The fisherman and his wife
There was once a fisherman and his wife who lived together
in a hovel by the sea-shore, and the fisherman went out every day with his hook
and line to catch fish, and he angled and angled. One day he was sitting with
his rod and looking into the clear water, and he sat and sat.
At last down went the line to the bottom of the water, and
when he drew it up he found a great flounder on the hook. And the flounder said
to him, "Fisherman, listen to me; let me go, I am not a real fish but an
enchanted prince. What good shall I be to you if you land me? I shall not taste
well; so put me back into the water again, and let me swim away."
"Well," said the fisherman, "no need of so
many words about the matter, as you can speak I had much rather let you swim
away."
Then he put him back into the clear water, and the flounder
sank to the bottom, leaving a long streak of blood behind him. Then the
fisherman got up and went home to his wife in their hovel. "Well,
husband," said the wife, "have you caught nothing to-day?"
"No," said the man "that is, I did catch a
flounder, but as he said he was an enchanted prince, I let him go again."
"Then, did you wish for nothing?"said the wife.
"No," said the man; "what should I wish
for?"
"Oh dear!" said the wife; "and it is so
dreadful always to live in this evil-smelling hovel j you might as well have
wished for a little cottage; go again and call him; tell him we want a little
cottage, I daresay he will give it us; go, and be quick." And when he went
back, the sea was green and yellow, and not nearly so clear. So he stood and
said,
"O man, O man!-if man you be, Or flounder, flounder, in
the sea- Such a tiresome wife I've got, For she wants what I do not."
Then the flounder came swimming up, and said,
"Now then, what does she want?"
"Oh," said the man, "you know when I caught
you my wife says I ought to have wished for something. She does not want to
live any longer in the hovel, and would rather have a cottage. "Go home
with you," said the flounder, "she has it already."
So the man went home, and found, instead of the hovel, a
little cottage, and his wife was sitting on a bench before the door. And she
took him by the hand, and said to him,
"Come in and see if this is not a great
improvement."
So they went in, and there was a little house-place and a
beautiful little bedroom, a kitchen and larder, with all sorts of furniture,
and iron and brass ware of the very best. And at the back was a little yard
with fowls and ducks, and a little garden full of green vegetables and fruit. "Look,"
said the wife, "is not that nice?"
"Yes," said the man, "if this can only last
we shall be very well contented."
"We will see about that," said the wife. And after
a meal they went to bed.
So all went well for a week or fortnight, when the wife
said,
"Look here, husband, the cottage is really too
confined, and the yard and garden are so small; I think the flounder had better
get us a larger house; I should like very much to live in a large stone castle;
so go to your fish and he will send us a castle."