A familiar folk tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, transplanted to the bayou.

Swamp creatures intone a rhythmic chorus—“ ‘The fish was a-splashin’ as Paul went a-crashin’ / down to the bottom of the boat.’ / Kerplunk!”—each time the fisherman rows out to beg another wish of the talking sac-a-lait (the crappie suffers, she wails, under a spell from the evil swamp queen) at the behest of his ambitious wife, Paulette. So it is that Paulette gets a new pot, then goes from a cook whose gumbo earns raves from all over to mistress of a big house in a wealthy neighborhood.