The man went home, and his wife was standing in the door of a hut, and she said to him, “Come in. See, now isn’t this much better.” And there was a parlor and a bedroom and a kitchen; and out­side there was a little garden with all kinds of vegetables, and a yard with hens and ducks.

“Oh,” said the man. “Now we can live well.”

“Yes,” said the woman, “we’ll give it a try.”

Everything went well for a week or two, and then the woman said, “Husband. This hut is too small. The yard and the garden are too little. I want to live in a large stone castle. Go back to the flounder and tell him to get a castle for us.”

“Oh, wife,” said the man. The flounder has just given us the hut. I don’t want to go back so soon. It may make the flounder angry.”

“I know he can do it,” said the woman, “and he won’t mind. Just go!”

So, with a heavy heart, the man went back, and when he came to the sea, the water was quite purple and gray and dark blue, but it was still, and 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.

“What does she want then?” said the flounder.

“Oh,” said the man sadly, “my wife wants to live in a stone cas­tle.”

“Go home. She’s already standing before the door,” said the flounder.

So the man went home, and his wife was standing in front of a large palace.