Once upon a time in land very near to you, there lived a young otter by the name of Jeffy von Paddletail. If you looked at him, you might think that they were just like any other otter... only he and his mother were very, very poor. They lived in a hole by the river... not even lined with pebbles.
One day he was sitting by the stream, eyeing the water for fish, when his friend McMasked the raccoon came by. "Hello there, Jeffy!" said he. "So what are you going to do over X-Mas?"
Jeffy looked very troubled for a moment. "I don't know, McMasked. I have nothing to give my mother." Small tears popped up into his eyes... and McMasked quickly dried them up.
"Oh no! Don't cry, Jeffy. We can do something!"
Jeffy looked up with a little hope. "What?"
McMasked thought for a moment. "We could find the golden fish that you are always talking about."
Jeffy laughed. "That is just a story!"
McMasked looked at Jeffy and nodded. "Is it?"
Jeffy looked at McMasked. "Of course... you don't think I really believe in magic fish that grant wishes, do you? I'm not a kit!"
McMasked chuckled. "Well, then I suppose there's no point in looking for it, is there? You probably wouldn't know what to ask it for, anyway..."
Jeffy scowled. "I would, too! Momma needs all sorts of stuff!"
McMasked grunted. "Stuff you don't have, and can't get. Well, I guess she'll have to do without, this year. Too bad..."
Jeffy stood up quickly. "What are you saying, McMasked? That I can't get Momma a Christmas present?"
McMasked 'tut-tutted,' "Now, Jeffy, I didn't say that... I just thought you might be willing to take a chance. I just happen to have proof that the golden fish is no legend. With your help, we could get our paws on it."
Jeffy pondered. "Think so?"
McMasked replied, "Know so. You game?"
Jeffy shrugged. "Sure. Why not? Lead on, McMasked..."
The two furs wandered off downstream. McMasked chuckled to himself, thinking, 'Jeffy my boy, you are going to make me rich...'
It seemed to Jeffy that they had been walking forever down the little stream, and his little paws were aching and sore before very long. McMasked didn't seem to be having any trouble, scampering ahead and motioning constantly for Jeffy to walk faster and keep up.
"Why don't we swim the rest of the way, McMasked?" Jeffy asked, and not for the first time either.
"I can't swim as well as you, Jeffy... and the water is cold this time of year. Just a little farther..." McMasked replied, also not for the first time.
Eventually the stream merged with other streams, and they had to hop across the water on little stones to keep from being washed away by the current. Jeffy wanted to swim, but he didn't know the forest and McMasked was worried that they wouldn't be able to find each other again.
"How much farther is it?" Jeffy whined, looking longingly at the water as the roots and stones bruised his feet.
"We're almost there..." the raccoon said, pausing to sniff the air. "In fact..."
Jefferey looked at the place McMasked had brought him. It was a backwater pool of stagnant water, the shores of which were littered with trash, garbage, and all sorts of junk that humans, in their thoughtlessness, had left there.
The water was brackish and foul-smelling, and there seemed to be no life at all beneath the oil-slicked surface of the pool.
Jefferey looked at McMasked, "So... what is this place?"
McMasked smiled, "This is where the golden fish lives, Jefferey."
Jefferey looked at the water, "Here... but this place is so... nasty. How could something as beautiful as the golden fish, live in such a nasty place?" Jefferey held his nose, "It even smells bad here."
McMasked motioned towards the surface of the pond, "If you look very close, at just the right angle... sometimes... you can see the fish down there."
Jefferey bent down and shaded his eyes from the glare on the water. He brushed a Twinkie wrapper out of his way as it floated by. "I don't see anything, McMasked... are you sure?"
McMasked moved up behind Jeffery, "Look closer, Jefferey. I'm sure it's there..."
Jefferey bent down, his nose touching the slimy water, looking intently...
McMasked, with an evil grin on his face, reached forward and pushed Jeffy into the nasty water... then he howled with laughter and ran away!
Poor lil' Jeffy was bawling, kicking and screaming in the tainted water that seemed to cling to his fur everywhere. The water stunk, some of it went up his nose and into his mouth before he had a chance to close either of them. Luckily that was all that the water did, and nothing more. Taking another look at his surroundings, Jeffy saw many shiny things around him. 'No wonder McMasked knows about this place,' Jeffy mused as he floated. 'It's full of all of these shinies left behind by man!'
Jeffy dove under the water's surface, getting away from almost all of the pollution there. He looked around, and believe it or not, there it was!...
The Golden Fish!
McMasked had been a meanie for dunking him like this, but the story of the fish was real! Carefully, Jeffy swam his way to the fish, making sure that he wouldn't scare it away. Strangely enough, the fish never moved from its hidey-hole in the wall of the pond. It just stayed there.
Jeffy moved closer. It was smaller than he had imagined. It was gold and kind of orangey. It had big eyes and a gulping mouth and there was something vaguely familiar about it.
Jeffy lunged. The gold fish struggled in his grasp. He had done it! He had the golden fish! He would get the three wishes.
The water burst in all directions as he broke surface and held the fish aloft. "I want my mom to have a good Christmas with lots of presents and food!"
The fish gulped and wriggled its long translucent tail helplessly.
Something wasn't right. Jeffy tried again. "I wish for a big, big trout right now!"
The fish gulped air and stared through large eyes right at him.
"Whoa! Ya got it!" McMasked pronked along the shore excitedly. "Don't waste the wishes! I get one. I showed you this place! Bring it ashore!"
Jeffy frowned. Where was the trout? He sniffed the fish and blinked with surprise. "Imposter!"
"Don't waste the wishes. I get my share!" McMasked bounced along the shore.
Jeffy waded into shallow water and growled. "It's a phony!" He held the fish up to McMasked. "It's a CARP! A CARP!! A FANCY CARP!" The goldfish skipped across the slimy surface where it had been thrown and sank from view.
"You just threw the golden fish away! You idiot!" McMasked bared his teeth and chittered angrily. "You NUMB-SKULL!"
Jeffy waded ashore, grabbed McMasked by his forepaw and toppled him off balance into the sludge along the shore. "There! YOU see how YOU like being in that water for nothing!" He shook his body and sent slime and water in all directions. "I spent all day followin' you around and got sore feet and slimy fur and for what?"
McMasked picked himself up out of the sludge and looked down at himself. "Look what you did! Look at my fur!"
"Who CARES! Look at me? I'm messed up more than YOU . . . an' I don't have anything to show . . . no trout . . . no present for my mom. . . ."
Jeffy plodded away, down stream, head low, ears drooping...
Jeffy walked along the path leading to the junk piles as McMasked's fuming faded into the distance. He still had the same problem that he had before he got such sore feet: what to get his mother for X-Mas. Then he brightened up. "I know!" he said to himself. "I will go see the old one!"
Jeffy dove into the stream and took off at a fast swim, cleaning his fur as he made time to the old one's burrow. Everyone knew that the old badger was the wisest animal in the forest. If there was anyone that would know what to get his mother it would be he. Jeffy stopped in the water alarmed. "You have to pass his test first!"
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Later that day Jeffy stepped up to the hole of the badgers home. "Hello down there? Are you home, old one?"
"Who bothers me in my sleep? Go away! Leave me now..."
Jeffy stepped up to the hole. "I must talk with you, badger. I have a question... if I may ask?"
Laughter came out from deep within the hole. "Go away, child. My answers are not what you want. Leave now and return to thy mother."
Jeffy fluffed up his tail. "I am not scared of your test badger! Give it!... so that I might have my answer!"
The hole darkened as a old badger walked into it. "You dare? Then here it is, young fool. If you do not pass the test. You will be my servant for a season and then get your answer. If you pass my test, you will get your answer without serving me. Do you agree?"
Jeffy gulped. "Yes."
"Then my test is... to bring me the golden fish!" the old one growled.
"That's easy!" Jeffy cried, "I'll be right back."
The badger blinked as the otter ran off and swam downstream.
It was almost dark by the time Jeffy got back to the hellish mire McMasked had shown him. The dim light made every tree branch or twisted bit of metal cast long shadows over the rippling surface of the water. But he dove in nonetheless, swimming quickly to the hole where the golden fish lived.
It was dark, and he couldn't see anything, so he reached in to grab it... but no, it was gone!
Frantically, Jeffy swam around and around the foul water, pouncing on every shiny, but none of them were the fish... just stupid bits of metal and glass and rock. He piled them up on the shore so they wouldn't distract him, but he still couldn't find the fish.
Soon it was completely dark, and Jeffy dragged himself out of the water to lie upon the bank. The oil and muck had seeped into his fur, and he felt colder and wetter than he'd ever felt in his life. To make it worse, not only did he not have a present for his mother, but he'd have to serve the old one all season, and she wouldn't even have him home for Christmas.
A laughing sound next to him made him raise his head. There was McMasked, sitting on top of the pile of shinies from the bottom of the pool, touching each one and giggling to himself.
Jeffy leaped at McMasked, "Where is the golden fish?! What did you do with it?!"
"Oh, that? The imposter? The little shiny carp?" He patted his stomach. "Snack. . . ."
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!! YOU DIDN'T!!" Jeffy clutched McMasked by the throat. "SPIT IT UP! SPIT IT UP!"
McMasked struggled loose and leaped, wide-eyed, into a tree. "You're CRAZY! What d'you care about a golden carp? It wasn't real! It was FAKE!!"
Jeffy threw his hands to his ears and screamed. It was gone! And he wouldn't see his mother until spring! He would miss Christmas and everything else. Tears came to his eyes and he slipped into the water and drifted away, hoping to be snatched by something big and hungry. It wasn't fair. . . . It just wasn't fair. . . .
Jeffy floated down the stream, wallowing in his despair. He hardly noted where he was going, just lost in his despair. "No golden fish, no present for mom... and now, a slave to that old badger!'
Jeffy hardly even paddled, and soon found himself in a patch of reeds by the shore.
He just floated there, not wanting to go back to face the badger, _or_ his Mom, with his failure.
As he lie there, he heard a thrashing behind him... he gave it no notice; he just didn't care what it was.
He sulked, just as depressed as an otter could be, when he felt something brush against his side... then something on his tummy, and another brushing on his other side. He opened his eyes, and couldn't believe them.
There, moving into the reeds, was a school of hundreds of golden carp, all swimming slowly, not even noticing him at all... just swimming casually by, just as if beckoning to be grabbed.
Jeffy shouted, "Yes!" and took advantage of the situation.
He reached out and grabbed one of the golden carp. He smiled and was happier than he could ever remember. "I did it! Thank you, God!"
Jeffy looked at the Carp, "You are going to save me from a season of servitude and make my mom happy!'
The carp looked blurrily at Jeffy, his mouth opening and closing. "I am?" it said.
Jeffy gasped and almost let go of the fish. "You... you... you can talk! What are you, fish?"
The fish'es fins waved a little. "I am The Golden Fish of Dreams, otter. Now, do tell me about this saving of you? Most otters just try to eat me without talking to me first."
Jeffy eyed the fish. "I want the old one to forget about me."
"So?" The fish looked at Jeffy with both bubbly eyes. "Why should I care otter? You are not thinking of that silly three wishes for catching the golden fish are you?"
Jeffy looked a little guilty. "Well.... Yes.... that is what the tale says. about you."
The fish tried to get out of Jeffy's paws... but couldn't. "Well it is true. What three wishes do you want?"
Jeffy's mind swirled for a little while, as the thought that he was actually going to get his wishes sank in. But finally, he said, "I know what my first wish *has* to be."
"Do you?" said the fish. "Well, get on with it."
Jeffy took a deep breath, and said "Iwantmymothertohaveaniceholetolivein andlotsofshinyprettythingstowear,andplaywith,andnevertobehungryagain!"
"Done, done, and done," the golden fish said, and vanished in a shower of golden sparks.
"And for my second --" Jeffy started to say, then noticed the fish was gone. "Uh oh..."
Jeffy realized what he had done, he slumped over. His first wish was three parts and the fish granted them all . . . and . . . none for him. . . . He would serve the badger and all for naught. The questions he had had were no longer there. His wishes for his mother had ended the need, but not the price he would have to pay. Salvation had become slavery. At least his mother was better off. She would have the Christmas he could never have given her on his own.
Jeffy swam away, not caring where he ended up. It would make no difference. No matter where he went, the badger would be waiting. . . .
Jeffery's mom paced up and down the stream bank.
She had been swimming up and down, left and right... looking in all the hidey holes and places a young otter might hide. It was getting late, and she was starting to worry.
She decided that she would take another look upstream, so she dove into the water and swam with her eyes peeled open looking for Jeffery, soon reaching a patch of reeds on the far shore.
She stopped for a short rest, watching a golden carp swim around her. She reached in and grabbed one, just for a snack. She was hungry and felt guilty hoping that Jeffery wasn't... hungry.
Jeffery's mom opened her mouth and got ready to gobble up the carp. "Wait!" Don't eat me... I'll... I'll grant you 3 wishes if you don't!"
Jeffery's mom sighed, not even surprised at the talking fish in her despair. "All I could wish for is to have my Jeffery home, safe and happy, with a bright future ahead of him, and a wonderful life."
The Golden Carp of Dreams said, "It is done," and disappeared in a shimmer of golden sparkles.
As Jeffery's mom blinked, she heard Jeffery's voice, "Mom! Is that you?"
"Oh! Jeffery! I've been so worried!"
The two otters hugged and snugged, happy to be reunited, their tails flopping the shore beneath them, unconsciously revealing their joy in being together once again.
"Where have you been, Jeffery? I was worried."
"I was..." Jeffery looked blank, "Gee, mom... I don't remember."
"Well, lets get you home."
They paddled down the stream, past the badger's burrow, the badger waved as they passed, wishing them a good evening. Jeffery felt... something... but couldn't distill its meaning...
They returned home and had a nice meal of fresh fish, both looking at the many presents under their tree. Then Jeffery's Mmom tucked him into his snug, warm bed, and then she went to hers, both happy and healthy, and safe.