"Alas!" said the man; "I had to call you, for my wife said I ought to
have wished for something, as I caught you. She doesn't want to live
in our miserable hovel any longer; she wants a pretty cottage."
"Go home again, then," said the flounder; "she has her wish fully."
The man went home and found his wife no longer in the old hut, but a
pretty little cottage stood in its place, and his wife was sitting on
a bench by the door.
She took him by the hand, and said: "Come and look in here--isn't this
much better?"
They went inside and found a pretty sitting-room, and a bedroom with
a bed in it, a kitchen, and a larder furnished with everything of the
best in tin and brass, and every possible requisite. Outside there
was a little yard with chickens and ducks, and a little garden full of
vegetables and fruit.
"Look!" said the woman, "is not this nice?"
"Yes," said the man; "and so let it remain. We can live here very
happily."
"We will see about that," said the woman, and with that they ate
something and went to bed.
Everything went well for a week or more, and then said the wife:
"Listen, husband; this cottage is too cramped, and the garden is too
small. The flounder might have given us a bigger house. I want to live
in a big stone castle. Go to the flounder, and tell him to give us a
castle."
"Alas, wife!" said the man; "the cottage is good enough for us; what
should we do with a castle?"
"Never mind," said his wife; "do thou but go to the flounder, and he
will manage it."
"Nay, wife," said the man; "the flounder gave us the cottage. I don't
want to go back; as likely as not he'll be angry."
"Go, all the same," said the woman. "He can do it easily enough, and
willingly into the bargain. Just go!"
The man's heart was heavy, and he was very unwilling to go. He said to
himself: "It's not right." But at last he went.
He found the sea was no longer green; it was still calm, but dark
violet and gray. He stood by it and said:
"Flounder, flounder in the sea,
Prythee, hearken unto me:
My wife, Ilsebil, will have her own way
Whatever I wish, whatever I say."
"Now, what do you want?" said the flounder.
"Alas," said the man, half scared, "my wife wants a big stone castle."
"Go home again," said the flounder; "she is standing at the door of
it."
Then the man went away, thinking he would find no house, but when he
got back he found a great stone palace, and his wife standing at the
top of the steps, waiting to go in.