The Golden Goblet

A short Jewish tale. Written at the age of eleven.

The Golden Goblet

There was a poor Jewish fisherman who lived by the sea. He lived on the Jewish side of the sea where only kosher food, kosher cutlery and kosher pots could be sold. Opposite the Jewish side was a non-Jewish side. The man little money because he was not a very good fisherman and only got a few fish a week. On Thursday he put a fish in stock and ate another for dinner, leaving at least three for the market. He kept one in store for the Sabbath meal. On Friday and Saturday the fisherman did not fish at all and so had no reason to go to the market. One Wednesday, the fisherman went fishing, hoping that he would find many fish. As the put his fishing-rod in the water, he felt something heavy attached to it. He hoped it was a fish, not an old shoe or another worthless item. When the fisherman was able to lean over and reach the fish he stretched out his arm but it wasn’t a struggling fish he found. Instead it was a golden goblet, lined with rubies and emeralds and diamonds. The man sailed home and ran to his wife. He showed her what he had found however the wife was not interested so she did not look. She was angry with him.
“You are supposed to be a fisherman, not a collector!” She told him, carrying on with her washing. The fisherman sighed.
The next day the fisherman sold the goblet even though he knew that once it had contained non-kosher wine. He got a lot of money for it, enough to buy a big dinner for the Sabbath. The fisherman sold the goblet to a rich Jewish man who admired his new treasure.
Next week the rich man made a fest for all his friends to show then his lovely new goblet. At the feast the rich man drunk from the golden goblet and all his friends were green with envy. Near the end of the feast, Hashem caused dreadful things to happen. The rich man knew he had sinned somehow.
The next morning, when the rich man woke up, Hashem appeared in front of him.
“You have done wrong my son.” The rich man was told “You drunk wrongly.”
It can’t have been the wine, the man told himself, I checked the chechsure!
The man didn’t want to embarrass the fisherman by blaming him, nor did he want to keep the non-kosher goblet in him property so later that day, he threw it in the sea. That night the waves were strong and they blew the goblet to the other side of the sea.
The next morning, a fisherman from the non-Jewish side of the sea found a golden goblet in the water. He went to the market to sell it. The king saw the goblet and rushed to the fisherman’s stall.
“That is my goblet!” the king cried happily “I have found it!” The king paid the fisherman a lot of money and hired him to be his privet fisherman. The man was honoured and accepted the offer. Then the fisherman was given delicious dinners and lived in the castle with the king giving him all the money that he wished for.

Reviews

[blackandivorykeys]

You were eleven when you wrote this? When I was eleven, sentences were hard for me to get out! The only story I had written was the Princess married a Prince and lived happily ever after!

You have a real knack for writing, and I can see that from a young age you were a writer. This work is incredible considering the age written.

If revised, it could be even better. The end seems rushed, and not eased into. As well, some gramatical errors can be found in it.

That being said, let me stop the criticism and praise you for your work. It's a nice tale to think about and enjoyable.

Great work as usual. =)