The Fisherman and the Star

There was once a boy who lived in a cabin by the sea. Nobody else on the island he resided on knew of him, for nobody knew the beach he lived on existed. But he was happy in his secluded seaside home, never feeling the need for company. Every morning at dawn he went out in his boat to catch fish, and every evening at dusk he returned home to cook his dinner. He often sat by the surf and sang to the sea. The fish always gathered in the shallows to hear him, for they had never heard a voice so beautiful. They allowed themselves to easily be caught by him, not minding feeding such a great musician. Even the birds were envious, and they circled abovehead to try to mimic his songs. The sea always sent him her prettiest shells and the sand always gave him his prettiest stones, and the boy made lovely necklaces and trinkets out of them.

One morning as he set out to sail, a storm broke loose. His ship was tossed and turned, his nets flew out into the sea and were lost, and he fell about this way and that. When the storm finally ended it was nighttime, and when the boy came to, he was in a place he had not seen before. His boat was nearby, battered but not completely broken. He was in an alcove of sorts, surrounded by weeping willows and with pearly rocks in the shallow, crystalline water. In the center of the alcove was a very small island with cadet blue grass and white flowers. On that island sat a woman. She had skin and hair the color of ivory and she wore a flowing dress that looked as if it was spun from white gold. Freckles glittered across her face and her eyes were as dark as obsidian. She was admiring the reflection of the willows in the water.

He sat staring at her in wonder for a long while until she finally looked up from the water and noticed him. She seemed startled, but not afraid, and they gazed at each other for a long while more.

“Who are you?” He finally asked her. “You cannot be mortal, for I have never seen a human as pure and beautiful as you.”

“I am a star,” she answered. “This is where I spend my time when I am unwanted in the sky.”

“Unwanted?” The boy exclaimed. It seemed preposterous.

“My mother, the Moon, thinks me too young to shine,” she answered sadly. “So she will send me down here every night until she thinks I am worthy to look upon the earth from above.”

“But where will you go when the sun rises?” The boy asked.

“Back to the sky to sleep.”

They talked for the rest of the night, and when the sun began to rise, the boy promised he would come visit her the next evening.

For months he visited the Star. By day he caught his fish and sang to the sea, and by night he found his way back to the alcove to visit her. As the seasons began to shift, the boy began to fall in love with her. He grew lonely in his cabin by the sea, wishing for company for the first time in his life. One night, he asked the Star to marry him.

She shook her head and wept like the trees that surrounded them. “My sweet boy, I wish I could.”

“Why can’t you?” The boy cried.

“I am a star and you are not. I cannot stay on the earth in the day, and once my mother sees me fit to shine at night, I shall never return. And you cannot come to the sky with me, for you would perish. Only stars can survive in the sky.”

“Then how do I become a star?” The boy asked.

The Star was quiet while she thought. The weeping willows swayed in the breeze and the stone glittered in the water. Finally she said, “I do not know. I must ask my mother.” Then the sun rose and she returned to the sky.

The next night the Star explained that the only way for him to become like her was to give up his soul to the sky. The boy thought about this for a long time before coming to the conclusion that the best way to do this was to throw himself to the sea. He knew that the water and sky traveled in cycles, so if his soul was in the sea it was impossible for it to not reach the sky at some point. So, just before the sun rose, he promised the Star that he would meet her in the sky soon.

Once the boy returned home, he said goodbye to his ship, his nets, and his cabin. He walked into the water and the fishes shook their heads sadly, heartbroken that they wouldn’t hear his song anymore. The birds cackled above him, pleased that they would soon be the best musicians once more. The boy then threw himself into the sea, and the water gently brought him down to the depths where his soul sank into the sand.

When the boy awoke, he was in the arms of the Star and in a wide void of glittering darkness. He asked where they were, and she said her home. The Moon, finally convinced that her daughter was bright enough, let them both stay happily in the sky, never to return to the earth. And there the boy resided there with the Star, her sisters, and the Moon, singing sweet songs to the earth below until the end of time.