Yiler's Story: Chapter 2

By Yiler Huang

The morning sun rose and shone through Damon’s morning. Remembering that Rowan told him to catch a fish from the lake, Damon, exhausted from catching fish the previous day, woke up and yawned. He grabbed his hat and wore it on his head, then left his house and headed towards the lake across the forest to catch a fish for his uncle. “What’s the difference between a fish from the pond and the lake?” Damon murmured to himself internally.

He entered the forest and soon arrived at a wide blue lake. On the edge of the lake stood a man holding a fishing rod and chewing a thin piece of wheat in his mouth. Damon walked closer to the edge of the river and realized that there was no way he could catch a fish from this lake with his bare hands. However, he still waited beside the lake, stared at the still water, and hoped a fish would come close to him.

“You ain’t gonna get any fish like that.” The fisherman next to Damon spoke. He has an eyepatch on his face and a long scar on the eye which the eyepatch covered.

“Who knows, maybe a fish will eventually come,” Damon replied.

The fisherman sighed and shook his head. “I’ve never seen anyone catch a fish this way, it ain’t gonna work young man. The last time I lent someone my fish rod was 5 years ago. My fish rod was broken in half, all just because a stupid kid wanted to try it out!”

Damon stood up from the ground, looked at the fisherman, and stared at his fishing rod closely. “Perhaps you can lend me your fishing rod, I need a fish from this lake right now,” Damon asked politely.

The fisherman didn’t even bother to give Damon a single glance. “Borrowing you my fishing rod? Never!” He chuckled and said. “You young people never pay attention to things, you’ve got no experience. How can I lend my fishing rod? I doubt any of you can even fish properly.”

“Come on. It’s not going to take too long, and being young doesn’t mean I don’t pay attention to things.” Damon argued.

“No! Because, ugh… you kids have stupid hands, they are not grown enough yet. And what if you damage my fishing rod? This is the only one I have, and I am NOT going to hand it to a kid! You kids always break things for fun. I’ll never lend you my fishing rod!”

“Just because I’m a kid doesn’t mean I will break your fishing rod, I need a fish now and I need your help.” Damon was not quite following the fisherman’s logic.

The fisherman fell silent and stopped replying for a short while, he put his fist against his chin and appeared to be thinking about something.

“How about this?” The fisherman finally spoke. “You go up to the mountain, and go catch an eagle for me, then I’ll help you to get a fish from this lake.”

“Why do you need an eagle?” Damon asked out of curiosity.

The fisherman sighed as he took off the eye patch on his face, revealing the scar on his eye. “You see this scar? An eagle did this to me, and I need to take my revenge!”

“How do you know which eagle did it? There’s no way I can find the exact eagle who hurt you.” Damon got even more confused.

“It doesn’t matter! I’m happy as long as an eagle is handed to me. Maybe there’s only one eagle on the mountain.”

Damon, despite thinking that the fisherman was insane, agreed with his bargain and decided to catch an eagle for him.