渔夫和他的妻子英语故事(2)

　　When he arrived there it was no longer clear, but yellow and green. He stood there and said:

　　Mandje！ Mandje！ Timpe Te！ Flounder, flounder, in the sea！ My wife, my wife Ilsebill, Wants not, wants not, what I will

　　The flounder swam up and said, "What does she want then?"

　　"Oh," said the man, "I did catch you, and now my wife says that I really should have asked for something. She doesn't want to live in a filthy shack any longer. She would like to have a cottage."

　　"Go home," said the flounder. "She already has it."

　　The man went home, and his wife was standing in the door of a cottage, and she said to him, "Come in. See, now isn't this much better?"

　　There was a little front yard, and a beautiful little parlor, and a bedroom where their bed was standing, and a kitchen, and a dining room. Everything was beautifully furnished and supplied with tin and brass utensils, just as it should be. And outside there was a little yard with chickens and ducks and a garden with vegetables and fruit.

　　"Look," said the woman. "Isn't this nice?"

　　"Yes," said the man. "This is quite enough. We can live here very well."

　　"We will think about that," said the woman.

　　Then they ate something and went to bed.

　　Everything went well for a week or two, and then the woman said, "Listen, husband. This cottage is too small. The yard and the garden are too little. The flounder could have given us a larger house. I would like to live in a large stone palace. Go back to the flounder and tell him to give us a palace."

　　"Oh, wife," said the man, "the cottage is good enough. Why would we want to live in a palace?"

　　"I know why," said the woman. "Now you just go. The flounder can do that."