Once, in a village on the coast of Kerala, there lived a young man born into a family of fishermen. But unlike his kin, he could not catch a single fish. He tried, again and again, yet his nets came up empty. Hunger gnawed at him, and laughter followed him wherever he went, for the villagers mocked his failure.
Ashamed and desperate, he sought out a magician and begged to be taught. The magician, moved or amused, taught him a strange and secret spell: how to remove his own head from his body.
So, each evening, after the fishermen had returned home with their daily catch and the beach had emptied into silence, the young man would walk alone to the shore. In a hidden corner, he would take off his head, set it aside, and dive into the sea.
The fish, seeing this headless man swimming through their waters, were astonished. Curious and unafraid, they swam close. The small ones slipped through the hollow of his neck and filled his body. Then he would swim back to shore, put on his head, and return to the village with a bounty of fish. He told no one. Not a soul.
But the villagers grew suspicious. He had no nets, no poles, and no one had seen him fish. One day, a small boy followed him, quiet as the tide, and watched from behind the rocks. He saw the man remove his head and disappear into the waves.
As soon as the man had gone under, the boy rushed forward, grabbed the head, and ran. But the head was heavy, far heavier than he expected. After a few steps, the boy dropped it into a bush by the sea.
The man returned, dripping and breathless, and searched the shore. But his head was gone. And the spell was fading. With no other choice, he flung himself back into the sea and was never seen again.
It is said he became a fish.