One day, on a beautiful island lived a man. This man was no richer than a king or poorer than a peasant but normal like everyone else. Unfortunately, he was running out of money and he needed some for food because of last winter’s storm which wiped out all of his crops for the future year.

That wasn’t all he wanted; for up on a hill a few miles away, there lived a princess which he would like to marry. She was beautiful and rich. The man-Gerald-figured that if he would marry her, then all of his problems would be forgotten. Gerald had a second thought. Why would the princess want to marry him? He knew that someone like the princess would never agree to marry Gerald just like that. He would have to please her in order to get her hand in marriage.

But one day, Gerald gathered up all of his courage, put his best clothes on, picked some flowers and went off to see the princess. While he was walking near the beach, Gerald came upon a fish out of the water. Gerald decided that it was dead so he kept on walking. As soon as he started walking, Gerald heard a voice saying, “Help me, help me!”. He didn’t know what it was until he looked at the fish. “Help me get back into the water,” he said. So Gerald decided to throw the fish in the water. “Thank you,” said the fish, “Now take one of my scales and when you are in trouble, burn it. Help will come.” Gerald didn’t know what else to do so he plucked a scale from the fish. Right when he left, he thought he saw a glimpse of an eye, reflecting off the water. Gerald didn’t know what it was so he kept on walking.

About halfway from the hill where the castle stood, Gerald noticed an injured eagle there lying on the ground. It had an arrow stuck into it. Apparently, someone shot it down and left. Gerald knew what happened because the eagle spoke to him. “Help me, help me,” it said. Gerald then took the arrow out of the eagle and it thanked him. “Thank you,” said the eagle, “Now take one of my feathers and when you are in trouble, burn it. Help will come.” Gerald then pulled a feather out of the eagle and watched it soar away. Just as he was looking at it, Gerald noticed the eye again in the sky.