Once! There was a king who was in love. His palace was buzzing with wedding plans: servants polishing golden plates; bakers making elaborate cakes; musicians happily learning new tunes.

The king decided that since he lived so close to the sea, he would serve fish to the guests at the feast-but, to his horror, on the day of the wedding, the sky darkened and a huge storm blew in. The wind tossed the waves so high they nearly touched the sky! None of the fishermen would brave the angry sea for fear they would be drowned.

The poor king was in a panic, pacing back and forth in his throne room. If none of his men would brave the storm, how would they catch the fish? What would he serve his guests? What was he going to do?

At that moment, a guard entered and bowed to the King.

"Your Majesty," he announced, "You have a visitor."

"Show him in, show him in," waved the distracted king.

In walked a tall young man with a huge net draped over his shoulders. It was bulging with fish. The man bowed to the king and slung the net at his feet. Fish scattered everywhere onto the polished marble floor. The fisherman smiled. The king brightened.

"My good man!" cried the king,"You have saved the day! You have risked your life for me! How can I repay you? Name your reward. Whatever you desire shall be yours!"

The fisherman deliberated for one moment only. "Your Majesty," he said,"Please give me one hundred lashes of the whip."

The king was startled. "What's this?" he asked, "Have you lost your mind? I just offered you anything in my entire kingdom. You could have a mountain of gold! You could have a country estate...perhaps a stable filled with stallions! But you want a whipping?"

The fisherman bowed again. "If you please, sire, I wish for 100 lashes of the whip."

The king was horrified. This was too much. He turned his attention to the guard,"Take this man to the dungeon and give him what he asks for. But be careful! Make the lashes so light that he is not harmed in any way."

The guard escorted the fisherman down to the bowels of the castle and proceeded to give him his reward. Whpppp! Whpppp! Whpppp! They counted to fifty and the fisherman stopped the guard. He turned to him and said,"Now, please, go and fetch the Gatekeeper."

Puzzled, the guard reported to the king instead. At his news, the king turned purple with rage and rushed down to the dungeon.

"Explain yourself, I command you," he boomed. "First, you risk your life to catch the fish. Then we offer you anything you could want. Next, you ask for 100 lashes of the whip--we give you fifty--and now this! Explain yourself! I command you!"

The fisherman bowed. "Your Majesty, after I had braved the storm and caught the fish, I came rushing back to the castle to bring them to you fresh. But I was stopped by the Gatekeeper, sire. He would not let me pass."

The fisherman paused to make his point. "He would not let me pass, sire, until I promised to give him...half of my reward." (Source: Thailand, Japan, India)

Here's a story that can serve as a wonderful application for fractions: introduction, review, or reinforcement. In this folk tale, the king has offered one reward, but two characters are interested in having it, so it has to be split. (Or, using math terms, it must be divided by two.) Each character will get one half. In this version, I've used 100 as my basis for division to keep the concept simple. One half of the reward is one half of one hundred. Fifty.

But here's where the fun comes in for you as the teacher (and storyteller!). Depending on the level of your students, you can easily tell the tale again and add more characters for more math possibilities. If you change the number of lashes to 60, you have the common denominator for 2,3,4,5,6,10, 12,15, 20, and 30. This opens the door for all kinds of characters to walk in and take some of the poor fisherman's reward." A chief minister could demand one quarter (15); a sentry might want one-sixth (10); the king's cook could easily ask for one-fifth (12); and the gatekeeper in this instance could request one-third (20). Notice that , though, that when you work this new problem out, the young fisherman will have to speak up sooner to the king about sharing his reward", especially since in this new version, he would only have to suffer three lashes! (Work it out for yourself-or better yet, give this to your students for extra credit!)

This story pops up all over the Far East - you may want to use it to introduce a history of Hindu-Arabic numerals - and note how our present day numbers are actually one of the many treasures offered us from the mysterious East. (The use of ZERO is another. That in itself is worthy of at least week's study!)

Mary Lloyd Dugan has worked with large groups and small; she holds a B.A. in Music and Theatre Arts and an MA in Waldorf education. Visit her web site: www.dancingponyproductions.com Contact: (843) 272-4570