The Assumption of a Tiny She Fish

Virginia and Jude played Tinker Toys this morning while I cleaned the kitchen. Jude made guns, he always does, and Virginia made a fishing rod and an entire family of fish. I stopped in the den to help Jude make a new weapon, and Virginia took the opportunity to tell me a story about her family of fish. She held up one little yellow she fish and said, "I need to tell you a story about this girl fish." Knowing as I do how enduring and thorough are Virginia's stories, I settled in with a pile of Tinker Toys and prepared to sit for a long time. This is the story she told me:

This fish, well the fish has a family. There was somebody mean who wanted every baby girl fish. If you didn't give it to them, they would kill an entire family. The mean person caught this baby fish. The mean person had a mean husband that had died. This baby fish swam under the water, but the other baby fish couldn't do it because they were afraid sharks would see them and eat them. And then she found her mother and dad and sister and brother and said to them, "I'm going to die for you." She told the mean person, "I will die, but only if my family doesn't die." The mean person said, "okay." The family of fish came running over to see their baby fish, but she had already died. Then something happened--a star began to light up in the sky. The family of fish could see their baby fish rising up to heaven, towards the star.