A Fish Story

This is one of several stories I am writing for my grandchildren. This one is about "Jonah and the Whale." I call the collection Grampa's Stories.

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Under a clear azure sky on a bright Mediterranean day, Elihaz (e-LI-haz) and his nine-year-old grandson, Ahasurah (a-HAS-ur-ah), took a walk along the shore. The sea gently lapped the sandy beach creating small white lines of soapy froth. Soon they happened upon some fishermen who had been out fishing all night. Ahasurah stopped to watch the fishermen unload their nets on the shore near their village of Namora (na-MOR-a).

“Looks like you had a good night fishing,” said Elihaz to one of the young fishermen.

“It was better than most,” the young man replied without looking up.

“How many fish did you catch?” asked Ahasurah.

“ A couple of hundred, I imagine,” said the fisherman. “Most of them are the same kind and they're all the same size — small.” The young fisherman laughed.

Then, Ahasurah spotted a few fish in the net that were much larger than most of the pan-sized catch. “Grampa, look at those!” he exclaimed pointing to a couple of fish that were each about a meter long.

“I see them!” said Grampa Elihaz. “They’re pretty big.”

“Oh, those?” shrugged the fisherman, “We catch fish twice that big sometimes!”

“WOW!” gasped Ahasurah. “Have you ever seen a fish that big, Grampa?”

“Actually, I once saw one much bigger than that,” said Elihaz.

Ahasurah held his hands out in front of him. “As big as this?”

"Bigger,” said his grandfather.

Ahasurah stretched his arms as far as he could. “Bigger than this?”

“Much bigger.”

The young fisherman, who had not looked up once from his work, heard what Elihaz said and stopped. Interested in hearing more, the fisherman asked, “Were you once a fisherman, sir?”

“No, I’ve always been a weaver,” explained Grampa Elihaz, “but once on a trip to Tarshish, I saw a huge fish—big enough to swallow a man!”

“WOW!” exclaimed Ahasurah.

The fisherman was less impressed. Although he was young, he had been a fisherman long enough to know a “fish story” when he heard one. He believed that Elihaz was exaggerating the story for the benefit of his grandson.

“Tell us the story, Grampa,” begged Ahasurah.

The young fisherman stopped what he was doing, stood up and crossed his arms. “Yes,” said the fisherman with an unbelieving smile, “please tell us the story.”

Elihaz leaned against an upturned boat as he began his story. “It was nearly 50 years ago in Joppa, where I lived,” he began. “I was a 15-year-old apprentice weaver. I was told to take some specially woven cloth to a merchant in Tarshish and bring back the money to my employer.

The only way to get there was by boat. I found a boat, a little bigger than this one,” he said patting the hull he was sitting on, “that was going to Tarshish the next day. The trip was suppose to take all day. I arrived at the boat the next morning with a big bundle of cloth. There were eight others there, too.

“Just as we were about to push off, a man shouted, ‘WAIT FOR ME!’ He looked nervous and afraid of something or somebody. Nonetheless, he paid the captain the fare and took a seat on the opposite side of the boat from where I was sitting. When the boat was fully loaded, we shoved off to Tarshish.

“It was my first time at sea. I was a little afraid, but the sea was calm and soon I relaxed. About an hour after we left Joppa, the waves started getting bigger and the wind started blowing harder. Soon the sky turned dark gray and it began raining harder than I had ever seen. The boat rocked violently and the waves crashed over the sides. Water began to fill the boat. I was scared! But I wasn’t alone. Even the sailors were afraid. The captain yelled over the howling wind, ‘WE’VE GOT TO LIGHTEN THE SHIP, OR WE’LL SWAMP! THROW ALL THE CARGO OVERBOARD!’

“They began tossing every loose item they could find into the surging water. One man grabbed for my bundle of beautiful and expensive fabric I was delivering to Tarshish. ‘NO!’ I shouted because I was afraid I would be fired for losing the cloth, but then I realized that I could drown in the ocean if it stayed on board, so I helped the man throw it into the sea.

“Lightening the ship helped steady the boat, but we were still in a lot of trouble. All of us were praying and holding on for dear life, all except the nervous man who had gotten in the boat at the last minute. Curiously, in spite of all the confusion that was going on around him he was asleep between two supports along the right side of the ship! I couldn’t believe it! How could anyone go to sleep at a time like that!
“When the captain saw that the man was doing nothing to save the ship or his life, he was angry! ‘HEY YOU!’ he yelled. ‘WAKE UP! IF THIS SHIP CAPSIZES WE’LL ALL DROWN!’

“The man sat up and looked around. He began to cry. I thought he was just scared, but then he stood up and called to the captain, ‘This is all my fault!’

“’WHAT?’ said the captain. “Who are you and why do you think this is your fault?’

“’My name is Jonah and I have disobeyed God. I was supposed to go to Ninevah to preach God’s message, but I was afraid to go there because Ninevah is such a wicked place. Instead, I got on this boat to run away to Tarshish. As a result, all of you are suffering for my disobedience.’

“All of us looked at each other in amazement.

‘What do you suggest we do, then?’ asked the captain.

‘Throw me overboard,’ said Jonah. ‘Once I’m gone, you and the others will be safe.’

“‘Certainly not!’ insisted the captain. ‘We’ll ride this storm out together!’

The captain gave orders for everyone to help row towards shore. We all took turns rowing until we were exhausted. It was no good. We were getting nowhere and we were in serious trouble.

Jonah suddenly stood up and put his foot on the side as if he were going to jump into the water.

“STOP THAT MAN!” shouted the captain.

We all grabbed Jonah’s legs and pulled him down. At that moment, a huge wave crashed down on us and nearly swamped the boat. It was a losing battle. We fought for control of the boat for another 30 minutes, but it was no use.

“LET ME GO!” shouted Jonah to the captain. “Believe me, captain, it’s the only way to save this boat and these other men!”

The men began to murmur. One of them said, “Let him go, captain! Maybe he’s right.”

The captain was loath to do as Jonah said, but he also knew that the boat would not withstand the storm much longer and that all of us were certainly going to drown. The captain’s face grew very sad as he spoke. “Very well, then, Jonah, we will do as you ask.”

The captain motioned for the other men to help Jonah stand. The captain looked up to heaven. With the howling winds blowing his hair and the salt water stinging his eyes, he prayed out loud, “May the Lord God forgive us for what we are about to do.” He then gave the signal and the men pushed Jonah over the side into the sea. Jonah instantly vanished beneath the water.

By this time, both Ahasurah and the young fisherman were completely captivated by Elihaz’s story. “What happened then?” asked Ahasurah wide-eyed.

“Despite the storm still raging around us, we all were sad and sat quietly. Some of the men even cried because of the sacrifice that Jonah had made for the rest of us. Little by little the storm calmed. We bailed out all the water and finally got control of the ship. We never made it to Tarshish that day. The storm had blown us so far off course, we put into a small village just to rest and recover from the ordeal.

“What about the big fish you said you saw, Grampa?”

“I’m coming to that,” said Elihaz.

Three days we stayed in that village. The captain and crew made some small repairs to the boat and soon we were ready to return to Joppa. The weather was perfect this time. It was a day like today. The sun was shinning brightly and the sky was blue.

Midway to Joppa, I saw an island in the distance that, because of the storm, I hadn’t seen on the trip over. The closer we got to the island, the captain became more curious about something he saw. He had been past that island hundreds of times without stopping, but something this time piqued his curiosity.

Just offshore, we could see that a big fish had beached itself on the sand. Now, when I say big, I mean big. The fish was as taller than me and at least three or four times as long as the boat we were in! It’s skin was dark blue or black, with white spots on top and white on its belly. It had tiny black eyes and an enormous, wide mouth. We were so curious about the giant fish, we didn’t even notice a man laying on the sand in front of the fish. He was apparently unconscious. As soon as we saw the poor man, two men jumped out and swam to shore to help him. We suspected that he had washed up on the beach after surviving a shipwreck during the terrible storm three days earlier that had nearly cost us our own lives. The rest of us watched from the boat as the captain guided it towards the sandy beach.

By the time we landed and got out of the boat, the men who had swum to shore had revived the man. We never imagined that the man and the giant fish were connected in any way. The poor man looked terrible! He was coated in white, frothy slime that matted his hair and beard. He had seaweed and grass all over him. He also smelled really bad! Because of his condition no one recognized him until he spoke.”

“Who was it?” asked Ahasurus.

“It was Jonah, wasn’t it?” said the young fisherman who by now had devoted his full attention to Elihaz.

Elihaz smiled. “You are right! It was Jonah!”

“But I thought you said Jonah drowned?” said Ahasurus.

“No, I said he disappeared in the sea.”

“So how did he get on that island?”

“I know,” said the young fisherman excitedly. “He rode on the back of that big fish and when the fish beached himself, the man crawled onto the sand.”

“Well, you’re pretty close,” answered Elihaz. Jonah did ride the fish to the island, but not on top.”

“Did he hold on to the fish’s tail?” guessed Ahasurus.

“Well, actually, Jonah rode inside of that fish!”

“Oh, yuck!” said Ahasurus and wiped his mouth with his hand

“That’s impossible!” declared the young fisherman. “Nobody could live inside a fish.”

“That’s what I would have said before I saw Jonah,” said Elihaz. “If you had seen the size of the fish and the condition that Jonah was in, you would have believed it also.”

“How did Jonah live inside that fish, Grampa?”

“Jonah said he didn’t remember much about the horrible experience. According to him after we pushed him overboard into the sea, he tried to swim, but the sea was too rough. He started gulping water and thought he was drowning. Then, he became unconscious. It must have been then that God provided that big fish to swallow Jonah whole! Jonah said he remembered nothing else until the morning we found him. We figured that the fish had beached itself and couldn’t return to the sea. The last thing the fish did before he died was vomit and as he did, Jonah rolled out onto the sand.”

“YUCK!” said Ahasurus as he put his hand on his stomach and squinted. “Then what happened to Jonah, Grampa?”

“He was terribly weak, so we all helped him to our boat and gave him some fresh water and some bread to eat. On the trip back, Jonah explained to us how that God had spared his life to give him another chance to preach to the people of Ninevah like he was supposed to do.”

“Did he go to Ninevah?” asked Ahasurus.

“I believe he did,” answered Elihaz. “I never actually saw Jonah again, but a few years later, I heard from travelers of a great spiritual revival that occurred around the Ninevah area. It was said to have been lead by a prophet of God who preached mightily in that region day and night.”

“It had to be Jonah,” reasoned the young fisherman. “May I ask you something, sir?”

“Of course, young man.”

“Does God always give people a second chance like he did Jonah?”
“Well, I am not a rabbi, but I have heard the scriptures read enough in my lifetime to tell you this. There is no promise of a second chance, but God is longsuffering, patient and kind. My advice to you, young man, is that if you know God is calling you to do something, do not wait! There may not be any more fish in the ocean that the one that rescued Jonah.”

Before the fishman could say anything, his captain called him. “Thank you, sir. I shall try to remember what you have said.”

Elihas slapped his legs with the palms of his hands. “Well, Ahasurus, we have rested long enough. We need to go home where your grandmother probably has lunch waiting for us.”

He took the boy by the hand and together they retraced their foot steps along the beach that had all but disappeared from the waves washing onto the shore.
Ahasurus lifted his other hand to his forehead as a shield against the bright midday sun. Elihaz watched his grandson scan the sea.

“What do you see?” asked Elihaz.

A moment passed before Ahasurus spoke. “Do you suppose there are more big fish like saved Jonah left in the sea?”

“If God needs one, Ahasurus, you can be sure one will be there.”

The End