The Fisherman and His Wife

side of her stood her guards
and attendants in a row, each one smaller than other, from the
tallest giant down to a little dwarf no bigger than my finger. And
before her stood princes, and dukes, and earls: and the fisherman went
up to her and said, 'Wife, are you emperor?' 'Yes,' said she, 'I am
emperor.' 'Ah!' said man, as he gazed upon her, 'what a fine thing
it is to be emperor!' 'Husband,' said she, 'why should we stop at being
emperor? I will be pope next.' 'O wife, wife!' said he, 'how can you be
pope? there is but one pope at a time in Christendom.' 'Husband,' said
she, 'I will be pope this very day.' 'But,' replied husband, 'the
fish cannot make you pope.' 'What nonsense!' said she; 'if he can make
an emperor, he can make a pope: go and try him.'

So the fisherman went. But when he came to the shore wind was raging
and the sea was tossed up and down in boiling waves, and the ships were
in trouble, and rolled fearfully upon tops of the billows. In the
middle of the heavens there was a little piece of blue sky, but towards
south all was red, as if a dreadful storm was rising. At this sight
the fisherman was dreadfully frightened, and he trembled so that his
knees knocked together: but still he went down near to the shore, 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!'

'What does she want now?' said fish. 'Ah!' said the fisherman, 'my
wife wants to be pope.' 'Go home,' said the fish; 'she is pope already.'

Then fisherman went home, and found Ilsabill sitting on a throne
that was two miles high. And she had three great crowns on her head, and
around her stood all the pomp and power of the Church. And on each side
of her were two rows of burning lights, of all sizes, greatest as
large as the highest and biggest tower in the world, and least no
larger than a small rushlight. 'Wife,' said the fisherman, as he looked
at all this greatness, 'are you pope?' 'Yes,' said she, 'I am pope.'
'Well, wife,' replied he, 'it is a grand thing to be pope; and now
you must be easy, for you can be nothing greater.' 'I will think about
that,' said wife. Then they went to bed: but Dame Ilsabill could not
sleep all night for thinking what she should be next. At last, as she
was dropping asleep, morning broke, and the sun rose. 'Ha!' thought she,
as she woke up and looked at it through the window, 'after all I cannot
prevent sun rising.' At this thought she was very angry, and wakened
her husband, and said, 'Husband, go to the fish and tell him I must
be lord of the sun and moon.' fisherman was half asleep, but the
thought frightened him so much that he started and fell out of bed.
'Alas, wife!' said he, 'cannot you be easy with being pope?' 'No,'
said she, 'I am very uneasy as long as the sun and moon rise without my
leave. Go to the fish at once!'

Then man went shivering with fear; and as he was going down to
the shore a dreadful storm arose, so that the trees and very rocks
shook. And all the heavens became black with stormy clouds, and the
lightnings played, and thunders rolled; and you might have seen in
the sea great black waves, swelling up like mountains with crowns of
white foam upon their heads. And fisherman crept towards the sea,
and cried out, as well as he could:

'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!'

'What does she want now?' said the fish. 'Ah!' said he, 'she wants to
be lord of sun and moon.' 'Go home,' said the fish, 'to your pigsty
again.'

And there they live to this very day.