Far out at sea the water is asblue as the bluest cornflower and as clear as the clearest crystal;but it is very deep, too deep for any cable to fathom, and if manysteeples were piled on the top of one another they would not reachfrom the bed of the sea to the surface of the water. It is downthere that the Mermen live.
Now don't imagine that there are only bare white sands at thebottom; oh, no! the most wonderful trees and plants grow there,with such flexible stalks and leaves that at the slightest motionof the water they move just as if they were alive. All the fish,big and little, glide among the branches just as, up here, birdsglide through air. The palace of the Merman King lies in the verydeepest part; its walls are of coral and the long pointed windowsof the clearest amber, but the roof is made of mussel shells whichopen and shut with the lapping of the water. This has a lovelyeffect, for there are gleaming pearls in every shell, any one ofwhich would be the pride of a queen's crown.
The Merman King had been for many years a widower, but his oldmother kept house for him; she was a clever woman, but so proud ofher noble birth that she wore twelve oysters on her tail, while theother grandees were only allowed six. Otherwise she was worthy ofall praise, especially because she was so fond of the littlemermaid princesses, her grandchildren. They were six beautifulchildren, but the youngest was the prettiest of all, her skin wasas soft and delicate as a roseleaf, her eyes as blue as the deepestsea, but like all the others she had no feet, and instead of legsshe had a fish's tail.
All the livelong day they used to play in the palace in thegreat halls, where living flowers grew out of the walls. When thegreat amber windows were thrown open the fish swam in, just as theswallows fly into our rooms when we open the windows, but the fishswam right up to the little princesses, ate out of their hands, andallowed themselves to be patted.
Outside the palace was a large garden, with fiery red and deepblue trees, the fruit of which shone like gold, while the flowersglowed like fire on their ceaselessly waving stalks. The ground wasof the finest sand, but it was of a blue phosphorescent tint.Everything was bathed in a wondrous blue light down there; youmight more readily have supposed yourself to be high up in the air,with only the sky above and below you, than that you were at thebottom of the ocean. In a dead calm you could just catch a glimpseof the sun like a purple flower with a stream of light radiatingfrom its calyx.
Each little princess had her own little plot of garden, whereshe could dig and plant just as she liked. One made her flower-bedin the shape of a whale, another thought it nice to have hers likea little mermaid; but the youngest made hers quite round like thesun, and she would only have flowers of a rosy hue like its beams.She was a curious child, quiet and thoughtful, and while the othersisters decked out their gardens with all kinds of extraordinaryobjects which they got from wrecks, she would have nothing besidesthe rosy flowers like the sun up above, except a statue of abeautiful boy. It was hewn out of the purest white marble and hadgone to the bottom from some wreck. By the statue she planted arosy red weeping willow which grew splendidly, and the freshdelicate branches hung round and over it, till they almost touchedthe blue sand where the shadows showed violet, and were ever movinglike the branches. It looked as if the leaves and the roots wereplayfully interchanging kisses.
Nothing gave her greater pleasure than to hear about the worldof human beings up above; she made her old grandmother tell her allthat she knew about ships and towns, people and animals. But aboveall it seemed strangely beautiful to her that up on the earth theflowers were scented, for they were not so at the bottom of thesea; also that the woods were green, and that the fish which wereto be seen among the branches could sing so loudly and sweetly thatit was a delight to listen to them. You see the grandmother calledlittle birds fish, or the mermaids would not have understood her,as they had never seen a bird.
"When you are fifteen," said the grandmother, "you will beallowed to rise up from the sea and sit on the rocks in themoonlight, and look at the big ships sailing by, and you will alsosee woods and towns."
One of the sisters would be fifteen In the following year, butthe others-well, they were each one year younger than the other, sothat the youngest had five whole years to wait before she would beallowed to come up from the bottom, to see what things were like onearth. But each one promised the others to give a full account ofall that she had seen and found most wonderful on the first day.Their grandmother could never tell them enough, for there were somany things about which they wanted information.
None of them was so full of longings as the youngest, the veryone who had the longest time to wait, and who was so quiet anddreamy. Many a night she stood by the open windows and looked upthrough the dark blue water which the fish were lashing with theirtails and fins. She could see the moon and the stars, it is true;their light was pale, but they looked much bigger through the waterthan they do to our eyes. When she saw a dark shadow glide betweenher and them, she knew that it was either a whale swimming aboveher, or else a ship laden with human beings. I am certain theynever dreamt that a lovely little mermaid was standing down below,stretching up her white hands toward the keel.
The eldest princess had now reached her fifteenth birthday, andwas to venture above the water. When she came back she had hundredsof things to tell them, but the most delightful of all, she said,was to lie in the moonlight, on a sandbank in a calm sea, and togaze at the large town close to the shore, where the lightstwinkled like hundreds of stars; to listen to music and the noiseand bustle of carriages and people, to see the many church towersand spires, and to hear the bells ringing; and just because shecould not go on shore she longed for that most of all.
Oh! how eagerly the youngest sister listened, and when, later inthe evening she stood at the open window and looked up through thedark blue water, she thought of the big town with all its noise andbustle, and fancied that she could even hear the church bellsringing.
The year after, the second sister was allowed to mount upthrough the water and swim about wherever she liked. The sun wasjust going down when she reached the surface, the most beautifulsight, she thought, that she had ever seen. The whole sky hadlooked like gold, she said, and as for the clouds! well, theirbeauty was beyond description, they floated in red and violetsplendour over her head, and, far faster than they went, a flock ofwild swans flew like a long white veil over the water toward thesetting sun; she swam toward it, but it sank and all the rosy lighton clouds and water faded away.
The year after that the third sister went up, and being much themost venturesome of them all, swam up a broad river which ran intothe sea. She saw beautiful green, vine-clad hills; palaces andcountry seats peeping through splendid woods. She heard the birdssinging, and the sun was so hot that she was often obliged to dive,to cool her burning face. In a tiny bay she found a troop of littlechildren running about naked and paddling in the water; she wantedto play with them, but they were frightened and ran away. Then alittle black animal came up; it was a dog, but she had never seenone before; it barked so furiously at her that she was frightenedand made for the open sea. She could never forget the beautifulwoods, the green hills, and the lovely children who could swim inthe water although they had no fishes' tails.
The fourth sister was not so brave; she stayed in the remotestpart of the ocean, and, according to her account, that was the mostbeautiful spot. You could see for miles and miles around you, andthe sky above was like a great glass dome. She had seen ships, butonly far away, so that they looked like sea-gulls. There weregrotesque dolphins turning somersaults, and gigantic whalessquirting water through their nostrils like hundreds of fountainson every side.
Now the fifth sister's turn came. Her birthday fell in thewinter, so that she saw sights that the others had not seen ontheir first trips. The sea looked quite green, and large icebergswere floating about, each one of which looked like a pearl, shesaid, but was much bigger than the church towers built by men. Theytook the most wonderful shapes, and sparkled like diamonds. She hadseated herself on one of the largest, and all the passing shipssheered off in alarm when they saw her sitting there with her longhair streaming loose in the wind.
In the evening the sky became overcast with dark clouds; itthundered, and lightened, and the huge icebergs, glittering in thebright lightning, were lifted high into the air by the black waves.All the ships shortened sail, and there was fear and trembling onevery side, but she sat quietly on her floating iceberg watchingthe blue lightning flash in zigzags down on to the shining sea.
The first time any of the sisters rose above the water she wasdelighted by the novelties and beauties she saw; but once grown up,and at liberty to go where she liked, she became indifferent andlonged for her home; in the course of a month or so they all saidthat after all their own home in the deep was best, it was so cozythere.
Many an evening the five sisters interlacing their arms wouldrise above the water together. They had lovely voices, much clearerthan any mortal, and when a storm was rising, and they expectedships to be wrecked, they would sing in the most seductive strainsof the wonders of the deep, bidding the seafarers have no fear ofthem. But the sailors could not understand the words, they thoughtit was the voice of the storm; nor could it be theirs to see thisElysium of the deep, for when the ship sank they were drowned, andonly reached the Merman's palace in death. When the elder sistersrose up in this manner, arm-in-arm, in the evening, the youngestremained behind quite alone, looking after them as if she mustweep, but mermaids have no tears and so they suffer all themore.
"Oh! if I were only fifteen!" she said, "I know how fond I shallbe of the world above, and of the mortals who dwell there."
At last her fifteenth birthday came.
"Now we shall have you off our hands," said her grandmother, theold queen dowager. "Come now, let me adorn you like your othersisters!" and she put a wreath of white lilies round her hair, butevery petal of the flowers was half a pearl; then the old queen hadeight oysters fixed on to the princess's tail to show her highrank.
"But it hurts so!" said the little mermaid.
"You must endure the pain for the sake of the finery!" said hergrandmother.
But oh! how gladly would she have shaken off all this splendour,and laid aside the heavy wreath. Her red flowers in her gardensuited her much better, but she did not dare to make anyalteration. "Good-bye," she said, and mounted as lightly and airilyas a bubble through the water.
The sun had just set when her head rose above the water, but theclouds were still lighted up with a rosy and golden splendour, andthe evening star sparkled in the soft pink sky, the air was mildand fresh, and the sea as calm as a millpond. A big three-mastedship lay close by with only a single sail set, for there was not abreath of wind, and the sailors were sitting about the rigging, onthe cross-trees, and at the mast-heads. There was music and singingon board, and as the evening closed in, hundreds of gaily colouredlanterns were lighted-they looked like the flags of all nationswaving in the air. The little mermaid swam right up to the cabinwindows, and every time she was lifted by the swell she could seethrough the transparent panes crowds of gaily dressed people. Thehandsomest of them all was the young prince with large dark eyes;he could not be much more than sixteen, and all these festivitieswere in honour of his birthday. The sailors danced on deck, andwhen the prince appeared among them hundreds of rockets were letoff, making it as light as day, and frightening the little mermaidso much that she had to dive under the water. She soon ventured upagain, and it was just as if all the stars of heaven were fallingin showers round about her. She had never seen such magic fires.Great suns whirled round, gorgeous fire-fish hung in the blue air,and all was reflected in the calm and glassy sea. It was so lighton board the ship that every little rope could be seen, and thepeople still better. Oh! how handsome the prince was, how helaughed and smiled as he greeted his guests, while the music rangout in the quiet night.
It got quite late, but the little mermaid could not take hereyes off the ship and the beautiful prince. The coloured lanternswere put out, no more rockets were sent up, and the cannon hadceased its thunder, but deep down in the sea there was a dullmurmuring and moaning sound. Meanwhile she was rocked up and downon the waves, so that she could look into the cabin; but the shipgot more and more way on, sail after sail was filled by the wind,the waves grew stronger, great clouds gathered, and it lightened inthe distance. Oh, there was going to be a fearful storm! and soonthe sailors had to shorten sail. The great ship rocked and rolledas she dashed over the angry sea, the black waves rose likemountains, high enough to overwhelm her, but she dived like a swanthrough them and rose again and again on their towering crests. Thelittle mermaid thought it a most amusing race, but not so thesailors. The ship creaked and groaned, the mighty timbers bulgedand bent under the heavy blows, the water broke over the decks,snapping the mainmast like a reed, she heeled over on her side, andthe water rushed into the hold.
Now the little mermaid saw that they were in danger and she hadfor her own sake to beware of the floating beams and wreckage. Onemoment it was so pitch dark that she could not see at all, but whenthe lightning flashed it became so light that she could see all onboard. Every man was looking out for his own safety as best hecould, but she more particularly followed the young prince with hereyes, and when the ship went down she saw him sink in the deep sea.At first she was quite delighted, for now he was coming to be withher, but then she remembered that human beings could not live underwater, and that only if he were dead could he go to her father'spalace. No! he must not die; so she swam toward him all among thedrifting beams and planks, quite forgetting that they might crushher. She dived deep down under the water, and came up again throughthe waves, and at last reached the young prince just as he wasbecoming unable to swim any further in the stormy sea. His limbswere numbed, his beautiful eyes were closing, and he must have diedif the little mermaid had not come to the rescue. She held his headabove the water and let the waves drive them whithersoever theywould.
By daybreak all the storm was over; of the ship not a trace wasto be seen; the sun rose from the water in radiant brilliance andhis rosy beams seemed to cast a glow of life into the prince'scheeks, but his eyes remained closed. The mermaid kissed his fairand lofty brow, and stroked back the dripping hair; it seemed toher that he was like the marble statue in her little garden; shekissed him again and longed that he might live.
At last she saw dry land before her, high blue mountains onwhose summits the white snow glistened as if a flock of swans hadsettled there; down by the shore were beautiful green woods, and inthe foreground a church or temple, she did not quite know which,but it was a building of some sort. Lemon and orange trees grew inthe garden and lofty palms stood by the gate. At this point the seaformed a little bay where the water was quite calm, but very deep,right up to the cliffs; at their foot was a strip of fine whitesand, to which she swam with the beautiful prince, and laid himdown on it, taking great care that his head should rest high up inthe warm sunshine.
The bells now began to ring in the great white building and anumber of young maidens came into the garden. Then the littlemermaid swam farther off behind some high rocks and covered herhair and breast with foam, so that no one should see her littleface, and then she watched to see who would discover the poorprince.
It was not long before one of the maidens came up to him; atfirst she seemed quite frightened, but only for a moment, and thenshe fetched several others, and the mermaid saw that the prince wascoming to life, and that he smiled at all those around him, but henever smiled at her-you see he did not know that she had saved him.She felt so sad that when he was led away into the great buildingshe dived sorrowfully into the water and made her way home to herfather's palace.
Always silent and thoughtful, she became more so now than ever.Her sisters often asked her what she had seen on her first visit tothe surface, but she never would tell them anything.
Many an evening and many a morning she would rise to the placewhere she had left the prince. She saw the fruit in the gardenripen, and then gathered; she saw the snow melt on themountain-tops, but she never saw the prince, so she always wenthome still sadder than before. At home her only consolation was tosit in her little garden with her arms twined round the handsomemarble statue which reminded her of the prince. It was all ingloomy shade now, as she had ceased to tend her flowers and thegarden had become a neglected wilderness of long stalks and leavesentangled with the branches of the tree.
At last she could not bear it any longer, so she told one of hersisters, and from her it soon spread to the others, but to no oneelse except to one or two other mermaids who only told theirdearest friends. One of these knew all about the prince; she hadalso seen the festivities on the ship; she knew where he came fromand where his kingdom was situated.
"Come, little sister!" said the other princesses, and, throwingtheir arms round each other's shoulders, they rose from the waterin a long line, just in front of the prince's palace.
It was built of light yellow glistening stone, with great marblestaircases, one of which led into the garden. Magnificent gildedcupolas rose above the roof, and the spaces between the columnswhich encircled the building were filled with lifelike marblestatues. Through the clear glass of the lofty windows you could seegorgeous halls adorned with costly silken hangings, and thepictures on the walls were a sight worth seeing. In the midst ofthe central hall a large fountain played, throwing its jets ofspray upward to a glass dome in the roof, through which thesunbeams lighted up the water and the beautiful plants which grewin the great basin.
She knew now where he lived and often used to go there in theevenings and by night over the water; she swam much nearer the landthan any of the others dared; she even ventured right up the narrowchannel under the splendid marble terrace, which threw a longshadow over the water. She used to sit here looking at the youngprince, who thought he was quite alone in the clear moonlight.
She saw him many an evening sailing about in his beautiful boat,with flags waving and music playing; she used to peep through thegreen rushes, and if the wind happened to catch her long silveryveil and any one saw it, they only thought it was a swan flappingits wings.
Many a night she heard the fishermen, who were fishing bytorchlight, talking over the good deeds of the young prince; andshe was happy to think that she had saved his life when he wasdrifting about on the waves, half dead, and she could not forgethow closely his head had pressed her breast, and how passionatelyshe had kissed him; but he knew nothing of all this, and never sawher even in his dreams. She became fonder and fonder of mankind,and longed more and more to be able to live among them; their worldseemed so infinitely bigger than hers; with their ships they couldscour the ocean, they could ascend the mountains high above theclouds, and their wooded, grass-grown lands extended farther thanher eye could reach. There was so much that she wanted to know, buther sisters could not give an answer to all her questions, so sheasked her old grandmother, who knew the upper world well, andrightly called it the country above the sea.
"If men are not drowned," asked the little mermaid, "do theylive forever? Do they not die as we do down here in the sea?"
"Yes," said the old lady, "they have to die too, and theirlifetime is even shorter than ours. We may live here for threehundred years, but when we cease to exist, we become mere foam onthe water and do not have so much as a grave among our dear ones.We have no immortal souls, we have no future life, we are just likethe green sea-weed, which, once cut down, can never revive again!Men, on the other hand, have a soul which lives forever, livesafter the body has become dust; it rises through the clear air, upto the shining stars! Just as we rise from the water to see theland of mortals, so they rise up to unknown beautiful regions whichwe shall never see."
"Why have we no immortal souls?" asked the little mermaid sadly."I would give all my three hundred years to be a human being forone day, and afterward to have a share in the heavenlykingdom."
"You must not be thinking about that," said the grandmother; "weare much better off and happier than human beings."
"Then I shall have to die and to float as foam on the water, andnever hear the music of the waves or see the beautiful flowers orthe red sun! Is there nothing I can do to gain an immortalsoul?"
"No," said the grandmother, "only if a human being so loved you,that you were more to him than father or mother, if all histhoughts and all his love were so centred in you that he would letthe priest join your hands and would vow to be faithful to youhere, and to all eternity, then your body would become infused withhis soul. Thus and only thus could you gain a share in the felicityof mankind. He would give you a soul while yet keeping his own. Butthat can never happen! That which is your greatest beauty in thesea, your fish's tail, is thought hideous up on earth, so little dothey understand about it; to be pretty there you must have twoclumsy supports which they call legs!"
Then the little mermaid sighed and looked sadly at her fish'stail.
"Let us be happy," said the grandmother; "we will hop and skipduring our three hundred years of life-it is surely a long enoughtime-and after it is over we shall rest all the better in ourgraves. There is to be a court ball tonight."
This was a much more splendid affair than we ever see on earth.The walls and the ceiling of the great ballroom. were of thick buttransparent glass. Several hundreds of colossal mussel shells,rose-red and grass-green, were ranged in order round the sides,holding blue lights, which illuminated the whole room and shonethrough the walls, so that the sea outside was quite lit up. Youcould see countless fish, great and small, swimming toward theglass walls, some with shining scales of crimson hue, while otherswere golden and silvery. In the middle of the room was a broadstream of running water and on this the mermaids and mermen dancedto their own beautiful singing. No earthly beings have such lovelyvoices. The little mermaid sang more sweetly than any of them andthey all applauded her. For a moment she felt glad at heart, forshe knew that she had the finest voice either in the sea or onland. But she soon began to think again about the upper world; shecould not forget the handsome prince and her sorrow in notpossessing, like him, an immortal soul. Therefore she stole out ofher father's palace, and while all within was joy and merriment,she sat sadly in her little garden. Suddenly she heard the sound ofa horn through the water, and she thought, "now he is out sailingup there; he whom I love more than father or mother, he to whom mythoughts cling and to whose hands I am ready to commit thehappiness of my life. I will dare anything to win him and to gainan immortal soul! While my sisters are dancing in my father'spalace, I will go to the sea witch of whom I have always been verymuch afraid; she will perhaps be able to advise and help me!"
Thereupon the little mermaid left the garden and went toward theroaring whirlpools at the back of which the witch lived. She hadnever been that way before; no flowers grew there, no seaweed, onlythe bare gray sands, stretched toward the whirlpools, which likerushing millwheels swirled round, dragging everything that camewithin reach down to the depths. She had to pass between theseboiling eddies to reach the witches' domain, and for a long way theonly path led over warm bubbling mud, which the witch called her"peat bog." Her house stood behind this in the midst of a weirdforest. All the trees and bushes were polyps, half animal and halfplant; they looked like hundred-headed snakes growing out of thesand, the branches were long slimy arms, with tentacles likewriggling worms, every joint of which from the root to theoutermost tip was in constant motion. They wound themselves tightlyround whatever they could lay hold of and never let it escape. Thelittle mermaid standing outside was quite frightened, her heartbeat fast with terror and she nearly turned back, but then sheremembered the prince and the immortal soul of mankind and tookcourage. She bound her long flowing hair tightly round her head, sothat the polyps should not seize her by it, folded her hands overher breast, and darted like a fish through the water, in betweenthe hideous polyps which stretched out their sensitive arms andtentacles toward her. She could see that every one of them hadsomething or other, which they had grasped with their hundred arms,and which they held as if in iron bands. The bleached bones of menwho had perished at sea and sunk below peeped forth from the armsof some, while others clutched rudders and sea chests, or theskeleton of some land animal, and, most horrible of all, a littlemermaid whom they had caught and suffocated. Then she came to alarge opening in the wood where the ground was all slimy, and wheresome huge fat watersnakes were gambolling about. In the middle ofthis opening was a house built of the bones of the wrecked; theresat the witch, letting a toad eat out of her mouth, just as mortalslet a little canary eat sugar. She called the hideous water-snakesher little chickens, and allowed them to crawl about on herunsightly bosom.
"I know very well what you have come here for," said the witch."It is very foolish of you! all the same you shall have your way,because it will lead you into misfortune, my fine princess. Youwant to get rid of your fish's tail, and instead to have two stumpsto walk about upon like human beings, so that the young prince mayfall in love with you, and that you may win him and an immortalsoul." Saying this, she gave such a loud hideous laugh that thetoad and the snakes fell to the ground and wriggled aboutthere.
"You are just in the nick of time," said the witch; "aftersunrise to-morrow I should not be able to help you until anotheryear had run its course. I will make you a potion, and beforesunrise you must swim ashore with it, seat yourself on the beachand drink it; then your tail will divide and shrivel up to what mencall beautiful legs, but it hurts, it is as if a sharp sword wererunning through you. All who see you will say that you are the mostbeautiful child of man they have ever seen. You will keep yourgliding gait, no dancer will rival you, but every step you takewill be as if you were treading upon sharp knives, so sharp as todraw blood. If you are willing to suffer all this I am ready tohelp you!"
"Yes!" said the little princess with a trembling voice, thinkingof the prince and of winning an undying soul.
"But remember," said the witch, "when once you have received ahuman form, you can never be a mermaid again; you will never againbe able to dive down through the water to your sisters and to yourfather's palace. And if you do not succeed in winning the prince'slove, so that for your sake he will forget father and mother,cleave to you with his whole heart, let the priest join your handsand make you man and wife, you will gain no immortal soul! Thefirst morning after his marriage with another your heart willbreak, and you will turn into foam of the sea."
"I will do it," said the little mermaid as pale as death.
"But you will have to pay me, too," said the witch, "and it isno trifle that I demand. You have the most beautiful voice of anyat the bottom of the sea, and I daresay that you think you willfascinate him with it, but you must give me that voice. I will havethe best you possess in return for my precious potion! I have tomingle my own blood with it so as to make it as sharp as atwo-edged sword."
"But if you take my voice," said the little mermaid, "what haveI left?"
"Your beautiful form," said the witch, "your gliding gait, andyour speaking eyes; with these you ought surely to be able tobewitch a human heart. Well! have you lost courage? Put out yourlittle tongue and I will cut it off in payment for the powerfuldraught."
"Let it be done," said the little mermaid, and the witch put onher cauldron to brew the magic potion. "There is nothing likecleanliness," said she, as she scoured the pot with a bundle ofsnakes; then she punctured her breast and let the black blood dropinto the cauldron, and the steam took the most weird shapes, enoughto frighten any one. Every moment the witch threw new ingredientsinto the pot, and when it boiled the bubbling was like the sound ofcrocodiles weeping. At last the potion was ready and it looked likethe clearest water.
"There it is," said the witch, and thereupon she cut off thetongue of the little mermaid, who was dumb now and could neithersing nor speak.
"If the polyps should seize you, when you go back through mywood," said the witch, "just drop a single drop of this liquid onthem, and their arms and fingers will burst into a thousandpieces." But the little mermaid had no need to do this, for at themere sight of the bright liquid which sparkled in her hand like ashining star, they drew back in terror. So she soon got past thewood, the bog, and the eddying whirlpools.
She saw her father's palace, the lights were all out in thegreat ballroom, and no doubt all the household was asleep, but shedid not dare to go in now that she was dumb and about to leave herhome forever. She felt as if her heart would break with grief. Shestole into the garden and plucked a flower from each of hersister's plots, wafted with her hand countless kisses toward thepalace, and then rose up through the dark blue water.
The sun had not risen when she came in sight of the prince'spalace and landed at the beautiful marble steps. The moon wasshining bright and clear. The little mermaid drank the burning,stinging draught, and it was like a sharp two-edged sword runningthrough her tender frame; she fainted away and lay as if she weredead. When the sun rose on the sea she woke up and became consciousof a sharp pang, but just in front of her stood the handsome youngprince, fixing his coal-black eyes on her; she cast hers down andsaw that her fish's tail was gone, and that she had the prettiestlittle white legs any maiden could desire, but she was quite naked,so she wrapped her long thick hair around her. The prince asked whoshe was and how she came there; she looked at him tenderly and witha sad expression in her dark-blue eyes, but could not speak. Thenhe took her by the hand and led her into the palace. Every step shetook was, as the witch had warned her beforehand, as if she weretreading on sharp knives and spikes, but she bore it gladly; led bythe prince she moved as lightly as a bubble, and he and every oneelse marvelled at her graceful gliding gait.
Clothed in the costliest silks and muslins, she was the greatestbeauty in the palace, but she was dumb and could neither sing norspeak. Beautiful slaves clad in silks and gold came forward andsang to the prince and his royal parents; one of them sang betterthan all the others, and the prince clapped his hands and smiled ather; that made the little mermaid very sad, for she knew that sheused to sing far better herself. She thought "Oh! if he only knewthat for the sake of being with him I had given up my voiceforever!" Now the slaves began to dance graceful undulating dancesto enchanting music; thereupon the little mermaid, lifting herbeautiful white arms and raising herself on tiptoe, glided on thefloor with a grace which none of the other dancers had yetattained. With every motion her grace and beauty became moreapparent, and her eyes appealed more deeply to the heart than thesongs of the slaves. Every one was delighted with it, especiallythe prince, who called her his little foundling, and she danced onand on, notwithstanding that every time her foot touched the groundit was like treading on sharp knives. The prince said that sheshould always be near him, and she was allowed to sleep outside hisdoor on a velvet cushion.
He had a man's dress made for her, so that she could ride aboutwith him. They used to ride through scented woods, where the greenbranches brushed her shoulders, and little birds sang among thefresh leaves. She climbed up the highest mountains with the prince,and although her delicate feet bled so that others saw it, she onlylaughed and followed him until they saw the clouds sailing belowthem like a flock of birds, taking flight to distant lands.
At home in the prince's palace, when at night the others wereasleep, she used to go out on to the marble steps; it cooled herburning feet to stand in the cold sea water, and at such times sheused to think of those she had left in the deep.
One night her sisters came arm in arm; they sang so sorrowfullyas they swam on the water that she beckoned to them and theyrecognized her, and told her how she had grieved them all. Afterthat they visited her every night, and one night she saw, a longway out, her old grandmother (who for many years had not been abovethe water), and the Merman King with his crown on his head; theystretched out their hands toward her, but did not venture so closeto land as her sisters.
Day by day she became dearer to the prince; he loved her as oneloves a good, sweet child, but it never entered his head to makeher his queen; yet, unless she became his wife she would never winan everlasting soul, but on his wedding morning would turn to seafoam.
"Am I not dearer to you than any of them?" the little mermaid'seyes seemed to say when he took her in his arms and kissed herbeautiful brow.
"Yes, you are the dearest one to me," said the prince, "for youhave the best heart of them all, and you are fondest of me; you arealso like a young girl I once saw, but whom I never expect to seeagain. I was on board a ship which was wrecked; I was driven onshore by the waves close to a holy Temple where several young girlswere ministering at a service; the youngest of them found me on thebeach and saved my life; I saw her but twice. She was the onlyperson I could love in this world, but you are like her, you almostdrive her image out of my heart. She belongs to the holy Temple,and therefore by good fortune you have been sent to me; we willnever part!"
"Alas! he does not know that it was I who saved his life,"thought the little mermaid. "I bore him over the sea to the wood,where the Temple stands. I sat behind the foam and watched to seeif any one would come. I saw the pretty girl he loves better thanme." And the mermaid heaved a bitter sigh, for she could notweep.
"The girl belongs to the holy Temple, he has said; she willnever return to the world; they will never meet again; I am herewith him; I see him every day. Yes! I will tend him, love him, andgive up my life to him."
But now the rumour ran that the prince was to be married to thebeautiful daughter of a neighbouring king, and for that reason wasfitting out a splendid ship. It was given out that the prince wasgoing on a voyage to see the adjoining countries, but it waswithout doubt to see the king's daughter; he was to have a greatsuite with him, but the little mermaid shook her head and laughed;she knew the prince's intentions much better than any of theothers. "I must take this voyage," he had said to her; "I must goand see the beautiful princess; my parents demand that, but theywill never force me to bring her home as my bride; I can never loveher! She will not be like the lovely girl in the Temple whom youresemble. If ever I had to choose a bride it would sooner be youwith your speaking eyes, my sweet, dumb foundling!" And he kissedher rosy mouth, played with her long hair, and laid his head uponher heart, which already dreamt of human joys and an immortalsoul.
"You are not frightened of the sea, I suppose, my dumb child?"he said, as they stood on the proud ship which was to carry them tothe country of the neighbouring king; and he told her about stormsand calms, about curious fish in the deep, and the marvels seen bydivers; and she smiled at his tales, for she knew all about thebottom of the sea much better than any one else.
At night, in the moonlight, when all were asleep, except thesteersman who stood at the helm, she sat at the side of the shiptrying to pierce the clear water with her eyes, and fancied she sawher father's palace, and above it her old grandmother with hersilver crown on her head, looking up through the cross currentstoward the keel of the ship. Then her sisters rose above the water;they gazed sadly at her, wringing their white hands; she beckonedto them, smiled, and was about to tell them that all was going welland happily with her, when the cabin boy approached, and thesisters dived down, but he supposed that the white objects he hadseen were nothing but flakes of foam.
The next morning the ship entered the harbour of theneighbouring king's magnificent city. The church bells rang andtrumpets were sounded from every lofty tower, while the soldiersparaded with flags flying and glittering bayonets. There was af?te every day; there was a succession of balls, andreceptions followed one after the other, but the princess was notyet present; she was being brought up a long way off, in a holyTemple they said, and was learning all the royal virtues. At lastshe came. The little mermaid stood eager to see her beauty, and shewas obliged to confess that a lovelier creature she had neverbeheld. Her complexion was exquisitely pure and delicate, and hertrustful eyes of the deepest blue shone through their darklashes.
"It is you," said the prince, "you who saved me when I layalmost lifeless on the beach?" and he clasped his blushing bride tohis heart. "Oh, I am too happy!" he exclaimed to the littlemermaid.
"A greater joy than I had dared to hope for has come to pass.You will rejoice at my joy, for you love me better than any one."Then the little mermaid kissed his hand, and felt as if her heartwere broken already.
His wedding morn would bring death to her and change her tofoam.
All the church bells pealed and heralds rode through the townproclaiming the nuptials. Upon every altar throughout the landfragrant oil was burnt in costly silver lamps. Amidst the swingingof censers by the priests, the bride and bridegroom joined handsand received the bishop's blessing. The little mermaid dressed insilk and gold stood holding the bride's train, but her ears weredeaf to the festal strains, her eyes saw nothing of the sacredceremony, she was thinking of her coming death and of all that shehad lost in this world.
That same evening the bride and bridegr [...]
