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"She began staying beneath the waves longer and longer, pushing herself to the limits of her breath before she made her choice. Until finally the day came when she brought up nothing at all. For she had left her choice too late. To choose would be to drown. On that day, after he had lifted her into the boat, the fisherman said nothing at all. But that night, when the water bearer's daughter awoke in the dead of night, the fisherman said, 'Have you ever wondered how all those bones came to be at the bottom of the ocean?*
"'Never,' answered the water bearer's daughter. 'For surely it is obvious. They are the bones of those who tried before me.'
'"Tried and failed,' the fisherman reminded her. 'Do you know why?'
"Before today, the water bearer's daughter might not have had an answer. But now she thought she understood, and so she replied, 'The day came when they could not choose, and so they drowned.'
'"That is so,' the fisherman said with a nod. 'But that is not all. They did not know how to look, trust-ing only the eyes of the mind. But the treasure you seek will never be found that way.'
'"How, then?* the water bearer's daughter asked.
'"With the eyes of the heart,' the fisherman replied. 'They alone will show you the treasure you seek. If you fail in this, you will suffer the same fate as all the others.'
'"I will not fail,' the water bearer's daughter said, just as she had that first morning.
'"We shall see,' the fisherman replied. 'Sleep now. One way or the other, tomorrow will be your last dive.'
"The following morning found the fisherman and the water bearer's daughter in the fisherman's small boat once more. The fisherman fished. The water bearer's daughter dove over the side. But even though she did so again and again, she could find nothing she thought might ransom her father, for now all seemed changed. Nothing looked as it had before.
"Although she had thought all the rest of the night about the fisherman's words, the water bearer's daughter had not been able to find the hidden meaning in them. How did one see with the heart and not the mind? The more times she dove, the more frustrated the water bearer's daughter became. And now, a terrible fear seized her for the very first time.
"She was going to fail, as all the others before her had. Both she and her father would die.
"Late in the day, she lay in the boat, gathering up her breath for one last dive. All through the long hours, the fisherman had remained silent. But he spoke now. 'You should trust yourself more. You already have the gift to see as you need to, you just don't recognize it.'
'"How can I have a gift and not recognize it?* the water bearer's daughter asked, her tone waspish.
And by the way, I tire of you talking in riddles, she thought. But out of gratitude for all he had done for her, she did not say this aloud.
'"By not understanding it for the gift it is,' the fisherman replied with a smile. Exactly as if he had heard what she had not spoken as well as what she had. 'Now let me ask you something: How did you look upon my face and yet see that one as ugly as I could also be kind?'
"I don't know, exactly,' the water bearer's daughter said. 'I just looked and saw it.'
'"Then that is what you must do to find the treasure,' the fisherman said.
'"Very well,' the water bearer's daughter answered. 'I will try.'
'"Then it is time for your last dive.'
"The fisherman pulled her to her feet. The water bearer's daughter clasped his hand in hers for just a moment, as if to draw strength from its solidity and size. Then she released it, took one enormous breath, and dove into the ocean.
"Down, down, down she plummeted through water as blue and sparkling as a sapphire, until she reached the shimmering white sand that lay at the ocean's bottom. There she paused, her long hair moving about her. But this time she did not focus on the jewels. Instead, she did a thing her mind insisted made no sense at all: She closed her eyes.
"She felt her hair shifting around her in the ocean's unseen currents. She saw the way the light, filtered through the layers of water, created a rosy glow against the inside of her eyelids. It even seemed to her she felt the heart of the great ocean itself, opening to enfold her in its liquid embrace.
"And then completely without warning, the face of the fisherman popped into her mind.
"At this, the water bearers daughters eyes sprang open, and she knew that she had found the treasure for which she had searched so long and so hard.
"It was a shell, enormous and dark. Encrusted with things whose names she could only guess at. Its scalloped edges looked as sharp as knives. This shell is like the fisherman, she thought. For buried deep within it, the water bearer's daughter thought she caught the glimmer of a treasure precious beyond her ability to measure—in spite of its rough and ugly outside.
"With her last ounce of strength, she snatched up the shell, then shot to the surface. The fisherman hauled her into the boat. He waited for her to catch her breath, then asked softly, 'Will you show me what you have found?
"The water bearer's daughter held out the shell. At the sight of it, the fisherman's great hands trembled, and he shielded his eyes. And it was only in this moment that the water bearer's daughter realized what color they were: the same changeable blue-green as the sea around them.
'"Well done,' the fisherman said. For there is more in this than you yet know. But for now it is enough that you have found the thing you came for. Tonight we will sleep, and tomorrow, ransom your father.'
'"But the way is long,' the water bearer's daughter protested. It ca
"The fisherman took her face between his still-trembling hands. 'Do you trust me?' he asked softly.
'"I trust you,' said the water bearer's daughter.
"'Then believe in me also. For I swear to you that tomorrow your father will be free at last.'
"And the water bearer's daughter's heart was filled with joy. That night, for what she thought would be the very last time, she slept in the fisherman's house. She awoke in the dead of night, as always. The fisherman sat beside the fire, turning the shell over and over in his hands, his eyes glowing as bright as the coals.
"At the sight of this, the water bearer's daughter rose from her bed and went to sit by his side. He wrapped her in his cloak. She rested her head upon his shoulder. There she fell asleep once more. But the fisherman stayed awake all night, for in his head were thoughts that would not let him close his eyes. And so the hours passed until the dawn.
"Just as the first hint of light crept into the sky, the fisherman arose, placed the shell upon the breast of the still-sleeping water bearer's daughter, wrapped both more securely in his cloak, picked her up, stepped out his front door, and closed it behind him. For a moment, he simply stood, looking out upon the ocean.
Then, with one strong arm, he took up the net upon which he had labored every night since he had first made the cottage by the sea his home, and he turned his back upon the water.
"In a great swinging arc, he cast the net out, not across the sea, but across the land. The net was so vast, it stretched beyond the horizon. Then the fisherman gathered up the net, took one step forward, and cast it again, beyond the next horizon.
"Again and again, the fisherman cast out his great net and gathered it in. Cast it out and gathered it in.
Each time taking one step forward. With each step he took, he brought himself closer to his own destiny and the water bearer's daughter closer to her father. So that by the time she stirred in the fisherman's arms and he set her down, they were but a street away from Prince Khasib's palace.