The Juniper Tree and Other Tales by The Brothers Grimm Read Free Book Online Page A

castle!”
    “What, the likes of us live in a castle?”
    “Why not?” said his wife. “Off you go. The flounder can do it!”
    “No, no, wife,” said her husband. “The flounder has only just given us our little house. I don’t like to go straight back again. It might annoy him.”
    “Go along with you,” said his wife. “He can do it perfectly well, and he’ll be glad to do it too, so off you go.”
    The fisherman’s heart was heavy, and he didn’t want to go. This isn’t right, he said to himself—but off he went all the same.
    When he got down to the sea, the water was all purple and dark blue, grey and clouded, not yellow and green any more, but it was still calm. So he stood there and called:
    “Mannie, mannie, timpty tee,
    Flounder swimming in the sea,
    My wife Mistress Ilsebill
    Wants a wish against my will.”
    “Well, what does she want, then?” asked the flounder.
    “Oh dear,” said the fisherman, not very happily, “she wants to live in a big stone castle.”
    “Go home, and you’ll find her standing at the castle door,” said the flounder.
    So the man went away, thinking he was going home to the little house, but when he got there a large stone castle stood where the house had been, and his wife was standing at the top of the steps, about to go in. “Come along,” she said, taking his hand. So he went in with her, and inside the castle there was a great marble-floored hall, full of servants who opened the doors for them. The walls shone, and beautiful tapestries hung on them, and the rooms were furnished with gilded tables and chairs, with crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceilings. There were carpets on the floors of all the rooms, and the tables were laden to breaking point with food and the best of wine. Behind the castle there was a large yard, with a stable for horses, a cowshed and carriages, all of the very best quality, as well as a wonderful garden full of beautiful flowers, fruit trees and a magnificent park a good half a mile long, with stags and deer and hares in it, and everything anyone could wish for.
    “There,” said the fisherman’s wife, “isn’t this lovely?”
    “Yes,” said her husband. “We’ll live happily in this beautiful castle and be content with it.”
    “I’m not so sure about that,” said his wife. “Let’s sleep on it.” And then they went to bed.
    Next morning the fisherman’s wife awoke. Day had just dawned, and from her bed she saw the beautiful countryside lying before her. Her husband was still stretching and waking up when she dug her elbow into his ribs and said, “Husband, get up and look out of the window! Couldn’t we be kings and rule this whole country? Off you go to the flounder and tell him we want to be kings!”
    “Oh, wife,” said the fisherman, “why would we want to be kings? I don’t want to be king.”
    “Well,” said his wife, “if you don’t want to be king, then I do. Go to see the flounder and tell him I want to be king!”
    “Oh, wife,” said her husband, “why would you want to be king? I don’t want to ask him for such a thing.”
    “Why not?” said his wife. “Off you go this minute. I must be king!”
    So off went the fisherman, very unhappy to think that his wife wanted to be king. It’s not right, he said to himself, it’s not right. He didn’t want to go down to the sea—but go he did.
    And when he reached the shore, the sea was all dark grey, with foul-smelling water swirling up turbulently from below. So he stood there and called:
    “Mannie, mannie, timpty tee,
    Flounder swimming in the sea,
    My wife Mistress Ilsebill
    Wants a wish against my will.”
    “Well, what does she want now?” asked the flounder.
    “Oh dear,” said the fisherman, “she wants to be king.”
    “Go home, she’s king already,” said the flounder.
    So off went the fisherman, and when he got back the castle was much larger than before, a real palace, with a tall and richly ornamented tower, and sentries