Presently there came a monk, who led him up a long, long flight of steps, opened a door, placed, without speaking, a piece of gold in his hand, and deposited him at the foot of the mountain. It was a cold frosty night. By degrees the publican recovered himself, and crept, without barrel or wine, back to his own home. The clock struck one as he reached the door. He immediately took to his bed, and in three days was a dead man, and the piece of gold which the wizard monk had given him was expended on his funeral.
THE FISHERMAN AND HIS WIFE.
There was once a fisherman who lived with his wife in a ditch close by the seaside. The fisherman used to go out all day long a-fishing, and one day as he sat on the sh.o.r.e with his rod, looking at the shining water and watching his line, all of sudden his float was dragged away deep under the sea. In drawing it up he pulled a great fish out of the water. The fish said to him--
"Pray let me live. I am not a real fish. I am an enchanted prince. Put me in the water again and let me go."
"Oh!" said the man, "you need not make so many words about the matter.
I wish to have nothing to do with a fish that can talk, so swim away as soon as you please."
Then he put him back into the water, and the fish darted straight down to the bottom, and left a long streak of blood behind him.
When the fisherman went home to his wife in the ditch, he told her how he had caught a great fish, and how it had told him it was an enchanted prince, and that on hearing it speak he had let it go again.
"Did you not ask it for anything?" said the wife.
"No," said the man; "what should I ask it for?"
"Ah!" said the wife, "we live very wretchedly here in this nasty miserable ditch, do go back and tell the fish we want a little cottage."
The fisherman did not much like the business; however, he went to the sea, and when he came there the water looked all yellow and green. He sat at the water"s edge and said--
"O man of the sea, Come listen to me, For Alice my wife, The plague of my life, Hath sent me to beg a boon of thee!"
Then the fish came swimming to him and said--
"Well, what does she want?"
"Ah!" answered the fisherman, "my wife says that when I had caught you, I ought to have asked you for something before I let you go again. She does not like living any longer in the ditch, and wants a little cottage."
"Go home, then," said the fish; "she is in the cottage already."
So the man went home, and saw his wife standing at the door of a cottage.
"Come in, come in," said she. "Is not this much better than the ditch?"
There was a parlour, a bedchamber, and a kitchen; and behind the cottage there was a little garden with all sorts of flowers and fruits, and a courtyard full of ducks and chickens.
"Ah," said the fisherman, "how happily we shall live!"
"We will try to do so, at least," said his wife.
Everything went right for a week or two, and then Dame Alice said--
"Husband, there is not room enough in this cottage, the courtyard and garden are a great deal too small. I should like to have a large stone castle to live in, so go to the fish again and tell him to give us a castle."
"Wife," said the fisherman, "I don"t like to go to him again, for perhaps he will be angry. We ought to be content with the cottage."
"Nonsense!" said the wife, "he will do it very willingly. Go along and try."
The fisherman went, but his heart was very heavy, and when he came to the sea it looked blue and gloomy, though it was quite calm. He went close to it, and said--
"O man of the sea, Come listen to me, For Alice my wife, The plague of my life, Hath sent me to beg a boon of thee!"
"Well, what does she want now?" said the fish.
"Ah!" said the man very sorrowfully, "my wife wants to live in a stone castle."
"Go home, then," said the fish; "she is standing at the door of it already."
Away went the fisherman, and found his wife standing before a great castle.
"See," said she, "is not this grand?"
With that they went into the house together, and found a great many servants there, the rooms all richly furnished, and full of golden chairs and tables; and behind the castle was a garden, and a wood half a mile long, full of sheep, goats, hares, and deer; and in the courtyard were stables and cow-houses.
"Well," said the man, "now will we live contented and happy for the rest of our lives."
"Perhaps we may," said the wife, "but let us consider and sleep upon it before we make up our minds;" so they went to bed.
The next morning when Dame Alice awoke it was broad daylight, and she jogged the fisherman with her elbow, and said--
"Get up, husband, and bestir yourself, for we must be king of all the land."
"Wife, wife," said the man, "why should we wish to be king? I will not be king."
"Then I will," said Alice.
"But, wife," answered the fisherman, "how can you be king? The fish cannot make you king."
"Husband," said she, "say no more about it, but go and try. I will be king."
So the man went away quite sorrowful, to think that his wife should want to be king. The sea looked a dark grey colour, and was covered with foam, as he called the fish to come and help him.
"Well, what would she have now?" asked the fish.
"Alas!" said the man, "my wife wants to be king."
"Go home," said the fish, "she is king already."
Then the fisherman went home, and as he came close to the palace he saw a troop of soldiers, and heard the sound of drums and trumpets; and when he entered, he saw his wife sitting on a high throne of gold and diamonds, with a golden crown upon her head, and on each side of her stood six beautiful maidens.
"Well, wife," said the fisherman, "are you king?"