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THE FISHERMAN AND HIS WIFE. IOI
“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; 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,
‘*Q 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
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
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" 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
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“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