“No,” said the man; “all I caught was one flounder, and he said he was an enchanted prince, so I let him go swim again.”
“Didst thou not wish for anything then?” asked the good wife.
“No,” said the man; “what was there to wish for?”
“Alas!” said his wife; “isn’t it bad enough always to live in this wretched hovel? Thou mightest at least have wished for a nice clean cottage. Go back and call him; tell him I want a pretty cottage; he will surely give us that!”
“Alas,” said the man, “what am I to go back there for?”
“Well,” said the woman, “it was thou who caught him and let him go again; for certain he will do that for thee. Be off now!”
The man was still not very willing to go, but he did not want to vex his wife, and at last he went back to the sea.
He found the sea no longer bright and shining, but dull and green. He stood by it and said:
“Flounder, flounder in the sea,
Prythee, hearken unto me: