The Fish Catcher

By Chen Boqing

My father was a man of words, not of action,so fishing was not exactly his forte.

But that’s exactly what he did for my mother’s sake. After giving birth to her third child, the lack of food and nutrition meant that my mother barely had any breast milk or porridge for the newborn.Yet, she would never allow my father to hunt. Looking at her grand kid dying of starvation and her daughter-in-law too weak to raise her child, my grandmother suggested, “Son, go catch some fish in the river for your wife and child.”

And so, my father, a pedantic bookworm and homebody,decided to make the move.

In the northern part of China,the weather doesn’t heat up in April. My father managed to get a fishing-net somewhere,and he learned how to cast from others, and practiced for a few times in the yard. Wearing my grandfather’s leather trousers and bringing a giant wooden basin, he set off to the river.

Hearing that my father was going to try and catch some fish,quite a few kids in the village followed him to the river. Sitting in the basin, my father paddled to the center of the river and cast the net several times, but after a number of hours his net still came up empty. Without knowing whether he had been dragged by the net hooked on the basin or the basin had tipped over itself, he fell suddenly into the river.

Getting antsy, the kids on the river bank jumped into the river and dragged the dripping wet klutz to the bank. Then my elevenyear-old cousin jumped into the river and caught three fish for my father with his bare hands.

Grasping the fish by the tail,my father retreated home with his tail between his legs. Seeing him standing there in the yard sopping and sullen, and how he had become the butt of the neighbors’ jokes, my grandma,who had always been proud of him, couldn’t help but lambaste him while pointing a crooked reproachful finger in his face.

My mother was afraid that my father would catch a cold, so she asked him to change clothes immediately. Due to all that had happened, the third child was later nicknamed “Little Fish.”At that time, girls in China were often named “Serenity” or “Pearl,”but only she was called “Little Fish.” Later, when her classmates asked her about her name, she said, “My dad saved my life with three fish, so they named me‘Little Fish.’”

The story of my father catching fish for his wife and child out of love was passed on by the villagers and became a local legend.

(From Ladies’ Journal, March 2018. Translation: Yu Lan)

父亲下河捕鱼的故事

文/陈柏清

父亲是一介书生，下水捕鱼这事儿非他所长。

说起父亲那次捕鱼，还是为了母亲。母亲生了我三姐之后，没有营养品，稀饭都吃不足，奶水自然少得可怜。上山打猎，母亲也不会同意。看着饿得奄奄一息的孩子和面黄肌瘦的母亲，奶奶跟父亲说：“三儿，要不下河给你媳妇捕几条鱼吧。”

书生气十足的父亲决定下河捕鱼。

四月天气，北方还没热起来，父亲不知从哪里借了网，又跟人家学了撒网的技巧，在院子里练了几回，便现学现卖。穿了爷爷留下的皮裤，提着大木盆去了。

听说爸爸去捕鱼，村里好几个小孩跟在他屁股后头看新鲜。木盆好容易划到河中间，勉强撒了几网，网网落空，一条鱼影也不见。不知是渔网挂到了木盆，还是木盆自己倾翻，反正鱼没捕到，父亲却翻到了水中。

岸上小孩着急，下河的下河，跳水的跳水，总算把在河里狼狈不堪的父亲拉上岸。其中有一个是我本家的堂哥，当年只有十一二岁，他自告奋勇下了河，没一会儿，就帮父亲捞上来三条鱼。

父亲提鱼回家。看着他站在院子里丢盔卸甲的模样，再看看院子里窃窃私语、掩嘴偷笑的众人，一向以他为傲的奶奶也禁不住用手指点着他，一声“你呀”，再说不出啥。

母亲怕父亲着凉，在炕上喊父亲赶紧进屋换衣服。后来，我三姐的小名就叫小鱼儿。那时女孩子都叫静啊、珍啊的，独独她叫小鱼儿。长大了，同学问起，她说，我的命是我爸爸用三条鱼换来的，所以叫小鱼儿。

父亲因爱生勇、下水捕鱼的事感动了大家，这段佳话至今仍在街头巷尾流传。