The Cod War

Iceland sat on one of his black beaches and looked out at the sea. What he saw there was not something that he wanted to see. One of England's huge fishing boats was there, taking all of his fish! He had thought about what he should do to stop him for a long time, and finally had had found a solution.

Every month, all of the nations met and went over what had happened that month and if anything needed to be said. Germany ended these meeting usually by saying "Now, if any one of you would like to talk about anything, this is the chance to do so."

The silver haired 16-year-old raised his hand and everyone stared at him. Usually, he was pretty quiet in these meetings.

"Iceland? What would you like to say?" Germany asked him.

"As you all know, me and my people rely on fishing. You also know that we are not as rich or as developed than most of you are. We also don't have good boats and we are to small to fight back if anyone threatens us."

"Yes, we do know that." Germany said. Everyone watched Iceland curiously. Iceland stopped talking to the group of nations and looked with a harsh look on his face at England.

"You have improved your boats." Iceland said. England nodded.

"That needed to be done. My boats were getting old." He said.

"England. Could you please stop fishing in my water?" Iceland asked nicely.

"Your water? Hah! Who says that it's your water?" England said. Iceland got mad and stood up.

"If I would take my boats and start fishing in your water, would you allow it?" Iceland said harshly still standing.

"Like you said, you are not as developed as the rest of us and neither are your boats. You would never be able to sail all the way to my country." England said smiling with amusement. Did that 16-year-old teenager think he could be able to win?

"Our industry rely on fishing! If you take that away, I'll go broke!"

"And do you think that I care?" England asked still smiling.

"You have to! I'll...I'll stop participating in Eurovision if you continue!" The nordics and the rest of the europeans were the only ones who understood what he meant by this and they gasped. But England still smiled.

"Iceland! Iceland, you would never!" Norway said as he grabbed Iceland's jacket.

"You won't." England said.

"What makes you think that?" Iceland asked.

"Because you're scandinavian."

Iceland looked down at the table. "You're right." He looked back up. "But I'll do anything. What do you want?"

"I don't want anything. Nothing will stop me from fishing in your water. Your fish is the best, and I won't stop fishing it." England said. Iceland ran to England.

"Vatnið við mínar strendur og fiskurinn sem dvelur þar er mín eign, og ef þú heldur að þú megir bara taka hann þá hefur þú rangt fyrir þér! Mjög rangt!" (translation at the bottom)Iceland yelled in England's face. He was now standing right in front of him. Everyone stared at Iceland. This was the first time that he had spoken Icelandic in front of other nations.

"Haha! Do you really think that I am afraid of you when you speak norwegian?" England said between the laughs.

"Nor-norwegian?" Iceland asked.

"Yes. Wasn't that norwegian?"

"That. Was. Icelandic." Said the teenager, really angry at England at the moment.

"Is there a difference?"

"A huge one!"

"Gentlemen, calm down. Now let's talk this over. Iceland is saying that England is taking his fish, right?" Germany said.

"Yes."

"And does England have a written permission to fish near Iceland?"

"No."

"How long is your radius fishing range, Iceland?"

"4 miles, sir."

"Let's change that to... 12 miles? Yes, 12 miles. Would you like that, Iceland?"

"Yes, sir. Takk."

Vatnið við mínar strendur og fiskurinn sem dvelur þar er mín eign, og ef þú heldur að þú megir bara taka hann þá hefur þú rangt fyrir þér! Mjög rangt! = The water at my beaches and the fish that lives there are my property, and if you think that you can just take that then you are wrong! Very wrong!

Takk = Thank you