154 ANGLING LITERATURE IN 



" O man of the sea ! 

 Come listen to me, 

 For Alice my wife, 

 The plague of my life, 

 Hath sent me to beg a boon of thee !" 

 " What would she have now?" said the fish. " Ah," 

 said the fisherman, " she wants to be emperor." " Go 

 home," said the fish ; " she is emperor already." 



" Husband," said she, " I will be pope this very day." 

 At this the fisherman was terribly frightened, and trem- 

 bled, so that his knees knocked together : but he went to 

 the shore and said, 



" O man of the sea ! 

 Come listen to me, 

 For Alice my wife, 

 The plague of my life, 

 Hath sent me to beg a boon of thee I" 



"What does she want now !" said the fish. "Ay !" 

 said the fisherman, " my wife wants to be pope." " Go 

 home," said the fish, " she is pope already." 



Then the fisherman went home, and found his wife 

 sitting on a throne that was two miles high ; and she had 

 three great crowns on her head, and around stood all the 

 pomp and power of the Church ; and on each side were 

 two rows of burning lights, of all sizes : the greatest as 

 large as the highest and biggest tower in the world, and 

 the least no larger than a small rush-light. " Wife," said 

 the fisherman, as he looked at all this grandeur, " Are you 

 pope ?" " Yes," said she, " I am pope. Husband, go to 



