The fish came.
“Well, what is it?” asked the fish.
“My wife,” said the man, “is in a very bad temper, and has sent me to ask you to build us a new cottage. She says she cannot live any longer in our present one.”
“Oh, do not be troubled about that,” said the fish. “Go home. You shall have what you want.”
The old man went back again, and in the place of his miserable hovel he found a new hut built of oak and nicely ornamented. The old man was delighted, but as soon as he went in his wife set on him, saying—
“What an idiot you are! You do not know how to take good fortune when it is offered to you. You think you have done a great thing just because you have got a new hut. Be off again to the golden fish, and tell it I will not be a mere peasant’s wife any longer. I will be an Archduchess, with plenty of servants, and set the fashion.”
The old man went to the golden fish.
“What is it?” asked the fish.
“My wife will not let me rest,” replied the man; “she wants now to be an Archduchess, and is not content with being my wife.”
“Well, it shall be as she wishes. Go home again,” said the fish.