Once upon a time, in a little market town beside a river, there lived a cheerful man called Uncle Tu. Uncle Tu sold fish. Every morning, before the rooster had finished his song, he carried two big baskets of shiny fish to his small shop at the corner of the street.
One day Uncle Tu said, "My shop needs a sign, so everyone knows what I sell." He found a smooth wooden board, dipped his brush in bright red paint, and wrote in big letters: FRESH FISH SOLD HERE. He hung the sign above the door and stepped back. "Lovely!" he said, and he smiled all morning.
Soon a lady in a round straw hat came walking by. She stopped and read the sign. "Good morning, Uncle Tu! What a fine sign. But why do you write 'fresh'? Your fish are always fresh. Nobody would sell old fish." Uncle Tu scratched his head. "Hmm. You are right." So he painted over one word, and now the sign said: FISH SOLD HERE.
A little later, a young man rode by on his bicycle. Ring, ring! He stopped and read the sign. "Uncle Tu, why do you write 'here'? Your shop is right here. We can all see it!" Uncle Tu laughed. "Oh, that is true too." Swish, swish went the brush, and now the sign said: FISH SOLD.
In the afternoon, a grandpa came along with his walking stick. Tap, tap, tap. He read the sign and chuckled. "Why write 'sold'? If you weren't selling them, why would you put fish out on your table?" "Hmm, good point," said Uncle Tu. Swish, swish. Now the sign said just one word: FISH.
Just before sunset, a little girl walked past holding her mother's hand. She sniffed the air, sniff, sniff, and giggled. "Mama, I can smell the fish from all the way down the street! Uncle Tu doesn't need a sign to say fish." Everyone nearby giggled too, and Uncle Tu giggled the loudest. "Well then," he said, "maybe I don't need a sign at all." He took the board down and leaned it behind the door.
The next morning, a traveller with a big backpack came into town. He wanted some fish for his lunch. He walked up the street and down the street, looking at every door, and he walked right past Uncle Tu's shop. "Excuse me!" called Uncle Tu. "Are you looking for something?" "I am looking for fish," said the traveller, "but I cannot find a fish shop anywhere." Uncle Tu blinked. "This is a fish shop!" "Oh!" said the traveller. "There was no sign, so I thought it was somebody's house."
Uncle Tu sold the traveller two nice fish, and then he sat down and thought and thought. Soon the lady in the straw hat, the young man with the bicycle, the grandpa with his stick and the little girl all came by. Uncle Tu told them about the traveller. They looked at each other, and then everybody burst out laughing together, the warm, kind laugh of good neighbours. "Oh dear," said the grandpa. "Each of us gave one little idea, and all together our ideas made your sign disappear!"
"Let's make a new sign," said the little girl. "Together!" So they did. The lady held the board, the young man held the paint, the grandpa checked every letter, and Uncle Tu wrote: FRESH FISH SOLD HERE. The little girl painted a small smiling fish in the corner. Uncle Tu hung it up high. "Thank you, friends," he said. "It is good to listen to other people's ideas. And it is good to think with my own head too." From then on, the sign stayed right where it was, and the little smiling fish said hello to everyone who passed by.
Parent tip: Each time a word is painted over, cover one word on an imaginary sign with your hand and let your child say which words are left.
Ask your child: After the story, you can ask: “Who was kind in this story, and what did they do?”
This is a gentle retelling where nobody is teased and everyone laughs kindly together, with nothing scary at all.