What good will it do you to kill me?
I should not be good to eat; put me in the water again, and let me
go." "Come," said the Fisherman, "there is no need for so many words
about it--a fish that can talk I should certainly let go, anyhow."
With that he put him back again into the clear water, and the Flounder
went to the bottom, leaving a long streak of blood behind him.
Then the Fisherman got up and went home to his wife in the hovel.
"Husband," said the woman, "have you caught nothing today?" "No," said
the man; "I did catch a Flounder, who said he was an enchanted prince,
so I let him go again." "Did you not wish for anything first?" said
the woman. "No," said the man; "what should I wish for?" "Ah," said
the woman, "it is surely hard to have to live always in this dirty
hovel. You might have wished for a small cottage for us. Go back and
call him. Tell him we want to have a small cottage; he will certainly
give us that." "Ah," said the man, "why should I go there again?"
"Why," said the woman, "you did catch him, and you let him go again;
he is sure to do it. Go at once." The man still did not quite like to
go, but did not like to oppose his wife, either, and so went to the
sea. When he got there the sea was all green and yellow, and no longer
smooth, as before; so he stood and said--
"Flounder, Flounder, in the sea,
Come, I pray thee, here to me;
For my wife, good Ilsabil,
Wills not as I'd have her will.
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