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'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 the sun and moon.' 'Go home,' said the fish,

'to your pigsty again.'

And there they live to this very day.

THE WILLOW-WREN AND THE BEAR

Once in summer-time the bear and the wolf were walking in the

forest, and the bear heard a bird singing so beautifully that he

said: 'Brother wolf, what bird is it that sings so well?' 'That

is the King of birds,' said the wolf, 'before whom we must bow

down.' In reality the bird was the willow-wren. 'IF that's the

case,' said the bear, 'I should very much like to see his royal

palace; come, take me thither.' 'That is not done quite as you

seem to think,' said the wolf; 'you must wait until the Queen

comes,' Soon afterwards, the Queen arrived with some food in her

beak, and the lord King came too, and they began to feed their

young ones. The bear would have liked to go at once, but the wolf

held him back by the sleeve, and said: 'No, you must wait until

the lord and lady Queen have gone away again.' So they took stock

of the hole where the nest lay, and trotted away.