The Old Man and the Sea

THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA

BY ERNEST HEMINGWAY 1951

"The male fish always let the female fish feed first and the hooked fish, the female, made a wild,

panic-stricken, despairing fight that soon exhausted her, and all the time the male had

stayed with her, crossing the line and circling with her on the surface. He had stayed so

close that the old man was afraid he would cut the line with his tail which was sharp as a

scythe and almost of that size and shape. When the old man had gaffed her and clubbed

her, holding the rapier bill with its sandpaper edge and dubbing her across the top of her

head until her colour turned to a colour almost like the backing of mirrors, and then, with

the boy’s aid, hoisted her aboard, the male fish had stayed by the side of the boat. Then,

while the old man was clearing the lines and preparing the harpoon, [49] the male fish

jumped high into the air beside the boat to see where the female was and then went down

deep, his lavender wings, that were his pectoral fins, spread wide and all his wide

lavender stripes showing. He was beautiful, the old man remembered, and he had stayed (p36).