The Samurai And The Fisherman: A Story With An Amazing Lesson

The story ‘The samurai and the fisherman’ is a beautiful story that leaves us with a surprising lesson. It all started in ancient Japan. There lived a samurai who was known for his great generosity, especially to the most humble of people.

One day he was given a mission that was to be carried out in a nearby village. Once the mission was completed, when he was about to return home, the samurai saw a fisherman with a very sad expression. He looked like he was sobbing. He then decided to approach and ask what was going on.

The fisherman said he was about to lose his boat because he owed money to a seller in the region. As he could not pay his debt, the seller had decided to confiscate his small boat as collateral. But, faced with this situation, he could not work to pay his debt and his family would starve to death.

The samurai listened intently. His noble heart was moved by this report. Without blinking, then, she took the money that was in her purse and gave it to the fisherman. “It’s not a gift,” he said. He didn’t believe it was okay to give things away, because it encourages greed. “It’s a loan. In a year I’m coming back, and you’ll pay me that money. I will not charge interest”. The fisherman could not believe it. He promised he would get what he needed to pay off the loan and thanked him a thousand times for the gesture. The story of the samurai and the fisherman had just begun.

the return of the samurai

After a year, the samurai returned to the village. He trusted in his belief that the fisherman would repay the money he had borrowed, and he felt great excitement at seeing him again. I hoped that your help had helped to improve his living conditions. It is at this point that the story of the samurai and the fisherman takes an unexpected turn.

When the samurai sought out the fisherman at the same spot where they had met a year earlier, there was no one. He asked the other fishermen, but they didn’t answer where the debtor was. Finally, one of them indicated where the person he was looking for lived. So the samurai went to the house.

When he got there, only the fisherman’s wife and children were there. They swore they didn’t know where the debtor was. The samurai, however, realized that they were lying. The fisherman was hiding so as not to pay his debt. But the story of the samurai and the fisherman doesn’t end there.

The unexpected happens

The samurai was seized with rage. It was unacceptable to him that his generosity should be repaid with a robbery. That’s when he started looking for the fisherman even under the stones of the village. Finally found him near a cliff. The man was in hiding.

When he saw the samurai, he was terrified. The only thing he said was that the fishing had been bad, and he hadn’t been able to raise the money to pay off the debt. “Ungrateful!” shouted the samurai. “I helped you when you needed it most! Is that how you thank me?”. The fisherman didn’t know what to say. The samurai, overcome with rage, took his sword to punish the fisherman.

“Sorry,” said the fisherman. And he spoke the following words: “If your hand goes up, control your temper; if your temper rises, control your hand”. The samurai stopped. That humble man was right. The anger dissipated and the two agreed to a new deadline of another year for him to pay the debt.

What the story ‘The samurai and the fisherman’ teaches us

When the samurai returned to his house, still shocked by what had happened to the fisherman, he saw through the window that the light in his room was on. It was strange, it was already too late. Carefully, he approached and noticed that his wife was in bed. Beside her, however, there was someone else. The samurai approached and noticed that it was another samurai.

Without thinking, he drew his sword. He approached slowly and was about to go in to do something crazy, when he remembered the fisherman’s words. “If your hand goes up, control your temper; if your temper rises, control your hand” . Then he took a deep breath and simply yelled “I’m home!”

His wife went out happy to greet him. Behind her came the mother of the samurai. “Look who’s here!” the wife said. She was afraid of being alone and so asked her mother-in-law to stay with her. The samurai’s mother had put on her son’s clothes in case a thief arrived. If the thief saw the clothing, he would think the warrior was at home and would not approach.

The story of the samurai and the fisherman ended just a year later. The samurai went again to the fisherman’s village. And he was there waiting. He had money and even paid interest, as it had been a good year. Seeing him, the samurai hugged him. “Keep all the money ,” he said. “You don’t owe me anything, I’m the one who owes you.”