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The Fish of Sky

Hurricane Ivan

on Aug. 5, 2011

Legend has it that once, when the world was young, there were two primordial beings, the God of Anglers and the Holy Carp. Every day from dawn till dusk these two would do battle in their own way, up and down the waterways of the world, the Angler trying every fisherman's trick to catch the wily Carp, who would use every move and deception known to fishkind before or hence. For aeons, neither could gain the upper hand, the Angler never quite catching the Carp, and the Carp never truly escaping his assailant. But as time dragged on, the Carp tired of the sport, and began to wish for a life away from the Angler's relentless hooks, and thus contrived a way to escape forever his tireless antagonist. He put his plan into action at the end of a long day, when the Angler had grown weary, and he siezed the Angler's lure. Scarcely able to believe his luck, the Angler gave his rod a mighty heave, pulling the Carp straight out of the water with a titanic splash. No sooner had the fish left the water than the Angler realised his mistake, for instead of falling to the ground, the Holy Carp snapped the line, and continued flying up into the Heavens. Thereafter, the Holy carp swam through the rivers of cloud, leaping about in the waters of the sky as gods only can. It is said that every thousand years, the Carp descends from the clouds to secluded waterways, to find a mate and lay his spawn, which the currents spread far and wide, each of which hatches into a different kind of fish, for the Holy Carp is the father of them all. In all this time, the Angler never gave up on his hopes of catching the Carp, and every thousand years he once more duels with the Carp, neither catching, nor losing him, until finally flinging him back to the skies, to spend another millenium in the clouds.