Speaking Fish of Elizondo’s Three Sons

Overview

The fisherman catches the same fine fish on three successive days. It speaks and asks for release, promising whatever he wants and later specifically money. He spares it twice, but his wife’s angry insistence that he bring home food leads him to keep it the third time. The fish then explains that distributing its body between the wife, mare and dog will produce three sons, three colts and three puppies respectively. Each set will consist of identical individuals. No size, colour, fish species or preceding human identity is supplied.

The foretold births occur, and the three human brothers later travel with their matching horses and dogs. The fish also predicts that the well behind the family house will boil if one of the children suffers misfortune. That sign alerts the household when each of the first two enters a deceptive castle and becomes a monster. The third follows and forces the enchanter to restore both brothers, horses and dogs. The fish does not survive as a companion or return in human form at the final reunion. Its continuing narrative influence lies in the linked births and prophetic warning, not in an unspecified resurrection after its body is divided.

Origins & earliest records

Webster’s Basque Legends, second edition (London, 1879), prints The Fisherman and His Sons under Catherine Elizondo’s name. This is one attributed English translation of a collected narrative.

Records & interpretation

The complete narrative, pp. 87–94, establishes the actions and outcome. Its serpent rescue and castle transformation are successive episodes, with the speaking fish’s warning well linking the separated family.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

1. 01

   Basque Legends: The Fisherman and His Sons

   Wentworth Webster, collector and translator; narrator Catherine Elizondo · 1879

   Second edition, pp. 87–94; complete three-brother rescue and identification ending read.

Family & connections

A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

1. Primary collected translationWebster 1879: complete Fisherman and His SonsResearch access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

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