Fisherman

The Fisherman lived in a shack on the shores of Tamir, with his wife.

Background

The poor grizzled fisherman had fallen on hard times, and was having problems catching fish. When Rosella first saw him he was fishing out on the pier, having no luck he got up and headed back to his shack. When she tried to speak to him he had things on his mind, and ignored her. Rosella later saw him and his wife in the shack, sitting talking and drinking hot coffee. Rosella spoke to the man, and he told her of the troubles that he and his family were having, as he worried of what would happen if the hard times continued. He asked Rosella for ideas, if she had any. He then ignored further conversation, looking despondently into his cup and sighed. Later Rosella returned to the house, and gave him the Pouch of Diamonds, to which he was grateful. He gave her his fishing rod in return.

There is a story of a poor fisherman and his wife who lived in a shanty by the sea. One day, the man caught a fish that talked. The fish said it was an enchanted prince and begged the fisherman to set him free, which the man did. The fisherman's wife was furious, and commanded him to go back and demand the fish grant him a wish. The man went back to the end of his pier and shouted;

Flounder, flounder, in the sea,

Harken thee now unto me!

The fish now owed the man, so it granted his wife's wish for a lovely cottage to replace their shack. This did not satisfy the wife for long, and she sent her husband back to demand a castle from the fish. She got it.

Thus it went; next she wanted to be King, then Emperor, and then Pope. All of these the flounder granted her. At last she demanded to be the Lord of the Universe, with the power to command the rising and setting of the sun. The enchanted fish heard this request and, for her greed, returned the fisherman and his wife to the hovel where they had first lived.

It is likely that these are the same people to whom Rosella gave the bag of diamonds.

There is another story of the Fisherman and his wife... There are many tales in the world of fish who do favors in return for being put back. In one, a poor fisherman catches a golden fish who grants him and his wife a castle on the condition that he not tell the woman how it came to be. In time, though, he broke his silence and his new riches disappeared. He became a fisherman again, and again caught the fish, it told him to take it home and cut it into six pieces--two to eat, two to plant, and two to feed to his horse. Eventually there grew two golden lilies, the horse had two golden foals, and the fisherman and his wife had two golden sons.

Behind the scenes

In KQ4 Hintbook, he is known as 'The Fisherman', both are the 'The Fisherman and his Wife'.

In early versions of KQ8, Connor would have been the son of a "poor fisherman", much like the 'poor fisherman' of the fairy tales.