg a boon of thee."

Alice got her cottage. Then she wanted more and more and more. She demanded everything from clothes to a castle, from crystal to being King and she got what she wished. This went on until she desired to order the sun and the moon when to rise and set. She sent her husband off to the shore again and as he approached a fierce storm began to rage. The man could barely remain standing but he made his plea and the Fish came.

The man told Fish what Alice wanted this time and Fish said, "Go home. She is back in the hovel". And that was the end of any wishes coming true for Alice.