The Fisherman and His Wife

There was once a fisherman who lived with his wife in a ditch close by the seaside. The fisherman used to go out all day long a-fishing, and one day, as he sat on the shore with his rod, looking at the shining water and watching his line, all of a sudden, his float was dragged away deep under the sea, and in drawing it up he pulled a great fish out of the water.

The fish said to him: "Pray let me live. I am not a real fish. I am an enchanted prince. Put me in the water again and let me go."

"Oh! " said the man, "you need not say so much about it. I do not want a fish that can talk. So swim away as soon as you please." Then he put him back into the water, and the fish darted straight down to the bottom, and left a long streak of blood behind him.

When the fisherman went home to his wife in the ditch, he, told her how he had caught a great fish and hoiv it had told him it was an enchanted prince, and how on hearing it speak, he had let it go again.

"Did you not ask it for anything? " said the wife.

"No," said the man. "What should I ask for?"

"Ah! " said the wife, "we live very poorly here in this vile ditch. Do go back and tell the fish we want a little cottage."

The fisherman did not like to go very well. However, he went to the sea, and when he came there, the water looked all yellow and green. And he stood at the water's edge and said:

Then the fish came swimming to him, and said: "Well, what does she want?"

"Ah! "answered the fisherman, "my wife says that when I had caught you, I ought to have asked you for something before I let you go again. She does not like living any longer in the ditch, but wants a little cottage."

"Go home, then," said the fish. "She is in the cottage already."

So the man went home and saw his wife standing at the door of a cottage.

"Come in, come in," said she. "Is this not much better than the ditch? "And there was a parlor, and a bedchamber, and a kitchen, and behind the cottage there was a little garden with all sorts of flowers and fruits, and a courtyard full of ducks and chickens.

"Ah! " said the fisherman, "how happily we shall live!"

"We will try to do so, at least," said his wife.

Everything went right for a week or two, and then Dame Alice said: "Husband, there is not room enough in this cottage. The courtyard and garden are a great deal too small. I should like to have a large stone castle to live in. So go to the fish again and tell him to give us a castle."

"Wife," said the fisherman, "I don't like to go to him again, for perhaps he will be angry. We ought to be content with the cottage."

"Nonsense! " said the wife; "he will do it very willingly. Go and try."

The fisherman went, but his heart was very heavy, and when he came to the sea, it looked blue and gloomy, though it was quite calm. He went close to it and said:

"Well, what does she want now? " said the fish.

"Ah! " said the man, very sorrowfully, "my wife wants to live in a stone castle."

"Go home, then," said the fish. "She is standing at the door of it already."

So away went the fisherman, and found his wife standing before a great castle.

"See," said she. "Is this not grand? "With that they went into the castle together. They found a great many servants there, and the rooms all richly furnished and full of golden chairs and tables. Behind the castle was a garden, and a wood half a mile long, full of sheep, and goats, and hares, and deer; and in the courtyard were stables and cow houses.

"Well! " said the man, "now will we live contented and happy in this beautiful castle for the rest of our lives.

"Perhaps we may," said the wife, "but let us consider and sleep upon it before we make. up our minds." So they went to bed.

The next morning, when Dame Alice awoke, it was broad daylight, and she jogged the fisherman with her .elbow, and said, "Get up, husband; bestir yourself, for you must be king of all the land."

"Wife, wife," said the man, "why should I wish to be king? I will not be king."

"Then I will," said Alice.

"But wife," answered the fisherman, "how can you be king? The fish cannot make you a king."

"Husband," said she, "say no more about it, but go and try. I will be king!"

So the man went away, sorrowful to think that his wife should want to be king.

The sea was a dark gray color and was covered with foam as he cried out:

"Well, what would she have now? " said the fish.

"Alas! " said the man, "my wife wants to be king."

"Go home," said the fish. "She is king already."

Then the fisherman went home, and as he came close to the palace he saw a troop of soldiers and heard the sound of drums and trumpets. When he entered, he saw his wife sitting on a high throne of gold and diamonds, with a golden crown upon her head, and on each side of her stood six beautiful maidens, each a head taller than the other.

"Well, wife," said the fisherman, "are you king?"

"Yes," said she, "I am king."

And when he had looked at her for a long time, he said, "Ah, wife! what a fine thing it is to be king! Now we shall never have anything more to wish for."

"I don't know how that may be," said she. "Never is a long time. I am king, it is true, but I am beginning to be tired of it, and I think I should like to be emperor."

"Alas, wife! why should you wish to be emperor? " said the fisherman.

"Husband," said she, "go to the fish. I say I will be emperor."

"Ah, wife! "replied the fisherman, "the fish cannot make an emperor, and I should not like to ask for such a thing."

"I am king," said Alice, "and you are my slave, so go at once!"

So the fisherman was obliged to go, and he muttered as he went along, "This will come to no good; it is too much to ask; the fish will be tired at last, and then we shall repent of what we have done."

He soon arrived at the sea, and the water was quite black and muddy, and a mighty whirlwind blew over it, but he went to the shore and said:

"What would she have now? " said the fish.

"Ah! " said he, "she wants to be emperor."

"Go home," said the fish. "She is emperor already."

So he went home again, and as he came near he saw his wife sitting on a very lofty throne, made of solid gold, with a great crown on her head, fully two yards high. On each side of her stood her guards and attendants in a row, each one smaller than the other, from the tallest giant down to a little dwarf no bigger than my finger. And before her stood princes and dukes and earls.

And the fisherman went up to her and said, "Wife, are you emperors?"

"Yes," said she. "I am emperor."

"Ah! " said the man as he gazed upon her, "what a fine thing it is to be emperor!"

"Husband," said she, "why should we stop with being emperor? I will be Pope -next."

"0 wife, wife! " said he, "how can you be Pope? There is but one Pope at a time in Christendom."

"Husband," said she, "I will be Pope this very day."

"But," replied the husband, "the fish cannot make you Pope."

"What nonsense! " said she. "If he can make an emperor, he can make a Pope. Go and try him."

So the fisherman went. But when he came to the shore, the wind was raging and , the sea was tossing up and down like boiling water, and the ships were in the greatest distress and danced up and down most fearfully. In the middle of the sky there was a little blue, but toward the south it was all red, as if a dreadful storm were rising. At this, the fisherman was terribly frightened, and trembled so that his knees knocked together. But he went to the shore and said:

"What does she want now? " said the fish.

"Ah! " said the fisherman, "my wife wants to be Pope."

"Go home," said the fish. "She is Pope already."

When the fisherman went home he found his wife sitting on a throne that was two miles high. She had three great crowns on her head, and around her stood all the pomp and power of the Church; and on each side were two rows of burning lights, of all sizes, the greatest as large as the highest and biggest tower in the world, and the least no larger than a small rushlight.

"Wife," said the fisherman, as he looked at all this grandeur, "are you Pope?"

"Yes," said she, "I am Pope."

"Well, wife," replied he, "it is a grand thing to be Pope; and now you must be content, for you can be nothing greater."

"I will consider that," said the wife.

Then they went to bed, but Dame Alice could not sleep, all night for thinking of what she would be next. At last morning came, and the sun rose. "Ha! "thought she as she looked at it through the window, "cannot I prevent the sun from rising?"

At this she became very angry, and she waked her husband and said: "Husband, go to the fish and tell him I want to be lord of the sun and moon."

The fisherman was half asleep, but the thought frightened him so much that he started and fell out of bed.

"Alas, wife! " said he, "cannot you be content to be Pope?"

"No," said she, "I am very uneasy, and cannot bear to see the sun and moon rise without my leave. Go to the fish directly."

Then the man went, trembling with fear.

As he was going down to the shore, a dreadful storm arose, so that the trees and the rocks shook, and the heavens became black, and the lightning played, and the thunder rolled, and you might have seen great black waves, like mountains, with a white crown of foam upon them. And the fisherman said:

"What does she want now? " said the ' fish.

"Ah!" said he, "she wants to be lord of the sun and moon."

"Go home," said the fish, "to your ditch again!"

And there they live to this very day.