old, and there
were many curtains with great golden tassels. Then he went through the
doors of the saloon to where the great throne-room was, and there was
his wife sitting upon a throne of gold and diamonds, and she had a great
golden crown on, and the sceptre in her hand was of pure gold and
jewels, and on each side stood six pages in a row, each one a head
shorter than the other. So the man went up to her and said,

"Well, wife, so now you are king!"

"Yes," said the wife, "now I am king."

So then he stood and looked at her, and when he had gazed at her for
some time he said,

"Well, wife, this is fine for you to be king! now there is nothing more
to wish for."

"O husband!" said the wife, seeming quite restless, "I am tired of this
already. Go to your fish and tell him that now I am king I must be
emperor."

"Now, wife," said the man, "what do you want to be emperor for?"

"Husband," said she, "go and tell the fish I want to be emperor."

"Oh dear!" said the man, "he could not do it--I cannot ask him such a
thing. There is but one emperor at a time; the fish can't possibly make
any one emperor--indeed he can't."

"Now, look here," said the wife, "I am king, and you are only my
husband, so will you go at once? Go along! for if he was able to make me
king he is able to make me emperor; and I will and must be emperor, so
go along!"

So he was obliged to go; and as he went he felt very uncomfortable about
it, and he thought to himself,

"It is not at all the right thing to do; to want to be emperor is really
going too far; the flounder will soon be beginning to get tired of
this."

With that he came to the sea, and the water was quite black and thick,
and the foam flew, and the wind blew, and the man was terrified. But 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."

"What is it now?" said the fish.

"Oh dear!" said the man, "my wife wants to be emperor."

"Go home with you," said the fish, "she is emperor already."

So the man went home, and found the castle adorned with polished marble
and alabaster figures, and golden gates. The troops were being
marshalled before the door, and they were blowing trumpets and beating
drums and cymbals; and when he entered he saw barons and earls and dukes
waiting about like servants; and the doors were of bright gold. And he
saw his wife sitting