The Wizard’s Fairy Tale

Beyond the sea, the water is so blue, like the petals of the most beautiful cornflower, and at the same time, so clear, like the brightest glass. But it was very deep, so deep that no anchor chain could reach the bottom. To reach the surface from the bottom of the sea, many church steeples must be connected one after the other. The people of the bottom of the sea live down here.

But one must not think that there is nothing but a sea of ​​white sand. No, the strangest trees and plants grow there. Their twigs and leaves are so soft that at the slightest movement of the water they move as if they were living things. All fishes and fishes, big and small, swam among the branches like birds in the sky. The deepest place in the sea is where Neptune's Palace is located. Its walls are of coral, and its tall, pointed windows of the clearest amber; but the roof is made of clam-shells, that open and close as the water flows over them. This is very beautiful, because each shell contains shining pearls. Any pearl can be the main decoration on the Queen's hat.

Neptune who lived down there had been a widower for many years, but he had his old mother to keep the house for him. She was a clever woman, but always so proud of her noble birth that she always wore a dozen oysters in her tail--the rest of the dignitaries had half a dozen each. Besides, she deserves great credit, especially because she loves those little sea princesses--some of her granddaughters very much. They were six beautiful children, and of them the youngest was the most beautiful. Her skin was as light and tender as the petals of a rose, and her eyes were as blue as the deepest lake.

However, like the other princesses, she has no legs: the lower part of her body is a fish's tail.

They could spend whole long days in palaces, in halls with flowers growing on the walls. The great amber windows were open, and the fish swam toward them, just as the swallows flew in when we opened them. But the fish kept swimming up to the little princesses, and ate in their hands, and let them pet him.

Outside the palace was a great garden, in which grew many fiery red and dark blue trees; the fruit on the trees shone like gold, and the flowers bloomed like burning fire, with branches and leaves that were constantly moving. The ground was full of the finest sand, but blue as the flames of sulfur. There, everywhere shone a strange, blue light. It's easy to think you're high up in the air rather than under the sea, with blue sky above and below you. When the sea is very still, you can catch a glimpse of the sun: it is like a purple flower, and from its cups shines of all colors.

In the garden, each little princess had her own little place where she could plant whatever she wanted. Some arranged their flower beds to look like a whale, while others thought it would be best to make theirs look like a little mermaid. But the youngest made hers quite round, like the sun, and she only wanted flowers that were as red as the sun. She was a queer child, not very talkative, always thinking of something quietly. And when the other sisters adorned their gardens with the strangest things they got from shipwrecks, she would have nothing but flowers as bright as the sun high above, but a beautiful marble statue. The statue represented a handsome man, carved from a single piece of pure white stone, and had sunk to the bottom of the sea with a shipwrecked ship. She planted a weeping willow as red as a rose beside the stone statue. The tree grows very lushly. Its fresh branches hang down from the stone statue to the blue sandy bottom. Its reflection has a purplish-blue hue. Like its branches, this shadow is never still, and the roots and tops of the tree seem to be playing a game of kissing each other.

Her greatest pleasure was to hear stories about the human world above. Her old grandmother had to tell her all she knew about ships and cities, men and animals.

One thing that particularly pleases her is that the flowers on the ground give off fragrance, but the flowers on the sea bottom cannot; The fish can sing so crisply and beautifully, which makes people feel happy. The "fish" the old grandmother spoke of were in fact birds, but if she hadn't said so, the little princess would not have understood her story, because she had never seen a bird before.

"When you are fifteen years old," said the old grandmother, "I will allow you to float to the surface of the sea. Then you can sit on the stones in the moonlight and watch the huge ships go by. You can see the woods and the city."

One of these sisters was fifteen years old this coming year; but the rest—well, they were each a year younger than the other. Therefore, the youngest princess will have to wait five full years before she can float up from the bottom of the sea to see our world. But each one promised the next one that she would tell everyone what she saw and discovered on the first day, because their grandmother really didn't tell enough-they didn't know what they wanted to know. how many!

None of them longed so much as the younger sister, who was the one who had to wait the longest, and who was so silent and thoughtful at the same time. Many nights she stood by the open window, looking up through the dark blue water, watching the fish waving their tails and wings. She also saw the moon and the stars--they shone dimly, of course, but through a layer of water they appeared much larger than to our human eyes. If something like a black cloud floated under them, she knew it was either a whale swimming above her or a ship with many passengers on its way. But these travelers could no longer imagine that there was a beautiful little mermaid beneath them, stretching out her white hands towards the keel of their ship.

The eldest princess was now fifteen years old, and could rise to the surface of the water.

When she came back, she had countless things to tell: but she said the most beautiful thing was when the sea was calm, lying on a sandy beach in the moonlight, gazing close to the shore at the great city lit up like countless Star-like lights, listen to music, noise, and the voices of carriages and people, look at the round towers and steeples of churches, and listen to the jingle of bells. And just because she couldn't go there, that's why she craved those things most.

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Ah, how the youngest sister listened with fascination! When she stood by the open window at night, looking up through the dark blue water, she thought of the big city and the bustle and sounds in it. So she seemed to be able to hear the church bells wafting towards her.

The next year the second sister was allowed to surface and swim wherever she wanted. The sun was just setting when she jumped out of the water; she thought it was a beautiful sight. The whole sky looked like gold now, she said, and the clouds—well, she couldn't describe their beauty! They passed over her head, now red, now purple. But flying faster than them, like a long and free veil, was a flock of wild swans skimming the water. They are flying to the sun, and she also swims to the sun. But the sun went down. A rosy sunset slowly faded between the sea and the clouds.

Another year passed, and the third sister floated up. She was the boldest of them all, so she swam to a great river that flowed into the sea. She saw some beautiful green hills covered with rows of grapes. Palaces and farms loomed among the lush woods; and she heard how sweetly the birds sang, and the sun shone so warmly that she was sometimes obliged to sink into the water, that her burning face might be A little cool. In a creek she met a group of human children; they were naked and swimming in the water. She would have liked to play with them for a while, but they were startled and ran away. Then came a little black animal—a puppy, a puppy she had never seen before. it barked so fiercely at her that she was frightened and ran away into the sea. But she will never forget the magnificent forest, the green mountains, and those cute babies who can swim in the water-although they don't have tails like fishes.

The fourth sister is not so bold. She rests on the desolate sea. The most beautiful thing, she said, was to be at sea: because you could look far, far away from here, and the sky hung above it like a giant glass clock. She had seen ships, but they were so far away that they looked like a seagull. She had seen happy dolphins do somersaults and gigantic whales spouting water from their nostrils as if countless fountains surrounded them.

Now comes the fifth sister. Her birthday happened to be in the winter, so she could see things the other sisters hadn't seen when they first surfaced. The sea was dyed green, and huge icebergs were moving around. She said that each iceberg looked like a bead, but was much bigger than a church tower built by man. They come in all sorts of strange shapes; they shine like diamonds. She once sat on one of the largest icebergs, letting the sea wind blow her long thin hair, and all the ships, round the spot where she sat, kept away in panic. But at dusk, a dark cloud suddenly appeared in the sky. The lightning flashed, and the thunder did not stop. Black waves lifted whole slabs of ice, making them glisten in blood-red thunder.

All the ships lowered their sails, creating an atmosphere of panic and terror, but she sat quietly on the floating iceberg, watching the blue netting, zigzag into the reflective sea.

Any one of these sisters who was going up to the surface for the first time was always very happy to see something so new and beautiful. But now that they are big girls, they can float anywhere they like, so these things don't interest them much anymore. They yearn to come home. After a month or so, they said: After all, it is better to live in the sea—how comfortable it is to be at home!

Often at dusk the five sisters floated up arm in arm and lined up on the water. They can sing beautifully - more beautiful than any human voice. When the storm was approaching, and they thought some ships were about to be wrecked, they floated up to the ships, and sang very beautiful songs about how lovely it was under the sea, and told the sailors not to be afraid to sink to the bottom; These people could not understand their lyrics. They thought it was the sound of a mighty wind. Nor did they think that they would see anything beautiful on the bottom of the sea, because if the ship sank, the people on it would also drown, and they could only reach the palace of the King of the Sea as dead people.

One night, when the sisters thus surfaced arm in arm, the youngest sister stayed behind alone, watching them. It looked as if she wanted to cry, but mermaids don't have tears, so she felt even worse.

"Oh, how I wish I were fifteen!" she said. "I know I'm going to like the world up there, and the people who live in it.

"

At last she was indeed fifteen.

"You know, you can leave our hands now," said her grandmother, the old Queen Dowager. "Come on, let me dress you up like your sisters."

So she put a garland of lilies in the little girl's hair, but each petal of the flower was half a pearl. The old lady also ordered eight big oysters to be tightly attached to the princess's tail to show her noble status.

"It hurts me so much!" said the little mermaid.

"Of course, one has to suffer a little to be beautiful," said the old grandmother.

Oh, how she wished she could get rid of these ornaments, and throw aside this heavy garland! The red flowers in her garden would suit her much better, but she dared not do so. "Good-bye!" she said. Then she was as light and clear as a bubble, emerging from the water.

The sun had set when she lifted her head out of the sea, but all the clouds still shone like roses and gold; while the great white star was twinkling beautifully and brightly in the pink sky squinting. The air is mild and fresh. The sea was very calm, and there was a big ship with three masts. There was only one sail on board, for there was not a breath of wind to stir. The sailors were sitting around the shrouds and over the yards.

There is music and singing. When the dusk gradually becomes dark, all kinds of lanterns are lit up together. They look like flags from all over the world floating in the air. The little mermaid kept swimming towards the window of the boat. Every time when the waves lifted her up, she could look through the window pane like a mirror, and see many men in gorgeous clothes standing inside; but the most beautiful among them was the prince with a pair of big black eyes. : Undoubtedly, he was not yet sixteen years old. Today is his birthday, and it is for this reason that today is so lively.

Sailors danced on deck. When the prince came out, more than a hundred rockets were shot into the sky. The sky was as bright as day, and the little mermaid was so frightened that she sank to the bottom of the water. But after a while she put her head out - at this moment she felt as if all the stars in the sky were falling towards her, and she had never seen such fireworks. Huge suns hissed all around, and great fishes leaped into the blue sky in all their glory.

All this reflected on the clear, calm sea. The whole body of the boat was illuminated so brightly that even every tiny rope could be seen, and of course the people on board could see clearly. Ah, how beautiful the young prince was! He shook hands with the sailors, laughed, smiled as the music died away in the radiance of the night... It was late, but the little mermaid could not take her eyes from the ship and the beautiful woman. Prince aside. The colored lanterns went out, the rockets stopped shooting into the air, and the cannonade stopped. But there was a humming and rumbling sound in the depths of the sea. She was sitting on the water, bobbing and bobbing so she could see what was in the cabin. But the ship picked up speed: her sails were all raised one after the other. The waves got bigger, heavy dark clouds floated up, and lightning struck in the distance. Ah, the great and dreadful storm is coming! The sailors therefore all lowered their sails. The gigantic ship swayed and swayed on the stormy sea. The waves rose like huge black mountains. It wants to break the mast. But the boat was like a swan, throwing itself into the torrent for a while, and lifting its head up on the high waves for a while.

The little mermaid thought it was a very interesting voyage, but the sailors thought otherwise. The ship splintered now; its thick walls were buckled by the oncoming waves. The mast snapped in the middle like a reed. Then the boat began to list and water rushed into the hold. Only then did the little mermaid realize that they were in danger. She also had to watch out for beams and wreckage floating in the water.

Immediately the sky became pitch black, and she could see nothing. But when the lightning struck, the sky was so bright that she could see everyone in the boat. Now everyone is trying to find a way out for themselves. She paid special attention to the prince. She saw him as the ship broke apart and sank into the depths of the sea. She became very glad at once that he was going to fall to her now. But she remembered that a man cannot live in water, and that he cannot enter her father's palace unless he is dead.

No, he must not be allowed to die! So she swam among the floating beams and planks, little thinking that they might crush her to death. She sank deep into the water, then rose high in the waves, and at last she reached the side of the prince, who would never have the strength to rise again in this stormy sea. His arms and legs were beginning to give way. His beautiful eyes have been closed. If the little mermaid had not come in time, he would have been drowned. She lifted his head out of the water and let the waves carry her and him wherever he wanted to.

By dawn, the storm had passed. Not a single piece of that boat was left. The bright red sun rose and shone brightly on the water. It seemed to breathe life into the prince's face. But his eyes were still closed. The little mermaid kissed his delicate high forehead and brushed back his drenched long hair. She thought he looked a lot like the marble statue she had in the little garden under the sea. She kissed him again, hoping he would wake up.

Now she saw before her a land spread out and a group of high mountains of azure, whose tops glistened with snow that looked like sleeping swans. Along the coast was a beautiful green wood, and in front of it was a church or a monastery—she didn't know what it was called, but it was always a building. It had lemon and orange trees in its garden, and tall palms before the gate. The sea forms a small bay here. The water is very calm, but it is very deep from here to near the rocky cliff where there is a lot of fine sand. She carried the beautiful prince to swim there. She put him on the sand, very carefully keeping his head up in the warm sun.

Bells rang from the great white building, and many young women came out through the garden. The little mermaid swam far out into the sea, behind some big rocks that stood on the surface of the sea. She covered her hair and breast with much sea-foam, so that no one could see her little face. Here she watched to see who would come to the poor prince.

After a while, a young woman came over. She seemed very surprised, but it was not long, so she had a lot of people come. The little mermaid saw that the prince gradually came to life and smiled to the people around him. But he did not smile at her: of course, he had no idea that it was she who had saved him. She felt very sad. So when he was carried into the great house, she threw herself sadly into the sea, and went back to her father's palace.

She had always been a quiet and thoughtful child, and now she was even more so. Her sisters asked her what she had seen the first time she rose to the surface, but she could tell nothing.

Many nights and mornings she came up to the surface and swam to the spot where she had left the Prince. She saw the fruit in the garden ripe and picked; she saw the snow melt on the high mountain-tops; but she could not see the Prince. So every time she came home, she always felt more painful. Her only consolation was to sit in her little garden with her arms round the beautiful marble statue that resembled the prince. But she no longer tended her flowers. These flowers seemed to grow in the fields, and spread all over the ground: their long stalks and leaves crossed with the branches, and made the place very dark.

At last she could bear it no longer. But as soon as she told one sister what was on her mind, the rest of them knew it too. But apart from them and one or two other mermaids (who only told the secret to a few intimate friends), no one else knew. One of them knew who the prince was. She had also seen that celebration on the ship. She knew where the prince came from, and where his kingdom was.

"Come, little sister!" said the other princesses. Putting their hands on each other's shoulders, they rose to the surface of the sea in a long row, and swam to what they thought was the Prince's palace.

The palace was built of a glowing yellowish stone, and had many broad marble steps--one of which went down to the sea. Ornate, golden round towers jut from the roof into the air. Among the columns surrounding the whole building stood many marble statues. They look like they are alive. Through the bright panes of the tall windows, one could see magnificent halls, hung with rich silk curtains and brocades, and decorated with large pictures on the walls--it was a very pleasant thing to look at. matter. In the center of the largest hall, there is a huge fountain spraying water. The water streaks shot up to the glass dome above, and the sun shot down through the glass, onto the water, and onto the plants that grew in the big pool.

Now she knew where the Prince lived. Here on the water she passed many evenings and nights. She swam farther to land than any other sister dared to go. Indeed, she even swam down the narrow river, down to the magnificent marble balcony, whose long shadows were reflected in the water. Here she sat and looked at the young prince who thought he was alone in the moonlight.

Several nights she saw him sailing the magnificent ship with its many flags to the sound of music. She peeped up from among the green rushes. When the wind lifted her long silver visor, if anyone saw it, they thought it was a swan spreading its wings.

Several nights she heard the fishermen say many words of praise about the prince, as they went out to sea with torches. She cheered up, feeling that she had come to save his life when the waves beat him half to death; she remembered how tightly his head lay in her arms, and how passionately she kissed him . But he himself knew nothing about these things, and he never even thought of her in his dreams.

Gradually she began to love humans, and gradually began to long to live among them. She felt that their world was much bigger than hers. Indeed, they could sail on the seas and climb mountains high into the sky, while their lands, with their forests and fields, stretched out as far as she could see. There was a great deal she wished to know, and none of her sisters could answer all her questions. So she had to ask her old grandmother. She did know quite well about the "Upper World"--that was her apt name for the Sea-Nation.

"If men don't drown," asked the little mermaid, "will they live forever? Will they die like us who live in the sea?"

"That's right," said the old lady, "they will die too, and their lives are even shorter than ours. We may live to be three hundred years old, but when our days here are over, we turned into foam on the water. We don't even leave a grave for our beloved here. We don't have an immortal soul. We never get a life after death. We are like the green seaweed , Once cut off, it will never be green again! On the contrary, human beings have a soul; it lives forever, even if the body turns to dust, it is still alive. The stars! As we rise above the waters and see the world on earth, so they rise to those mysterious and magnificent places we shall never see."

"Why can't we get an immortal soul?" the little mermaid asked sadly. "As long as I can become a human being and enter the heavenly world, even if I only live there for one day, I am willing to give up the hundreds of years of life I can live here,"

"You mustn't think of that," said the old lady. "Compared with the humans above, our life here is much happier and better!"

"Then I shall die and become foam and float on the water. Shall I never hear the music of the waves again, nor shall I see the beautiful flowers and the bright red sun? Is there no way for me to have an eternal soul?"

No! said the old lady. "Only when a man loves you, and treats you more dearly than his parents; only when he puts all his thoughts and love on you; only when he lets the priest When he places his right hand in yours, promising to be faithful to you now and forever, his soul will be transferred to you, and you will have a share of human happiness. He will give you a soul, while at the same time his own soul remains immortal. But such things never happen! What we think beautiful down here at the bottom of the sea—that tail of your fish—they think ugly on land: they don’t know what beauty and ugliness are. With them, to be beautiful, a man must have two stupid pillars--they call them legs! "

The little mermaid sighed, and looked sadly at her fish tail.

"Let's have fun!" said the old lady. "Let us dance and dance for the three hundred years that we live. It is a long time, after all, and we may rest happily in our graves. Tonight we are at the palace Let's have a dance!"

It was a magnificent spectacle such as one never sees on land. The walls and ceiling of this vast ballroom are of thick, transparent glass. Thousands and hundreds of gigantic shells, green and pink, stood in rows on all sides; within them burning blue flames illuminated the whole ballroom, through the walls, and thus to the sea outside. People can see countless schools of large and small fish swimming towards this crystal palace, some scales glow purple, and some light up like silver and gold. A wide torrent ran through the center of the ballroom, and the men and women of the sea danced on this torrent, singing beautiful songs that no land-dwelling people could sing.

Among them, the little mermaid sang the most beautifully. They applauded her; and for a moment she felt very happy, for she knew that only her voice was the most beautiful on land and in sea. But she immediately remembered the world above. She could not forget that handsome prince, nor her sorrow at not having such an immortal soul as his. So she stole out of her father's palace: and sat sadly in her little garden, when it was full of song and joy. Suddenly she heard the sound of a horn over the water. She thought: "He must be sailing on it: he—I love him more than my father and mother; he—I miss him every moment; I put my life's happiness in his hands. I will sacrifice everything to win him and an immortal soul. While my sisters are dancing in my father's palace now, I will visit the witch of the sea. I have always been very afraid of her, but she Maybe you can teach me something and help me."

So the little mermaid went out of the garden, and walked towards a foaming whirlpool behind which the witch lived. She's never been this way before. There were no flowers or seaweed here, just a bare gray sandy bottom stretching out towards the eddies. Here the water swirls like a noisy waterwheel, turning everything it touches to the bottom. To get to the area where the witch lived, she had to walk through this swirling vortex. There was a long way to pass through a place of bubbling mud: the witch called this her peat-field. There was a horrible forest behind this, and her house was in it, and all the trees and bushes were polyps—something half vegetable and half animal. They look a lot like hydras popping out of the ground. Their branches were all long, slimy arms, and their fingers were all limp as worms. They are vibrating joint by joint from root to top. They coiled tightly to whatever they could get their hands on in the sea, and never let up.

The little mermaid stopped before the forest, very alarmed. Her heart jumped with fear, and she almost wanted to turn around and go back. But when she thought of the prince and the human soul, her courage returned. She fastened her long, flowing hair round her head so that the polyps could not catch her. She clasped her hands to her breast, and like a fish jumping in water, she jumped forward among these hideous polyps, which only waved their long soft arms behind her. and fingers. She saw that each of them had grasped something, and its countless small arms were coiled around it like strong iron rings. In the arms of these polyps the white skeletons of those who drowned and sunk in the sea are revealed. They held tightly to the rudder and the box, and the skeleton of a land animal, and a little mermaid they had caught and strangled—this was the most horrible thing to her.

Now she came to a slimy clearing in the forest. Here the big fat water-snakes were writhing, revealing their pale yellow, hideous bellies. In the middle of the field was a house made of the bones of the dead. Here sits the witch of the sea, feeding a toad from her beak, as we feed sugar to a young canary. She called those ugly, fat water snakes her chickens, and let them crawl up and down her big, floppy chest.

"I know what you are asking for," said the Witch of the Sea. "You are a fool! Still, my fair princess, I will let you achieve your purpose, for this will have a tragic end for you. You want to have your fish's tail removed and give birth to two pillars , so that you can walk like a human being. You want to make that prince fall in love with you, so that you can have him, and thus an immortal soul.” At this time the witch laughed horribly, and the Toad and the Toad The water snakes rolled to the ground and crawled around. "You have come just in time," said the witch. "After the sun rises tomorrow, I can't help you. I have to wait a year. I can make a medicine for you to drink. You take this medicine and swim to the land before the sun rises. You sit on the beach , take this medicine, so your tail can be split in two, shrinking into what humans call beautiful legs. But this is very painful - it is like a sharp knife cutting into your body. Anyone who sees Your people will say you are the most beautiful child they have ever seen! You will still keep your swimming steps, and no dancer will dance so softly. But every step of yours It will make you feel as if you are walking on a sharp knife, as if your blood is flowing out. If you can bear the pain, I can help you."

"I can bear it," said the little mermaid in a trembling voice. Then she thought of the prince and her wish to have an immortal soul.

"But remember," said the witch, "once you have taken the form of a man, you can never be a mermaid again, nor can you go down into the water and go back to your sister's or your father's palace Come. And if you can't get the prince's love, if you can't make him forget his parents for you, love you with all his heart, and call the priest to come and put your hands together to make a couple, you won't will have an immortal soul. On the first morning he marries someone else, your heart will be broken and you will be foam on the water,"

"I am not afraid!" said the little mermaid. But her face was pale as death.

"But you will pay me!" said the witch, "and it is not a small thing that I want. You have the most beautiful voice among the people at the bottom of the sea. No doubt you want to use it." The voice to charm him, but the voice you must give to me. I must get your best in exchange for my precious medicine! I must put my own blood in this medicine to make it sharp Like a sharp knife with two sides!"

"But if you take my voice away," said the little mermaid, "what have I left?"

"You still have a beautiful figure," answered the witch, "you have your light steps and expressive eyes. With these things you will easily captivate a man's heart. Well, you have Lost your courage? Stick out your little tongue, and I'll cut it off as a reward, and you'll get this strong potion."

"Let's do it like this," said the little mermaid. So the witch got ready the medicine pot, and boiled the magic potion.

"Cleaning is a good thing," she said; so she tied some snakes into a knot, and with it she scrubbed the jar. Then she scratched her own chest and let her black blood drip into the jar. The vapor of the medicine rose into the air in strange shapes, which looked ghastly. Every once in a while the witch added something new to the jar. When the medicine was boiled, there was a cry like a crocodile floating out. Finally, the medicine is fried. It looks like very clear water.

"Take it!" said the witch. So she cut off the little mermaid's tongue. The little mermaid was now a mute, and could neither sing nor speak.

"When you go back through my forest, if the coral polyps catch you," said the witch, "you only have to sprinkle a drop of this potion on them, and their arms and fingers will break into pieces, It's flying all around." But the little mermaid didn't have to do this, because when the coral polyps saw the shiny potion--it shone like a shining star in her hand--they were right there with her. He shrank back in fear. In this way, she walked quickly through forests, swamps, and whirling eddies.

She could see her father's palace now. The torches had been extinguished in the large ballroom, and the occupants had, no doubt, gone to sleep. But she dared not see them again, for she was now a mute, and was going to leave them forever. Her heart ached like it was about to break into pieces. She sneaked into the garden, plucked a flower from each sister's flowerbed, and blew a thousand kisses with her fingers to the emperor, and then he floated out of this deep blue sea.

The sun had not yet risen when she saw the prince's palace. She ascended the marble steps solemnly. The moon shines transparently, very beautifully. The little mermaid drank the strong potion. She immediately felt as if a knife that was sharp on both sides had split her slender body. She fainted immediately. Falling down as if dead. When the sun was shining on the sea, she woke up, and she felt a sharp pain. At this time, a young and beautiful prince was standing in front of her. His dark eyes were looking at her, making her bow her head in embarrassment. Then she found that her fishtail was gone, and she got a pair of the most beautiful little white legs that only a girl can have. But she had no clothes on, so she covered her body with her thick long hair. The prince asked who she was and how she came here. She looked at him tenderly and sadly with her dark blue eyes, for she could not speak now. He took her by the arm and led her into the palace. As the witch had told her before, she felt that every step was like walking on an awl and a sharp knife. But she was willing to endure the pain.

She held the prince's arm and walked lightly like a blister. He and everyone else were amazed at her elegant and light steps.

Now she was dressed in rich garments of silk and muslin. She was one of the most beautiful people in the palace, but she was dumb and could neither sing. Can't speak either. Beautiful slave girls, dressed in silk and gold and silver, came forward and sang to the Prince and his parents. One slave sang most charmingly, and the Prince applauded and smiled at her. Then the little mermaid felt a pang of sadness. She knew that there were times when her singing was much more beautiful than that! she thinks:

"Ah! if only he knew that I sacrificed my voice forever to be with him!"

Now the slaves danced gracefully and lightly to the beautiful music. Then the little mermaid raised her beautiful white hands, stood on tiptoe, and danced lightly on the floor, as no one had ever danced before. Every movement of her brings out her beauty. Her eyeballs are more touching to the heart than the song of the slaves.

Everyone was fascinated by it, especially Wang Yu - he called her his "orphan". She danced incessantly, though every time her feet touched the ground it was as if she were walking on sharp knives. The Prince said that she should be with him forever afterward; so she obtained permission to sleep on a velvet cushion outside his door.

He had a man's suit made for her, so that she could ride with him on horseback. They walked through the scented woods, the green boughs sweeping over their shoulders, and the birds sang behind the fresh leaves. She and the prince climbed the mountain. Although her slender feet were already bleeding, and for all to see, she still just laughed and continued to accompany him until they saw the clouds moving below, like a flock of birds flying to a distant country. until.

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At night in the Prince's palace, after everyone had gone to bed, she went up the wide staircase. In order to cool her feverish feet a little, she stood in the cold sea. Then she couldn't help thinking of the people who lived under the sea.

One night her sisters floated up arm in arm. While swimming in the water, they sang mournful songs. Then she waved to them. They recognized her; they said how much she had troubled them. After this time, they came to see her every night. One night, she saw the old grandmother who hadn't surfaced in the sea for many years and the sea king wearing the crown from afar. They held out their hands to her, but they did not dare to swim near the ground like her sisters.

The prince loved her more than ever. He loved her like a good, loving child, but it never occurred to him to make her his queen. Yet she must be his wife, or else she would not have an immortal soul, and would be foam at sea on the first morning of his marriage.

"Are you the one who loves me the most?" the little mermaid's eyes seemed to say as he took her into his arms and kissed her forehead.

"Yes, you are dearest to me!" said the prince, "for you have the kindest heart of all men. You are dearest to me, and you resemble a young man whom I once saw woman, but I will never see her again. I was in a boat--it was sunk. The waves pushed me ashore by a temple. There were some young women working there. Pray. The youngest of them found me on the shore and thus saved my life. I only saw her twice: she is the only one in the world I could love, but you look like her , you have almost taken her place in my soul. She belongs to this temple, and it is my fortune to send you especially to me. Let us never part!"

"Oh, he doesn't know that I saved his life!" thought the little mermaid. "I lifted him out of the sea and sent him to a wood where the temple is. I sat behind the foam to see if anyone would come. I saw the beautiful girl—he loved her more than me. ’ Then the little mermaid sighed deeply—she couldn’t cry. "That girl belonged to that temple--he said it. She would never come into this world--they would never meet. I was with him and saw him every day. I To look after him, to love him, to give my life to him!"

Now people are saying that the prince is about to get married, and her wife is a daughter of the king of the neighboring country. He had a beautiful ship specially equipped for this purpose. On the surface, the prince said that he was going to visit the neighboring kingdom, but in fact he was going to see the daughter of the neighboring monarch. He will go with a large entourage. The little mermaid shook her head and smiled. She can guess the prince's mind better than anyone else.

"I have to go on a trip!" he said to her. "I have to see a beautiful princess. It is my parents' orders, but they cannot force me to bring her home as a betrothed! I will not love Hers. You are like the beautiful girl in the temple, and she is not. If I were to choose a bride, I would choose you first - my dear, with eyes that can talk mute orphan."

So he kissed her bright red lips, stroked her long hair, and pressed his head to her heart, so that her heart dreamed of earthly happiness and an immortal soul.

"Aren't you afraid of the sea, my dumb orphan?" he asked. Now they were standing in the splendid ship, which was bound for the neighboring kingdom. He and she talked about stormy and calm seas, about the strange fish that lived there, and what divers could see at the bottom of the ocean. For such stories, she just smiled, because she knew the bottom of the sea better than anyone else.

On moonlit nights, all were asleep except the helmsman at the helm. Now she was sitting on the side of the boat, gazing at the clear water below, and she seemed to see her father's palace. Her old grandmother, with a crown of silver on her head, was standing high on the palace; she looked through the rapids to the keel of the ship. After a while, his sisters all came to the surface of the water, and they looked at her sadly, and twisted their white hands in pain. She waved to them, smiled, and wanted to tell them that everything was fine and happy for her now. But at this moment, a waiter on the boat suddenly came to her side. Her sisters sank immediately, and the waiter thought the white things he saw were nothing but sea foam.

The next morning the ship sailed into the port of the magnificent imperial city of the neighboring country. The bells of all the churches were ringing, the horns were blowing from many tall buildings, and the soldiers saluted with flying banners and shining bayonets. Every day there is a banquet. The ball and the party were going on alternately, but the princess had not yet appeared. They say she was educated in a distant temple, learning all the royal virtues. At last she arrived.

The little mermaid is desperate to see her beauty. She had to admit her beauty, she had never seen a more beautiful body than this. Her skin was so delicate and white; behind her long black lashes were smiling, faithful, dark blue eyes.

"It was you!" said the prince, "it was you who brought me back to life when I lay like a dead body on the shore!" And he took the shy bride in his arms. "Ah, how happy I am!" he said to the little mermaid. "The best thing I never dared to hope for is now at last a reality. You will rejoice at my happiness, for you are the happiest of all." People who like me!"

The little mermaid kissed his hand. She felt her heart breaking. The first morning after his wedding would bring her down, would turn her into sea foam.

The church bells rang, and messengers rode through the streets to announce the engagement. On every altar, fragrant fat burns in costly oil lamps. Priests waved censers, and the bride and groom joined hands to receive the bishop's blessing. The little mermaid was now dressed in silk and gold, and held the bride's veil, but her ears could not hear the joyful music, and her eyes could not see the sacred ceremony. She thought of the morning of her death, and of all that she had lost in this world.

On the same night, the bride and groom come to the boat. The salute was fired and the flags were flying. A royal tent of gold and purple was erected amidships, furnished with the most beautiful cushions. Here, the beautiful newlyweds will spend their cool and silent evenings.

The wind is blowing the sails. The boat sailed gently on the clear sea without much fluctuation.

As twilight fell, the colored lights came on and the sailors danced happily on the deck. The little mermaid could not help thinking of the first time she came to the surface of the sea, and of the same splendor and joy that she had seen then. Then she whirled and flew like a swallow that is being pursued. Everyone was cheering and praising her, she had never danced so beautifully. The quick knife seemed to be cutting her delicate feet, but she didn't feel the pain, because her heart hurt more than this.

She knew that this was the last night she would see him—for him, she left her clan and family, she gave up her beautiful voice, she endured endless pain every day, but he didn't give up at all. have no idea. It was the last night she could breathe the same air with him, the last night she could see the deep sea and the starry sky. Meanwhile an eternal night without thoughts and dreams awaited her--her without a soul and without a soul. All was gay and merry on board the ship till well after midnight. She laughed and danced, but the thought of death was in her heart. The prince kisses his beautiful bride: the bride strokes his raven hair. They went arm in arm to rest in the gorgeous tent.

It's very quiet on board now. Only the helmsman stood at the helm. The little mermaid leaned her white arms on the bulwarks, and gazed eastward, waiting for the dawn--she knew that the first rays of the sun would kill her, and she saw her sisters emerge from the waves . They were as pale as herself.

Their beautiful long hair is no longer blowing in the wind - because it has been cut off.

"We have given the hair to the witch, and hope she will help you so that you will not perish in the future. She gave us a knife. Take it, and see how fast it is! Before the sun comes out, You have to insert it into the heart of that prince. When his blood flows to your feet, your feet will join together again and become a fish tail, then you can regain the original shape of a mermaid, you Then come back to our waters; so you'll live three hundred years before you're lifeless salt-water foam. Be quick! It's not he who dies before the sun rises , you are dead! Our old grandmother lost all her white hair in grief, just as ours fell under the witch's scissors. Stab that prince, and come back quickly! Do it quickly! You didn't see Seeing the red light in the sky, the sun will come out in a few minutes, and then you will surely perish!"

They uttered a strange, deep sigh, and they sank into the waves.

The little mermaid drew back the purple curtain of the tent, and saw the beautiful bride sleeping with her head on the prince's arms. She bent down and kissed the prince's delicate eyebrows, so he gazed at the sky - the morning glow gradually became brighter. She glanced at the sharp knife, and then turned her eyes to the prince, who was murmuring in his sleep the name of his bride. She was the only thing in his mind. The knife trembled in the little mermaid's hand. But at this moment, she threw the knife far into the surf. Where the Wanzi sank, the spray gave off a red light, as if many drops of blood had splashed out of the water. She cast her bewildered eyes on the prince again, and she jumped out of the boat into the sea, feeling her body melting into foam.

Now the sun is rising from the sea. The sun shone softly and warmly on the icy foam. Because the little mermaid doesn't feel perishing. She saw the bright sun, while above her flew countless transparent, beautiful creatures. Through them she could see the white sails of the ship and the colorful clouds of the sky. Their voices are harmonious music. But they are so ethereal that human ears cannot hear them any more than earthly eyes cannot see them. They have no wings, but float in the air with their light bodies. The little mermaids felt that they too had acquired a form like theirs, and gradually rose from the foam.

"To whom shall I go?" she asked. Her voice, like these other creatures, seemed ethereal, and no music department in the world could compare with it.

"To the daughter of the sky!" answered another voice. "A mermaid has no immortal soul, and never will, unless she receives the love of a mortal. Her eternal existence depends on external powers. Nor does the daughter of the sky have an eternal soul, but They can create a soul through acts of kindness. We fly to hot countries where the air of disease spreads and hurts the people, we can blow cool winds, we can spread the fragrance of flowers in the air, we can Spread a healthy and cheerful spirit. Three hundred years from now, when we have done all the good that we can possibly do, we shall have an immortal soul and share in all the eternal happiness of mankind. You, poor man Fish, like us, once worked wholeheartedly for that goal. You suffered; You can create an immortal soul for yourself."

The little mermaid raised her shining arms to the sun of God, and for the first time she felt ready to shed tears.

On that boat, the voices and activity started again. She saw the prince and his beautiful bride looking for her. They looked mournfully at the churning foam, as if they knew she had jumped into the waves. In the dark, she kissed the bride's forehead, and she smiled at the prince. So she and the other children of the air rode up into the sky on a rose-colored cloud.

"In this way, after three hundred years, we can ascend to the kingdom of heaven!"

"We may not have to wait that long!" a voice whispered. "Invisibly we fly into the houses of human beings, and there are some children living there. If we find a good child every day, if he brings happiness to his parents and is worthy of his parents' love, God can Shorten the time of our trials. When we fly across the house, the child will not know. When we smile at him happily, we can subtract one year from the three hundred years; but when we look When a naughty and vile child has to weep bitterly, every tear adds another day to our trial."