The troll turned me into a fish and I sprang into the river. No use fighting against the stream. I let it carry me out to sea. At the end of the current, I found myself at the bottom of the ocean, outside a palace made of glass.

I peered into the rooms and halls. The furniture was made of ivory, inlaid with gold and pearls, and the soft rugs and cushions were woven with all the colors of the rainbow. The carpets looked like flowered, branching moss in a sun-dappled forest. Water sprayed from ornate oyster fountains, and delightful music filled the palace.

Then I saw the most wonderful thing of all. A princess walked alone from room to room, and though she could see her beauty in every polished wall, she was melancholy and silent.

I swam around trying to think of what the troll had said that had changed me from a man to a fish. If I could just remember the sound he made, then maybe I could change myself back. What was the sound? I swam around, feeling it and practicing it until I got it right.

Fish Man in The Troll’s Daughter, Pink Fairy Book