The tale of the fisherman and his wife relates the story of how the fisherman one day caught a fish which was really an enchanted prince:
"Pray let me live. I am not a real fish. I am an enchanted prince. Put me in the water again and let me go."
He let the fish go but when his wife heard about how the fisherman had spared the prince’s life, she told her husband to go back and demand a cottage instead of the ditch where they lived. He did this and the enchanted fish granted his wish. After that, she made him return again several times, for a castle, to become king and then emperor and also Pope. Still not satisfied she then wanted to be lord of the sun and the moon.
O man of the sea, Come listen to me, For Alice, my wife, The plague of my life, Hath sent me to beg a boon of thee!"
"What does she want now?" asked the fish.
"Ah!" said he, "she wants to be lord of the sun and moon."
"Go home," replied the fish, "to your ditch again."
And there they live to this very day.
Some might say, be careful what you wish for. Others might say, look what we achieved along the way! Riches and wishes beyond our wildest dreams!
The poor husband had to keep on asking the fish for the next thing his wife wanted and her wants became always greater.
Ultimately, if we want to be lord of the sun and moon, see it rise and set, then a ditch is really quite the best place to be for that. Knowing when to stop seeking more and more is also wise.
But like the fisherman’s wife, there are those who simply will not stop.
Any now we are at the start of a campaign for local council and European elections and the wife’s demands are causing a headache and Joseph Muscat seems to breaking a sweat these days.
Rather than a cool and confident leader, he appears to be struggling with converting and persuading his audience with lectures on every rumbling going on beneath the surface. He is coming across as being on the back foot when addressing the crowd in front of him, on his regular Sunday attendances in the local club.
Time after time, the emphasis has been on defending the population explosion and the out of control construction around the island from top to bottom. All manner of arguments have been peddled out to exert pressure on stifling rumblings from the people such as that we have no choice if we want to sustain our standard of living and our pension than to follow this path.
Other times sympathy has been expressed, about how simply awful our street and landscapes have become due to random developments in village cores and beyond. As though they are not the result of a once size fits all building policy.
The truth, though, seems to be catching up with Joseph Muscat and his colleagues. Konrad Mizzi also came out with his own demand for the fish prince this week, with his request to the Court to deny the case on corruption against him going forward saying it breached his human rights.
Once again, the European Union has put Malta under the spotlight for contravening the rule of law.
The time is drawing close, when a return to the ditch will be the only and best outcome for those who would be lord of sun and moon. And, truly, all the power grab and the fancy castles are no match for the simplicity of a life kept within our honest needs.
It is clear that we have over-shot our own aspirations for a good standard of living. The need by the Prime Minister to continuously justify the falling standards around us is now failing to convince anyone but his own ardent supporters.
It is time to account now for where we find ourselves and for what is to come. The loss of so many trees and vegetation, the continuous shooting of birds, protected and not, the eyesores all around are wearing us down, the traffic and pollution and the road works all putting pressure on us. The hardest to bear and to convince us about is the Gozo Tunnel. Please someone with some sense stop this madness.
If the Local Council and the EU elections could be about one thing, then let it be to say no to the tunnel. It is a castle that no one except the fisherman’s wife wants.