In which there's a proverb and a small story that goes along with it

If anybody ever asks you what you've learned from folklore, tell them this:  "If a member of the Fey laughs, expect trouble."  

Then the Merman Laughed (Iceland)

 A merman is a dwarf that lives in the sea.  There is an old proverb in Iceland: “Then the merman laughed” which they say when someone is very foolish, and this is the story about that.

 A certain farmer drew up in his fishing net a sea-dwarf who called himself a merman, with a big head and hands broad as a seal, and indeed like a seal he was below the waist. 

 He would not teach any of his wisdom to the farmer, so he was brought ashore against his will.

 The farmer’s wife, a pretty young woman, came down with the little dog to the shore and greeted them, and the farmer kissed the wife, but whistled the dog away from him. 

When he saw that, the merman laughed, but would not say why.

As they were climbing the hill up from the sea, the farmer stumbled over a tussock, and cursed it for being in the path. 

When he saw that, the merman laughed but would not say why.

They met some travelling merchants on the way, and these were selling boots.  The farmer wanted boots with soles so thick and strong they would last a lifetime, but he saw that the boots they were selling had thin, flimsy soles. 

When he saw that, the merman laughed again, but would not say why.

The farmer kept the merman captive for three days, and the merman would not share a single word of wisdom except on condition that he be returned to the sea. 

There, he would hang on the blade of the farmer’s oar, and he would answer three questions.

So, the farmer returned the merman to the sea, and before he swam away forever, the merman told him three things. 

“Your dog loves you more than life, but your wife hates you and wishes for your death.  

"The tussock you cursed covers a great treasure. 

"And the boots would last you all your life, for you are destined to die in three days time!

With that, the merman dove off the oar-blade, and was not seen again. 

But everything the merman said proved true. 

 And if the farmer did not live long and happily surrounded by wealth, well, that was not the merman’s fault.