She would like to have a cottage.” “Go,
then,” said the Flounder, “she has it already.”

When the man went home, his wife was no longer in the hovel, but
instead of it there stood a small cottage, and she was sitting on a
bench before the door. Then she took him by the hand and said to him,
“Just come inside, look, now isn’t this a great deal better?” So they
went in, and there was a small porch, and a pretty little parlor and
bedroom, and a kitchen and pantry, with the best of furniture, and
fitted up with the most beautiful things made of tin and brass,
whatsoever was wanted. And behind the cottage there was a small yard,
with hens and ducks, and a little garden with flowers and fruit. “Look,” said the wife, “is not that nice!” “Yes,” said the husband,
“and so we must always think it,—now we will live quite contented.” “We
will think about that,” said the wife. With that they ate something and
went to bed. Everything went well for a week or a fortnight, and then the woman
said, “Hark you, husband, this cottage is far too small for us, and the
garden and yard are little; the Flounder might just as well have given
us a larger house. I should like to live in a great stone castle; go to
the Flounder, and tell him to give us a castle.” “Ah, wife,” said the
man, “the cottage is quite good enough; why should we live in a
castle?” “What!” said the woman; “just go there, the Flounder can
always do that.” “No, wife,” said the man, “the Flounder has just given
us the cottage, I do not like to go back so soon, it might make him
angry.” “Go,” said the woman, “he can do it quite easily, and will be
glad to do it; just you go to him.”

The man’s heart grew heavy, and he would not go. He said to himself,
“It is not right,” and yet he went. And when he came to the sea the
water was quite purple and dark-blue, and grey and thick, and no longer
so green and yellow, but it was still quiet. And he stood there and
said—

“Flounder, flounder in the sea,
Come, I pray thee, here to me;
For my wife, good Ilsabil,
Wills not as I’d have her will.”


“Well, what does she want, then?” said the Flounder. “Alas,” said the
man, half scared, “she wants to live in a great stone castle.” “Go to
it, then, she is standing before the door,” said the Flounder. Then the man went away, intending to go home, but when he got there, he
found a great stone palace, and his wife was just standing on the steps
going in, and she took him by the hand and said, “Come in.” So he went
in with her, and in the castle was a great hall paved with marble, and
many servants, who flung wide the doors; And the walls were all bright
with beautiful hangings, and in the rooms were chairs and tables of
pure gold, and crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling, and all the
rooms and bed-rooms had carpets, and food and wine of the very best
were standing on all the tables, so that they nearly broke down beneath
it. Behind the house, too, there was a great court-yard, with stables
for horses and cows, and the very best of carriages; there was a
magnificent large garden, too, with the most beautiful flowers and
fruit-trees, and a park quite half a mile long, in which were stags,
deer, and hares, and everything that could be desired. “Come,” said the
woman, “isn’t that beautiful?” “Yes, indeed,” said the man, “now let it
be; and we will live in this beautiful castle and be content.” “We will
consider about that,” said the woman, “and sleep upon it;” thereupon
they went to bed. Next morning the wife awoke first, and it was just daybreak, and from
her bed she saw the beautiful country lying before her. Her husband was
still stretching himself, so she poked him in the side with her elbow,
and said, “Get up, husband, and just peep out of the window. Look you,
couldn’t we be the King over all that land? Go to the Flounder, we will
be the King.” “Ah, wife,” said the man, “why should we be King? I do
not want to be King.” “Well,” said the wife, “if you won’t be King, I
will; go to the Flounder, for I will be King.” “Ah, wife,” said the
man, “why do you want to be King? I do not like to say that to him.”
“Why not?” said the woman; “go to him this instant; I must be King!” So
the man went, and was quite unhappy because his wife wished to be King. “It is not right; it is not right,” thought he. He did not wish to go,
but yet he went. And when he came to the sea, it was quite dark-grey, and the water
heaved up from below, and smelt putrid. Then he went and stood by it,
and said,

“Flounder, flounder in the sea,
Come, I pray thee, here to me;
For my wife, good Ilsabil,
Wills not as I’d have her will”


“Well, what does she want, then?” said the Flounder. “Alas,” said the
man, “she wants to be King.” “Go to her; she is King already.”

So the man went, and when he came to the palace, the castle had become
much larger, and had a great tower and magnificent ornaments, and the
sentinel was standing before the door, and there were numbers of
soldiers with kettle-drums and trumpets. And when he went inside the
house, everything was of real marble and gold, with velvet covers and
great golden tassels. Then the doors of the hall were opened, and there
was the court in all its splendour, and his wife was sitting on a high
throne of gold and diamonds, with a great crown of gold on her head,
and a sceptre of pure gold and jewels in her hand, and on both sides of
her stood her maids-in-waiting in a row, each of them always one head
shorter than the last. Then he went and stood before her, and said, “Ah, wife, and now you are
King.” “Yes,” said the woman, “now I am King.” So he stood and looked
at her, and when he had looked at her thus for some time, he said, “And
now that you are King, let all else be, now we will wish for nothing
more.” “Nay, husband,” said the woman, quite anxiously, “I find time
pass very heavily, I can bear it no longer; go to the Flounder—I am
King, but I must be Emperor, too.” “Alas, wife, why do you wish to be
Emperor?” “Husband,” said she, “go to the Flounder. I will be Emperor.”
“Alas, wife,” said the man, “he cannot make you Emperor; I may not say
that to the fish. There is only one Emperor in the land. An Emperor the
Flounder cannot make you! I assure you he cannot.”

“What!” said the woman, “I am the King, and you are nothing but my
husband; will you go this moment? go at once! If he can make a King he
can make an emperor. I will be Emperor; go instantly.” So he was forced
to go. As the man went, however, he was troubled in mind, and thought
to himself, “It will not end well; it will not end well! Emperor is too
shameless! The Flounder will at last be tired out.”

With that he reached the sea, and the sea was quite black and thick,
and began to boil up from below, so that it threw up bubbles, and such
a sharp wind blew over it that it curdled, and the man was afraid.