sent me to beg a boon of thee!"

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, and 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 not this much better than the
ditch?"

There was a parlour, 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 along 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--

"O man of the sea,
Come listen to me,
For Alice my wife,
The plague of my life,
Hath sent me to beg a boon of thee!"

"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."

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

"See," said she, "is not this grand?"

With that they went into the house together, and found a great many
servants there, the rooms all richly furnished, and full of golden
chairs and tables; and behind the castle was a garden, and a wood half
a mile long, full of sheep, goats, hares, and deer; and in the
courtyard were stables and cow-houses.

"Well," said the man, "now will we live contented and happy for the
rest of our lives."

"Perhaps we may," said the wife, "but let us con