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Everything went right for a week or two, and then Dame Ilsabill

said, 'Husband, there is not near room enough for us in this

cottage; the courtyard and the garden are a great deal too small;

I should like to have a large stone castle to live in: 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 easy with this pretty cottage to live

in.' 'Nonsense!' said the wife; 'he will do it very willingly, I

know; 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 very

calm; and he went close to the edge of the waves, and said:

'O man of the sea! Hearken to me! My wife Ilsabill Will have her

own will, And hath sent me to beg a boon of thee!'