s 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."

"O my dear wife," said the man, "the cottage is good enough; what do we
want a castle for?"

"We want one," said the wife; "go along with you; the flounder can give
us one."

"Now, wife," said the man, "the flounder gave us the cottage; I do not
like to go to him again, he may be angry."

"Go along," said the wife, "he might just as well give us it as not; do
as I say!"

The man felt very reluctant and unwilling; and he said to himself,

"It is not the right thing to do;" nevertheless he went.

So when he came to the seaside, the water was purple and dark blue and
grey and thick, and not green and yellow as before. And 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."

"Now then, what does she want?" said the flounder.

"Oh," said the man, half frightened, "she wants to live in a large stone
castle."

"Go home with you, she is already standing before the door," said the
flounder.

Then the man went home, as he supposed, but when he got there, there
stood in the place of the cottage a great castle of stone, and his wife
was standing on the steps, about to go in; so she took him by the hand,
and said,

"Let us enter."

With that he went in with her, and in the castle was a great hall with a
marble pavement, and there were a great many servants, who led them
through large doors, and the passages were decked with tapestry, and the
rooms w