The Fisherman and His Wife part 4

Though Fraco had a hard time adjusting to nobility, Liberelle took right to it. Everything went perfectly well for nearly a week until they received an invitation from the king. He wanted them to come to court and meet all the other nobles.

Fraco thought that Liberelle would be pleased by the invitation. Instead, she seemed angry. “Look at that,” she muttered. “Putting us on the same level as all the other nobles. And the king thinking we’ll just come whenever he calls.”

“Well, he is the king,” Fraco said. “And we are on the same level as all the other nobles.”

“For now,” Liberelle said.

The next morning, Fraco was woken before sunrise by a sharp elbow in his ribs. “Wake up!” Liberelle hissed. “I’ve been thinking. Being a lord isn’t good enough. I will be king. Go to the flounder and tell him to make me king.”

“Oh no,” the fisherman said. “The flounder is only a prince himself. He can’t make you king. Besides, we have everything we need.”

“No, we don’t,” said Liberelle, yanking the covers off of him. “I need to be king. All the subjects will have to bow to me. The flounder can make me king, and he will. Go to him right now.”

Fraco didn’t want to go, but he didn’t want to argue with his wife either. So he made his way back to the beach.

Even though he knew the sun was overhead, thick storm clouds had gathered at the beach, making the sky almost as dark as evening. Thunder boomed and lightning flashed above the fisherman. The wind was strong and Fraco had to shout:

“Flounder, flounder, prince of the sea,

my wife Liberelle, whom I love very well,
has sent me to ask a boon of thee.”

As before, the flounder’s head appeared above the troubled water in an instant. “What would she like now?” he asked.

“She wants to be king,” Fraco said, “and have all her subjects bow to her.”

“Go home to your wife,” the flounder said. “She is king already.”

When the fisherman returned home, he found an enormous castle bustling with soldiers and servants, nobles and their retinues. With all the activity, it took him the rest of the day to find his wife.

“Well?” he asked that evening just before bed. “Do you like being king?”

“Yes, we do,” Liberelle regally. “We think we shall very much enjoy being king.”

We? Fraco thought in surprise. I won’t enjoy being king. I just want to go back to being a fisherman.

Two more days passed, busy confusing days for Fraco. Liberelle was so busy running her kingdom that he only saw her at night. That night as they were getting ready for bed, Liberelle announced, “We have given the matter of our kingship some thought. While kingship is suitable for some people, it is not sufficient for us. We have decided that we will be emperor. Go tomorrow to the fish and tell him”

Fraco felt his blood run cold. “Oh no,” he said. “You can’t be the emperor. There are many kingdoms, but only one emperor in all the land.”

“Exactly,” said his wife.

“But I can’t go to the flounder and ask him for that,” Fraco pleaded.

“You can and you will,” said Liberelle coldly. “Do not forget that I am the king and you have to do as I command.”

So the fisherman agreed. Privately though, he hoped that even a magical fish could not make his wife and emperor.

The next morning, the sky over the sea looked like an angry bruise. Waves twice his height crashed against the shore. Shouting with all his might, the fisherman called:

“Flounder, flounder, prince of the sea,

my wife Liberelle, whom I love very well,
has sent me to ask a boon of thee.”

Instantly, the flounder’s head appeared as a tiny speck of gold in the looming darkness. “What now?” he asked.

“Oh flounder,” the fisherman wailed. “My wife Liberelle…she wants…she wants to be…emperor.” He shrank down against the expected wrath from the flounder.

           The flounder though was as calm as ever. “Go home to your wife. She is emperor already.”