Day Three Summary

The third day of the old man's story begins, the old man and the fish are both still holding on. The day before the old man decided that he would hold on until death, and has decided that the fish must be having this same idea. The old man then talks to the fish, telling him that he loves him, but he has to kill him. And then he sees a bird flying and decides that the bird must be tired after it lands next to the man. The old man talks to the bird for a little while, telling the bird that it should not be so tired.

At this point, the old man begins to refer to the this fish as his friend. As a response, the fish pulls tightly and almost pulls the old man overboard. For like the fifth time, the old man wishes that the boy were there with him to see the old man's success and share in it. The old man then eats some tuna and sees some birds flying around, which he considers a reminder that no one is ever alone while out at see.

The old man then starts to cramp up and again wishes that the boy was there with him, but this time only so that the boy could massage away the cramps. Finally, the huge fish starts to rise to the surface and the old man sees that the fish is purple and longer than the boat is. As the old man continues to pull he thinks about how it would be easier to live as a fish- but only in some aspects.

Nothing else is happening, so the old man starts to talk about the lions he dreams of often. The old man's thoughts start to wonder from thing to thing, not really focusing on anything in particular for very long. His day continues on and his eats a raw fish and debates about what to do with the marlin that he is still battling against. Then, the day ends and he dreams about the lions again.