He did not wish to go; but yet he went.
And when he came to the sea, it was quite dark-gray, and the water
heaved up from below, and smelt putrid. Then he went and stood by it,
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."
"Well, what does she want, then?" asked the Flounder. "Alas," said the
man, "she wants to be King." "Go to her; she is King already."
So the man went, and when he came to the palace, the castle had become
much larger, and had a great tower and magnificent ornaments, and
the sentinel was standing before the door, and there were numbers of
soldiers with kettle-drums and trumpets. And when he went inside the
house, everything was of real marble and gold, with velvet covers
and great golden tassels. Then the doors of the hall were opened, and
there was the court in all its splendor, and his wife was sitting on
a high throne of gold and diamonds, with a great crown of gold on her
head, and a sceptre of pure gold and jewels in her hand, and on both
sides of her stood her maids-in-waiting in a row, each of them always
one head shorter than the last.
Then he went and stood before her, and said, "Ah, wife, and now you
are King!" "Yes," said the woman, "now I am King." So he stood and
looked at her, and when he had looked at her thus for a time he said,
"And now that you are King, let all else be; now we will wish for
nothing more.
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