|| A German folktale ||
There was once upon a time a poor fisherman and his wife who lived together in a small hut near the sea. Once he had caught a large flounder. Then the flounder said to him, “I beg you to let me live. I am not an ordinary flounder, but an enchanted prince. Put me back into the water, and let me swim.”
“Well,” said the man, “I can certainly let a fish swim away who knows how to talk.” Then he let the flounder go.
The man then went home to his wife and told her about the enchanted prince.
“You should have asked the prince to give us a small house. This hut is tiny and filthy” said the woman.
The man did not want to, but he went back to the sea, which was all yellow and green, said:
Flounder, flounder, in the sea! My wife, my wife Ilsebill, Wants not, wants not, what I will
The flounder swam up and said, “What does she want then?”
“Oh,” said the man, “She would like to have a small house.” “Go home,” said the flounder. “She already has it.”
The man went home, and his wife was standing at the door of a small house. And there was a parlor, a bedroom and a kitchen; and outside there was a little garden with vegetables, and a yard with hens and ducks.
Everything went well for a week or two, and then the woman wanted a stone castle.
The husband was very hesitant but the wife pushed him to go.
So, the man went back to the sea, the water was quite purple and gray, but it was still, and he stood there and called for the flounder”
The flounder swam up and said, “What does she want now?”
“Oh,” said the man sadly, “my wife wants to live in a stone castle.”
“Go home. She’s already standing before the door,” said the flounder.
So the man went home, and his wife was standing in front of a large palace.
“See, husband,” she said. “Isn’t this beautiful?”.
There were many servants inside, and the walls were all white, and there were golden chairs and tables in the parlor, and outside the castle there was a garden and a forest a half mile long, and there were elk and deer and rabbits, and there were cow and horse stalls in the yard.
“Oh,” said the man, “now we can stay in this beautiful castle and be satisfied.”
“We’ll think about it,” said the woman. “Let’s sleep on it.” And with that they went to bed.
The next morning the woman awoke. She said that since now she has a palace, she wanted to be king.
The man tried to reason with her but no vain.
So the man went back. And when he arrived at the sea it was dark gray, and the water heaved up from below. He called to the flounder and shared his wife’s request.
“Go home. She’s already king,” said the flounder.
Then the man went home, and when he arrived at the palace, there were so many soldiers, and drums, and trumpets.
His wife was sitting on a high throne of gold and diamonds, and she was wearing a large golden crown and on either side of her there stood a line of maidens-in-waiting.
“Oh,” said the man, “are you king now?”
“Yes,” she said, “I am king.”
And after he had looked at her awhile, he said, “It is nice that you are the king. Now we don’t have to wish for anything else.”
They both went to bed, but her desires would not let her sleep.
She sat up thinking all night. Finally the sun came up.
“Aha,” she thought, “Couldn’t I cause the sun to rise?”.
Then told her husband, “Ask the flounder, I want to become like God.”
The husband was so startled that he fell out of his bed!
He refused. But the wife threatened to imprison him.
She was the King, after all!
After many hours of heated arguments, the man went to the sea.
The sea was grey and menacing with waves as high as mountains. The man trembled with fear.
The man called to the flounder who swam up, “What does she want now?”
“Oh,” he said, “she wants to become like God.”
The flounder said,” It it now? Go home. She is sitting in her tiny hut again”
And they are sitting there even today.
Like (0)