by Cathy Hall –
The sun shone brightly, the blue-green water glistened, and the breeze was just swift enough to keep the bugs off His Royal Highness Jonathan Thomas Stuart the Third. It should have been a perfect day for fishing. And yet, there sat the 9-year-old king, crossed-legged on the palace dock, with a scowl on his face and an empty bucket by his side.
He appeared to have all of the proper fishing equipment. His rod was polished ebony; his reel glittered like spun gold; even his hooks were hand-carved ivory. It was as handsome a fishing rig as could be found in the entire kingdom. But something was missing.
“Bait!” cried the king. “Where is the royal bait?” he called to the Cook.
“Excuse me, sire,” said the Cook. “But what, exactly, is the royal bait?”
“Why, the Royal Chocolate Cake bait,” said the king. “I shall catch buckets of fish with a bait as fine as that! Fetch it at once!”
“Of course, sire,” answered the cook. The cook had never heard of anyone catching fish with chocolate cake, but he dared not question the king’s orders. A king is a king, even if he is just a boy.
And so the king sat on the dock, fishing the whole afternoon long. But the scowl remained on his face. He did not catch a single, solitary fish with his chocolate cake bait.
The next day, the king once again set off for the royal dock. He carried his fine fishing gear and his chocolate cake bait. After an hour’s fishing in the hot sun, the king’s scowl returned, for his bucket remained empty. He stood to stretch, and that is when he spied several fishermen in a small rowboat, not too far away, casting out their lines. He watched as their lines flew into the sparkling water, and then stared in wonder as they reeled in the lines. From each and every hook dangled the most glorious fish!
“Ah,” said the king. “I see what I must do. I shall take the royal rowboat out into the sparkling water and cast my line. The dock is no place for a king to fish!”
So the king had his royal rowboat loaded with several scrumptious chocolate cakes and his fine fishing pole. He rowed out to the very middle of the jewel-blue lake. He cast his glittery line with a large chunk of chocolate cake bait into the sparkling water. And waited. And waited some more. But His Royal Highness Jonathan Thomas Stuart the Third did not catch a single, solitary fish.
“This is most odd,” said the king, for all of the other fishermen, casting their lines from their rowboats, had caught many fish. But he did not ask them for help, for a king is a king, even if he is just a boy.
The following morning, the king rowed his boat further out into the jewel-blue lake to try his luck again. Once more, he cast his line into the sparkling water, and once more, a very serious scowl swept across his brow as his bucket remained empty beside him. But as he scowled, the king noticed a fisherman straining to pull a huge net from the deepest of the deep water. When the net finally landed on the fisherman’s boat, it was brimming with all kinds of marvelous fish!
“Ah!” said the king. “I see what I must do! I shall get a net of my own and cast it into the deepest of the deep water. Obviously, a king needs a splendid net if he wants to catch fine, kingly fish!”
So the king loaded the royal rowboat with a dazzling net, weaved from strands of silver and gold. He stacked several royal desserts on the seat beside him. When the king had rowed far out to the deepest of the deep water, he flung the chocolate cake bait overboard. Next, he flung his royal dazzling net and waited.
But when he pulled the net from the river, he did not find a kingly fish. He did not find even a minnow. The king could have asked for help, but he didn’t. A king is a king, even if he is just a boy.
Sorely discouraged, the king returned to the royal dock, for he was exhausted from all that rowing and flinging. But when he arrived at his usual spot, he was exceedingly annoyed to find a boy, sitting crossed-legged on the dock, with a pole in his hands.
“What? Who? How!” sputtered His Royal Highness Jonathan Thomas Stuart the Third. “This is the royal dock! And I am the only royal around here that belongs on this royal dock.”
“Oh, your m-m-majesty,” stammered the boy. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know you still used the royal dock.”
The scared little fisherman hastily grabbed his pole. But in his hurry to escape, he knocked over his bucket and swoosh! Seven large, almost king-sized fish slipped out of the bucket and flapped onto the dock.
“Hold on,” said the king before the boy could get away. For His Royal Highness had noticed the gleaming, kingly sized fish, flopping about on the royal dock. “There’s no need to hurry away yet,” he said to the boy. “Just for today, you may fish from the right side of the royal dock. But do not disturb me, as I have many of my own fish to catch!”
“Ah,” whispered the king then. “I see what I must do. I will watch this boy and learn his secret fishing trick.” And so the young king sat a few feet from the boy, on the left side of the dock, but peeked around every so often, to keep a close eye on his visitor.
So when the boy grabbed his simple bamboo pole, the king grabbed his ebony rod. When the boy picked up his very crooked hook, the king picked up his smooth, ivory hook. When the boy reached into a tin can and pulled out a squirming worm, the king screamed.
“Worms!” cried the king, jumping from his seat on the dock.
“Oh, yes!” said the boy. “These worms are the best bait in the entire kingdom.”
The king blushed royally crimson, for he now realized he had been using the wrong bait! But the king had a new problem. He had not a single worm of his own and had no idea where he might find this amazing bait. And he couldn’t ask this simple little fisherman, for a king is a king, even if he is just a boy.
I see what I must do, thought the king. “See here!” he said to the boy. “I have the best chocolate cake in the entire kingdom.” He munched very loudly on a slice of chocolate cake. “What do you think of that?”
“It does look awfully good,” said the boy.
“If you had something to trade,” offered the king, “then you could have a piece of the best cake in the entire kingdom, too. But what, oh what, could you trade?”
The boy thought for a moment. “What about my worms?” he asked. “The best worms in the entire kingdom for the best chocolate cake in the entire kingdom!”
“It’s a deal,” said the king, smiling.
The boy traded a handful of worms for a small slice of chocolate cake. The king baited his ivory hook with a squiggly, squirming worm. He dropped his glittering line over the side of the dock into the still, blue-green water.
Suddenly, the line twitched, followed by a most definite tug! The king carefully reeled the line in, inch-by-inch, closer and closer. Until there, at last, dangled the most magnificent fish the king had ever seen!
“Look what I caught!” cried His Royal Highness Jonathan Thomas Stuart the Third.
“Hooray!” said the boy. “You did it!”
“Yes,” said the king. “I did, didn’t I?” But then the king’s smile faded, for he knew that he would still be using chocolate cake bait, if not for a helping hand, err, worm, from the little fisherman. And so the king cut another, extra large piece of the best chocolate cake in the entire kingdom and gave it to the boy.
“Perhaps we could meet again tomorrow?” asked the king, shyly. “You could bring your worms to share—and I could bring a cake for us,” he said.
“Sure,” said the boy as chocolate crumbs sprayed from his mouth.
So the chocolate cake bait had caught something, after all!
“You know,” said the king to his new pal, “I think this is the beginning of a great friendship!”
And of course, it was. For boys will be boys, even if one is a king.
the end.
Question Time
1. Why was the king unhappy at first out on the royal dock?
2. What did the king order the cook to bring?
3. What did he try next?
4. What did the king learn from the boy on the dock?
5. What did the king decide to do for the boy to get worms and to learn how to fish?
