Once upon a time…

There was a fisherman named Plunk. He lived all alone on a remote stretch of sand, an hour away from the nearest village.

And he was bored.

Every day he went out and caught enough fish to feed himself the next day. And that was all he ever did. Long, long ago his father had told him of a sea spell, that would summon the Dawn Queen. If he did it, she might grant him a wish.

So he decided to try the spell. He went out fishing every day, but he didn’t throw his hooks into the water. Instead, he just sat there, staring out at the horizon.

On the morning of the fourth day, as the sun rose in the sky, a great silver boat with golden oars rose out of the water with it. Standing in the boat was the Dawn Queen.

Her boat drew up next to his, and she spoke. “Fisherman, for three days you have spared my fishies from the hook. What is your request?”

“I’m bored and alone,” he said. “I want a bit of good luck.”

“Granted,” she said. “Go home, and your luck will have turned for the better.”

Excited, Plunk immediately rowed back to shore.

When he got home, there was a young woman sitting on his doorstep. She told him “I’m an orphan, and I’m reaching the age where if I don’t marry soon I’ll be burned as a witch. You’re single, right? Would you mind marrying me?”

Plunk thought to himself “she must be a fairy who will take me to palaces of gold if I pass her test!” And he instantly agreed to marry her.

Spoiler: he was wrong.

So they went into town and got married.

They got along pretty well. Plunk still spent most of his day fishing, but she kept the house clean and introduced vegetables to his diet. She liked spinach, so she made a nice spinach garden next to his house which looked quite picturesque. They didn’t have much money, but that was fine.

Every night she entertained him by telling him fairy tales, of places far away and filled with everything anyone could want. Plunk thought she knew these stories because she’d been to these places. It never crossed his mind that she just had an active imagination.

At the end of their first year of marriage she had a baby boy, and Plunk would rock him to sleep as his wife told them about kings and princesses. Plunk was happy, but still waited for the day she’d take him to a palace made of diamonds.

At the end of the second year, Plunk was starting to get board again. He loved his little family, but he wanted more.

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At the end of the third year, Plunk couldn’t take it any more.

One morning he looked at his wife and said “ok, what are you waiting for? I know you’re a fairy princess, so take me to your castle.”

His wife thought he was joking, but when he made it clear he wasn’t, she thought he’d gone insane.

And then he got angry. He demanded she either show him a magical fairy castle, or get out of his life.

Being a perfectly average human, she had no option but to leave. He wanted her to show him a castle, so she decided to go find one.

She took her son and started walking. She walked up the coast for a full week, finding no castles. Then she walked for another week, and still found nothing.

On the fifteenth morning, she woke up on the beach and found her son was gone. There was no trace of him anywhere; any footsteps had been washed away by the waves.

Giving up, she decided her only option was to go back to Plunk and see if he could or would reconsider. If he didn’t, she’d go to her mother’s grave and ask the tombstone for advice.

Meanwhile, Plunk was annoyed. A week went by while he thought about what to do, but no ideas came to him. Except talking to the Dawn Queen again.

Finally he decided to talk to her. He went out in his boat and did the sea spell again, not casting his hook for three days.

On the morning of the fourth day, the silver boat with gold oars appeared with the sun. The Dawn Queen called out to him, asking what he wanted.

“I want to see a fancy castle!” Plunk yelled. “I want to see more riches and delicacies than most people could even dream about! I want to be happy!”

“Weren’t you happy?” the Dawn Queen asked. “You had a wife and son who loved you. She told you stories, her descriptions so vivid you saw the castles and riches around you. And she made food that the Sea King only wishes he could have. And yet you want more?”

“Yes,” he decided. “I want to see the Sea King’s palace. Not just hear about it, actually see the place.”

Deciding he was hopeless, the Dawn Queen nodded. “I will help you, but this is the last time. You will never manage to summon me again. Go west into the Unknown Ocean. There you’ll find a millstone floating on the waves, surrounded by mermaids. Climb on, and they’ll take you to the Sea King’s palace. But be warned: once you go it’ll be nearly impossible to get back.”

“Why would I want to come back?” the fisherman scoffed, and started rowing.

He rowed and rowed, until land passed out of view. He kept rowing west, until his arms couldn’t move any more. And he kept rowing.

Finally, after three days of rowing into uncharted waters, he saw a millstone in the distance.

The millstone was floating on top of the water, and a group of mermaids were sunning themselves on it.

…It must have been made out of pumice or something, cuz most giant rocks tend to sink.

Anyways, when Plunk rowed closer, the mermaids jumped off. They asked him to come swim with them, to come play with them, but he declined. He wanted to see a palace, not do in-depth research on mermaid anatomy.

The mermaids were disappointed, but they got over it. When he climbed onto the stone, they started turning it. They turned it faster and faster, until the stone was at the center of a whirlpool. The whirlpool deepened, nearly touching the ocean floor. When the stone touched sand, the mermaids let go. They vanished into the water, leaving Plunk at the bottom of the ocean.

Thankfully for him, there was a giant, air-filled palace a few feet away. He swam over and started exploring.

Now, this story isn’t one of Scheherazade tales, but it’s broken into two parts anyway. I’ve passed the 1k wordcount mark on this story, so I’ll stick with the original’s chapter scheme and leave you with a cliffhanger!

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Moral: Be specific in your wishes.