Old story the daughter of the sea

Daughter of the sea

In the distance of the sea, the water was so blue, like the most beautiful cornflower petals, and at the same time so clear, like the brightest glass. However, it is very deep, so deep that no anchor chain can reach the end. To reach the surface from the bottom of the sea, many churches must be connected one by one. The people at the bottom of the sea live under this.

But don't think it's just a seabed covered with white sand. No, there are the most exotic trees and plants growing there. Their branches and leaves were so soft that they shook as soon as the water flowed slightly, as if they were living things. All the big and small fish swim around in the middle of these branches, like birds in the sky. The deepest part of the sea is where neptune's palace is located. Its walls were made of coral, and its high spire windows were made of the brightest amber; but the roof was covered with black mussel shells that opened and closed automatically as the water flowed. It's weird and beautiful, and every mussel shell contains shiny pearls. Any pearl can become the most important ornament on the queen's hat.

The sea king who lived under there had been a widower for many years, but he had an old mother to manage the house for him. She was a wise woman, but she was always overwhelmed by her noble origins, so she always wore a dozen oysters on her tail—the rest of the dignitaries could only wear half a dozen each. In addition, she deserves great praise, especially since she loves the little sea princesses, some of her granddaughters. They were six beautiful children, and among them, the youngest was the most beautiful. Her skin was bright and tender, like the petals of a rose, and her eyes were azure blue, like the deepest lake. But, like the other princesses, she had no legs: the lower part of her body was a fish's tail.

They could spend their whole long days in the palace, in the halls with flowers on the walls. The big amber windows were open, and the fish swam toward them, just as swallows would fly in when we opened the windows. But the fish kept swimming towards the little princesses, looking for something to eat in their hands and letting them touch themselves.

Outside the palace there was a large garden, in which grew many fiery red and dark blue trees; the fruit of the trees was bright as gold, the flowers bloomed like burning fire, and the branches and leaves were constantly shaking. The ground was full of the finest sand, but it was as blue as a flame of sulphur. There, everywhere, there was a strange, blue glow. It's easy to think that you're high in the air rather than at the bottom of the sea, with a blue sky all over your head and under your feet. When the sea is very calm, you can catch a glimpse of the sun: it is like a purple flower, shooting out light of various colors from its calyx.

In the garden, each little princess has her own small piece of place on which she can plant at will. Some arrange their flower beds like a whale, and some think it is best to arrange their flower beds like a little mermaid. But the youngest one arranged her flower bed in a round circle, like a round of the sun, and at the same time she planted only flowers as red as the sun. She was an eccentric child, not very talkative, always quietly thinking about something. While the other sisters decorated their gardens with the most bizarre things they had ever obtained from the wreck, she was willing to have only a beautiful marble statue except for flowers as bright red as the sun in the sky. This stone statue represents a beautiful man, carved out of a white stone, and sunk to the bottom of the sea with a shipwrecked ship. Next to this stone statue, she planted a weeping willow that was as red as a rose. This tree grows very lushly. Its fresh foliage hung down to the stone statue, all the way down to the blue sand bottom. Its reflection has a violet-blue hue. Like its branches, the shadow never stands still, and the roots and top of the tree look as if they are playing a game of kissing each other.

Her greatest pleasure was listening to stories about the human world above. Her old grandmother had to tell her all she knew about ships and cities, about humans and animals. One thing that made her particularly beautiful was that the flowers on the ground could emit a fragrance, but the flowers on the bottom of the sea could not; the forest on the ground was green, and the fish that people saw swimming between the branches would sing so crisply and nicely that it would make people feel happy. The "fish" that the old grandmother called was actually a bird, but if she hadn't said it, the little princess wouldn't have understood her story, because she had never seen a bird yet.

"When you are fifteen years old," said the old grandmother, "I will allow you to float on the surface of the sea." Then you can sit on top of the stones under the moonlight and watch the huge ships sail past you. You can also see the woods and the city. ”

In the year that was approaching, one of these sisters had reached the age of fifteen; but the rest— one of them was one year younger than the other. So the youngest princess had to wait five years before she could float up from the bottom of the sea to see our world. But each one promised the next that she would tell everyone what she had seen and discovered on the first day, because their grandmother had not said enough—they really didn't know how much they wanted to know!

None of them was as eager as the young sister, who had waited the longest, and who was so silent and thoughtful. I don't know how many nights she stood by the open window, staring up through the dark blue water, watching the fish waving their tails and wings. She also saw the moon and the stars—of course, the light they emitted was a little faint, but through a layer of water, they looked much larger than we all thought. If something like a black cloud floated beneath them, she knew that it was either a whale swimming above her, but a boat carrying many passengers. But the travelers could no longer imagine that there was a beautiful little mermaid beneath them, stretching out her white hands toward the keel of their ship.

Now the eldest princess was fifteen years old and could rise to the surface of the water.

When she returned, she had countless things to say: but the most beautiful thing, she said, was when the sea was calm, lying on a beach in the moonlight, clinging to the shore and gazing at the lights of the great city that shone like countless stars, listening to music, noise, and the sounds of carriages and people, watching the round towers and minarets of churches, listening to the clanging bells. Because she couldn't go there, she craved these things the most.

Ah, how fascinating the youngest sister listened! As she stood by the open window at night, looking up through the deep blue water, she remembered the big city and the hustle and bustle of its sounds. So she seemed to hear the church bells wafting towards her.

The second year the second sister was allowed to surface and swim anywhere. When she jumped out of the water, the sun had just set; she thought the sight was truly beautiful. At this point, she said, the whole sky looked like a lump of gold, and the clouds were like that—well, she couldn't describe their beauty! They swept over her head, red and purple. But what flew faster than them, like a long veil, was a flock of wild swans that swept across the water. They are flying toward the sun, and she swims toward the sun. But the sun set. A rose-colored sunset slowly faded between the sea and the clouds.

After another year, the third sister floated up. She was the boldest of them, so she swam into a great river that flowed into the sea. She saw some beautiful green hills planted with rows and rows of grapes. The palace and the grange were looming out in the lush woods; she heard how beautifully the birds of all kinds sang, how warm the sun shone, and she sometimes had to sink into the water so that her scorching face could be cooled a little. In a small river bend she came across a group of small children; they were naked and swimming around in the water. She wanted to play with them for a while, but they were startled and fled. So a little black animal came over—it was a puppy, a puppy she had never seen before. It screamed at her so fiercely that it frightened her and fled into the sea. But she could never forget the magnificent forest, the green mountains, the cute little babies who could swim in the water—though they didn't have tails like fish.

The fourth sister is not so bold. She stayed above the desolate sea. The most beautiful thing, she says, is to stop at sea: because you can look far, far away from here, and the sky hangs over it like a giant glass clock. She had seen ships, but they were far away from her and looked like a seagull. She had seen happy dolphins churning their muscles, huge whales spewing water from their nostrils as if there were countless fountains surrounding them.

Now it's time for the fifth sister. Her birthday happened to be in winter, so she could see things that the other sisters hadn't seen when they first surfaced. The sea was dyed green, and huge icebergs moved around. She said each iceberg looks like a bead, yet it's much larger than the church towers that humans have built. They appear in all sorts of strange shapes; they shine like diamonds. She had ever sat on one of the largest icebergs, letting the sea breeze blow her slender hair, and all the boats, rounding the place where she was sitting, far away in horror. However, at dusk, a dark cloud suddenly appeared in the sky. Lightning flashed and thunder did not rise. The black waves lifted the entire patch of ice, causing them to shine in the blood-red lightning. All the ships had retracted their sails, creating an atmosphere of panic and horror, but she sat quietly on the floating iceberg, looking at the blue net electricity, bending into the reflective sea.

Any one of these sisters, as long as they ascended to the sea for the first time, was always very happy to see these new and beautiful things. But now, they are big girls, and they can float near the places they like to go, so these things are no longer too interesting to them. They are eager to come home. After a month, they said: It is better to live in the sea - how comfortable it is to live at home!

At dusk, the five sisters often floated up arm in arm and lined up on the water. They can sing beautifully—more beautifully than any human voice. When the storm was coming, and they thought that some ships were about to go wrong, they floated in front of them and sang very beautiful songs about how lovely it was under the seabed, and told the sailors not to be afraid of sinking to the bottom of the sea; yet these people could not understand their lyrics. They thought it was the sound of a mighty wind. They couldn't imagine that they would see anything beautiful at the bottom of the sea, because if the ship sank, the people above them would drown, and they could only reach the official palace of the sea king as dead people.

One night, as the sisters surfaced arm in arm, the youngest sister stayed alone behind and watched them. It looked as if she wanted to cry, but the mermaid had no tears, so she felt even more uncomfortable.

"Ah, how I wish I had been fifteen years old!" She said. "I knew I was going to love the world above and the people who lived in that world."

Finally she really reached the age of fifteen.

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

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

"It makes me feel bad!" The little mermaid said.

"Of course, for the sake of beauty, a person should suffer a little," said the old grandmother.

Heck, she wished she could get rid of these ornaments and throw this heavy garland aside! The red flowers in her garden were much more suitable for her to wear, but she did not dare to do so. "Goodbye!" She said. So she was light and bright like a blister, and it came out of the water.

By the time she stuck her head out of the sea, the sun had set, but all the clouds were still shining like roses and gold; and at the same time, in this pale red sky, the great white star was already blinking beautifully and brightly. The air is mild and fresh. The sea is very calm, and here is a large ship with three masts. Only one sail was hung on the ship, because there was not a trace of wind blowing. Sailors are sitting around the mast and on top of the trusses.

There's music and there's singing. As dusk fades into darkness, all kinds of lanterns light up together. They look like flags of the nations of the world floating in the air. The little mermaid swam all the way to the boat window. Every time the waves lifted her up, she could see through the mirror-like window panes that there stood many richly dressed men; but the most beautiful of them was the prince with a pair of large black eyes: no doubt he was not yet sixteen years old. Today is his birthday, and it is for this reason that it is so lively today.

Sailors danced on deck. When the prince came out, more than a hundred rockets shot into the sky at the same time. The sky was illuminated as if it were daylight, so the little mermaid became very frightened and quickly sank to the bottom of the water. But after a while she stuck her head out—at this moment she felt as if the stars were falling on her, and she had never seen such fireworks before. Many huge suns booed around them, and dazzling big fish leaped into the blue sky. All this is reflected in this clear, calm sea. The whole body of the ship was so brightly illuminated that even every small rope could be seen, and the people on the boat could certainly see it more clearly. Ah, how beautiful this young prince is! When the music faded away in this glorious night, he shook hands with the sailors, laughing, smiling...

It was late at night, but the little mermaid had no way to take her eyes off the ship and the beautiful prince. The colorful lanterns went out, the rockets stopped firing into the air, and the sound of the cannons stopped. But in the depths of the sea there was a humming and rumbling sound. She sat on the water, floating together so she could see what was in the cabin. But the ship sped up: its sails were all opened one after the other. The waves grew louder, heavy clouds floated up, and lightning bolts came in the distance. Ah, the terrible storm is coming! The sailors therefore took down the sails. This huge ship swung forward in this furious sea. The waves rise like a mighty Black Mountain. It wanted to break the mast. But the ship was like a swan, throwing itself into the flood and suddenly raising its head on the tall waves.

The little mermaid thought it was a very interesting voyage, but the sailors did not think so. The ship now made a cracking sound; its thick walls were bent by the incoming waves. The mast was broken like a reed in the middle of the waist. Then the boat began to tilt and the water rushed into the cabin. Only then did the little mermaids realize that they were in danger. She also had to beware of the beams and wreckage of the boats floating on the water.

The sky immediately became pitch black, and she couldn't see anything. But when the lightning bolted out, the sky was so bright that she could see everyone on board. Now everyone is trying to find a way out for themselves. She paid special attention to the prince. When the ship cracked and sank deep into the sea, she saw him. She immediately became very happy, because he was going to fall to her now. But she remembered that a human being could not live in water, and that he could not enter her father's official palace unless he became a dead man.

No, he must not be allowed to die! So she swam among the floating beams and planks, not at all thinking that they might kill her. She sank deep into the water, then floated high in the waves, and finally she reached the prince's side, and in this raging sea he had no strength to float again. His arms and legs began to be overwhelmed. His beautiful eyes were already closed. If the little mermaid hadn't arrived in time, he would have drowned. She lifted his head out of the water and let the waves carry her to drift with him wherever she went.

By dawn, the storm had passed. The boat didn't have even a fragment. 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 forehead and cut his long, wet hair behind his head. She felt that he looked very much like the marble statue she had in the small garden under the sea. She kissed him again, hoping he would wake up.

Now she saw a land unfolding in front of her and a group of azure mountains, and the snow shining on the top of the mountain looked like sleeping swans. Along the coast was a beautiful green forest with a church or a monastery in front of it—she didn't know what it was called, but it was always a building. Its garden has some lemon and orange trees, and tall palms stand in front of the door. The sea forms a small bay here. The water is very calm, but from here all the way to the stone cliff where there is a lot of fine sand, it is very deep. She carried the beautiful prince there. She laid him on the sand and very carefully rested his head high in the warm sunlight.

The bell rang out from the majestic white building, and many young women came out through the garden. The little mermaid swam far into the sea, behind several large rocks that appeared on the surface of the sea. She covered her hair and breasts with a lot of seawater foam so that no one could see her little face. She was here staring to see who would come to the poor prince.

After a while, a young woman came over. She seemed very surprised, but the time was short, so she called many people to come. The little mermaid saw that the prince was gradually waking up and smiling at the people around him. But he didn't smile at her: of course, he had no idea that she was the one who saved him. She felt very sad. So when he was carried into the tall house, she jumped into the sea in sorrow and went back to her father's palace.

She had always been a quiet and thoughtful child, and now she had become even more so. Her sisters asked her what she had seen the first time she had ascended to the surface of the sea, but she couldn't say anything.

Many nights and mornings she surfaced and swam to the place where she had once laid down the prince. She saw that the fruit of the garden was ripe and plucked; she saw that the snow on the top of the high mountain had melted; but she could not see the prince. So every time she came home, she always felt more pain. Her only consolation was to sit in her little garden, holding with both hands a beautiful marble statue similar to that of the prince. But she didn't take care of her flowers anymore. The flowers seemed to grow in the wilderness, spread all over the ground: their long stalks and leaves intersected with the branches, making the place very dark.

In the end she couldn't stand it anymore. But as soon as she told a sister about her heart, the rest of the people would know immediately. But apart from them and one or two other mermaids (who only told this secret to a few of their confidants), no one else knew. One of them knew who the prince was. She had also seen that celebration on the boat. She knew where the prince had come from, where his kingdom was.

"Come on, little sister!" The other princesses said. They put their hands on each other's shoulders and rose in a long line to the surface of the sea, all the way to a place where they thought was the prince's palace.

The palace was built with a glowing pale yellow stone block, and there were many wide marble steps—one of which stretched out into the sea. Ornate, golden round towers jut from the roof into the air. In the middle of the columns that surround the entire building stand many marble statues. They look like living people. Through the bright glass of those tall windows one could see some palatial halls with precious silk curtains and brocades, and the walls were decorated with large drawings—even looking at these things was a very pleasant thing. In the center of the largest hall, there is a huge fountain spraying water. The water filament went all the way to the glass dome above, and the sun shot down through the glass, shining on the water, on the plants that grew in this great pool.

Now she knew where the prince lived. Here on the water she spent several dusks and nights. She swam farther to land, farther than any other sister would dare to go. Indeed, she even swam into that narrow river, down to the magnificent marble balcony—its long shadow reflected in the water. She sat here, looking at the young prince, who thought he was the only one in the moonlight.

For several nights she saw him riding to the sound of music on the magnificent ship with many flags. She peeked up from the green cordyceps. When the wind blew up her long silver-white mask, if anyone saw it, they always thought it was a swan spreading its wings.

On several nights, when the fishermen went out to sea with torches to fish, she heard them say many words of praise to the prince. She rejoiced, feeling that it was she who had come to save his life when the waves had swept him half to death; she remembered how tightly his head lay in her arms, and how passionately she kissed him. But he didn't know anything about these things, and he wouldn't even think of her in his dreams.

Gradually she began to love human beings, and gradually began to hope to live among them. She felt that their world was much bigger than hers. Indeed, they were able to sail on the sea by boat, to climb towering mountains, and at the same time their land, with its forests and fields, stretched out beyond her reach. There was a lot she wanted to know, but her sisters couldn't answer all her questions. So she had to ask her old grandmother. She did know quite well about the "upper world," the apt name she gave to maritime nations.

"If humans hadn't drowned," the little mermaid asked, "would they have lived forever?" Will they die like the people we live in the sea? ”

"Not bad at all," said the old lady, "that they too will die, and that their lives will be even shorter than ours." We can live to be three hundred years old, but when our lives here are over, we become bubbles on the water. We don't even have a grave for our beloved here. We don't have an immortal soul. We never get a life after death. Like the green seaweed, as long as it is cut, it will never be green again! On the contrary, human beings have a soul; it lives forever, and even if the body turns to dust, it is still alive. It rises to the clear sky, all the way up to the shining stars! Just as we ascend to the surface of the water and see the world on earth, they ascend to mysterious, ornate places that we will never see. ”

"Why don'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 life I can live here for hundreds of years.""

"You must not think of it this way," said the old lady. "Compared to the humans above, our life here is much happier and better!"

"Then I'll just die and become a bubble floating on the water." Will I never again hear the music of the waves, the beautiful flowers and the bright red sun? Is there no way I can get an eternal soul? ”

"Nothing!" The old lady said. "Only when a man loves you and treats you as more gracious than his parents: only when he places all his thoughts and love in you; only when he asks the priest to put his right hand in your hand and promises to be faithful to you now and in the future forever, will his soul be transferred to you, and you will receive a share of human happiness." He will give you a soul, and at the same time his own soul will remain immortal. But this kind of thing is never going to happen! What we think is beautiful at the bottom of the sea here — your fish's tail — they think it's very ugly on land: they don't know what beauty is. In their place, a person who wants to look beautiful must have two stupid pillars - they call them legs! ”

The little mermaid sighed and looked sadly at his own fish tail.

"Let's be happy!" The old lady said. "For the three hundred years that we can live, let us dance and dance. This is a considerable period of time, and later we can also rest happily in our graves( 1). Let's have a ball in the palace tonight!" ”

It was a magnificent scene that people would never see on land. The walls and ceilings of this expansive dance hall are made of thick, transparent glass. Hundreds of grasses of green and pink giant shells stood in rows on all sides; they burned blue flames inside, illuminating the entire ballroom, illuminating the walls, and thus illuminating the sea outside. People could see countless schools of large and small fish swimming towards the crystal officer, some with purple light on their scales, and some shining like silver and gold. A wide torrent passed through the center of the ballroom, and men and women in the sea, singing beautiful songs, danced on this rapids, such a beautiful song that people who lived on land could not sing.

Among these people, the little mermaid sang the most beautifully. Everyone applauded her; for a moment she felt very happy in her heart, for she knew that only her voice was the most beautiful on land and in the sea. But she immediately remembered the world above. She could not forget the beautiful prince, nor the sorrow she had caused because she did not have an immortal soul like his. So she sneaked out of her father's palace: while it was full of song and joy, she sat sadly in her little garden. Suddenly she heard a trumpet sound coming from the water. She thought, "He must have been sailing on it: he—I loved him more than my dad and mom; he—I missed him all the time; I put the happiness of my life in his hands." I will sacrifice everything for him and an immortal soul. While my sisters were now dancing in my father's palace, I was going to visit the witch of the sea. I've always been very afraid of her, but maybe she can teach me some ways and help me. ”

The little mermaid then walked out of the garden and toward a swirling whirlpool of foam—behind which the witch lived. She had never walked this path before. There were no flowers, no seagrasses, only a slippery gray sand floor that stretched out toward the whirlpool. The water swirled here like a noisy water wheel, turning the things it touched to the bottom of the water. To reach the area where the witch lived, she had to walk through this rapid whirlpool. It was a long way to go through a steaming mud field: the witch called this place her peat coal field. Behind this there was a terrible forest, and her house was right inside, and all the trees and shrubs were full of polyps—a thing half plant and half animal. They look a lot like multi-headed snakes that emerge from the ground. Their branches were full of long, sticky arms, and their fingers were as soft as worms. They are vibrating from root to top, section by section. They clung to what they could grasp in the sea, not relaxing at all.

The little mermaid stopped in front of this forest, very panicked. Her heart was pounding with fear, and she almost wanted to turn back. But when she thought of the prince and the soul of the man, she had courage again. She wrapped her long fluttering hair firmly around her head so that the polyps could not catch her. She pressed her hands tightly to her chest, and like a fish jumping in the water, she jumped forward among these ugly polyps, which waved only their long soft arms and fingers behind her. She saw that each of them had grasped something, and countless small arms were wrapped around it, like sturdy iron rings. Those who drowned in the sea and sank to the bottom of the sea revealed white skeletons in the arms of these polyps. They clung tightly to the rudder and the box, to the skeletons of the animals on the landing, and to a little mermaid that they had caught and strangled to death—the most terrible thing for her.

Now she had come to a slimy clearing in the forest. Here the big, fat water snakes were churning, revealing their pale yellow, strangely ugly bellies. In the middle of this land there is a house made of the white bones of dead people. The witch of the sea is sitting here, feeding a toad with her mouth, just as we feed a little canary with sugar. She called the ugly, fat water snakes her chicks and let them crawl around her fat, fluffy chest.

"I know you're here to ask for something," said the sea witch. "You're a fool! Still, my beautiful princess, I will still let you achieve your goals, because this matter will give you a tragic ending. You want to remove your fishtail and give birth to two pillars so that you can walk like a human. You want the prince to fall in love with you, so that you can get him and thus an immortal soul. "Then the witch laughed in disgust, and the toad and the water snake rolled to the ground and crawled around." "You have come at the right time," said the witch. "Tomorrow when the sun comes out, I won't be able to help you, I'll have to wait a year." I can fry a pill for you to drink. You take this medicine with you, and before the sun comes out, swim quickly to land. You sit on the beach and eat the medicine, so your tail can be split in half and shrunk into what humans call beautiful legs. But it hurts —it's like a sharp knife cutting into your body. Whoever sees you will surely say that you are the most beautiful child they have ever seen! You will still keep your swimming steps, and no dancer will dance as softly as you. But your every step will make you feel as if you are walking on a sharp knife, as if your blood is flowing outward. If you can endure these pains, I can help you. ”

"I can bear it," said the little mermaid in a trembling voice. Then she remembered the prince and her desire to obtain an immortal soul.

"But remember," said the witch, "once you have acquired the form of a man, you can no longer become a mermaid, and you can no longer go into the water and return to the official palace of your sister or your father." At the same time, if you don't get the love of the prince, if you can't make him forget his parents for you, love you with all your heart, and call the priest to put your hands together and marry, you won't get an immortal soul. On the morning of his first marriage, your heart will break and you will become a bubble on the water. ”

"I'm not afraid!" The little mermaid said. But her face was as pale as death.

"But you still have to pay me!" The witch said, "And what I want is not a tiny thing." Among the people at the bottom of the sea, your voice is the most beautiful. No doubt you want to charm him with this voice, but you have to give it to me. I have to get your best, as an exchange for my precious medicine! I had to put my own blood into this medicine so that it would be sharp like a knife with two faces! ”

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

"You still have a beautiful figure," replied the witch, "and you still have light steps and expressive eyes." With these things, it's easy to captivate a man's heart. Well, have you lost your courage? Stick out your little tongue, I can cut it off in return, and you can get this powerful potion. ”

"Just do it." The little mermaid said. So the witch prepared the medicine jar and fried the magic medicine.

"Cleanliness is a good thing," she said; so she tied a knot with several snakes and used it to wash the jar. Then she scratched her chest and let her black blood drip into the jar. The vapor of the medicine rose strangely into the air, looking strange and frightening. Every once in a while the witch would add something new to the medicine jar. When the medicine was boiled to the point of rolling, there was a crocodile-like cry floating out. In the end, the medicine was fried. It looks like very clear water.

"Take it!" The witch said. So she cut off the little mermaid's tongue. The little mermaid is now a mute, unable to sing or speak.

"When you go back through my forest, if the polyps catch you," said the witch, "you only have to sprinkle this potion on them, and their arms and fingers will split into pieces and scatter in all directions." But the little mermaid did not have to do so, for when the polyps saw the sparkling potion, which shone like a shining star in her hand, they retracted in fear in front of her. In this way, she quickly walked through forests, swamps, and swirling whirlpools.

She could see her father's official palace. The torches in the wide dance hall had been extinguished, and there was no doubt that the people inside had fallen asleep. But she didn't dare to look at them again, because she was now a mute and was leaving them forever. Her heart was so painful that it seemed to be about to break into pieces. She sneaked into the garden, plucked a flower from each of her sisters' flower beds, and flew a thousand kisses with her fingers at the imperial officer, and then he floated out of the deep blue sea.

When she saw the prince's palace, the sun had not yet risen. She solemnly walked up the marble steps. The moon shines transparently and is very beautiful. The little mermaid drank the potion. She immediately felt as if a knife on both sides had split her slender body. She immediately fainted. Fall down as if dead. When the sun shone on the sea, she woke up, and she felt a sharp pain. Then a young and beautiful prince was standing in front of her. His dark eyes were looking at her, causing her to bow her head in embarrassment. At this time, she found that her fish tail was gone, and she had obtained a pair of the most beautiful little white legs that only a girl could have. But she wasn't wearing any clothes, so she covered her body with her long, thick hair. The prince asked who she was and how she had come here. She looked at him tenderly and sadly with her dark blue eyes, for she could not speak now. He took her by the hand and led her into the palace. As the witch had told her before, she felt as if she were walking on an awl and a sharp knife. But she was willing to endure this pain. She took the prince's arm and walked as light as a blister. He and all the people looked at her gentle and light steps and were amazed.

Now she wore expensive clothes made of silk and fine yarn. She was one of the most beautiful people in the palace, yet she was a mute and could neither sing. Nor can it speak. The beautiful female slave, dressed in silk and wearing gold and silver ornaments, came forward and sang for the prince and his parents. There was one slave who sang the most charmingly, and the prince could not help but applaud and smile at her. At this time, the little mermaid felt a pang of sadness. She knew that there was a time when her singing voice was much more beautiful than that one! She thought:

"Ah! I only wish he knew that I would sacrifice my voice forever in order to be with him! ”

Now the slaves danced gracefully and lightly to the beautiful music. Then the little mermaid raised her beautiful, white hands and stood on tiptoe, dancing lightly on the floor—no one had ever danced like this before. Her every movement sets off her beauty. Her eyes touched people's hearts more than the slaves' songs.

Everyone was fascinated, especially Wang Yu, who called her his "orphan." She kept dancing, though every time her feet touched the ground, it was as if she were walking on a fast knife. The prince said that she should be with him forever after that; so she was given permission to sleep on a velvet mat outside his door.

He asked someone to make her a set of clothes for men so that she could accompany him on horseback. They walked through the fragrant woods, green branches sweeping over their shoulders, birds singing behind fresh leaves. She and the prince climbed the mountain. Although her slender feet were bleeding and everyone could see them, she just laughed and continued to accompany him until they saw the clouds moving below like a flock of birds flying toward a distant country.

In the prince's palace, after everyone had slept at night, she went up the wide steps. In order to make her feverish feet feel a little cool, she stood in the cold waters. At this moment she could not help but think of the people who lived under the sea.

One night, her sisters came over arm in arm. They swam in the water and sang poignant songs. Then she waved to them. They recognized her; they said how much she had upset them. After this time, they came to see her every night. One night, she saw in the distance an old grandmother who had not surfaced for many years and a sea king wearing a crown. They held out their hands to her, but they were not like her sisters, who did not dare to swim close to the ground.

The prince loved her more than ever. He loved her as much as he loved a good and affectionate child, but he never had the idea of marrying her as empress. Yet she must be his wife, or she will not be able to attain an immortal soul and will turn into a bubble at sea on the morning of his first marriage.

"Of all the people, do you love me the most?" When he took her into his arms and kissed her forehead, the little mermaid's eyes seemed to say so.

"Yes, you are my dearest!" The prince said, "For you have the kindest heart among all men." You are dearest to me, you are very much like a young woman I have seen once, but I will never see her again. I was sitting on a boat—the ship had sunk. The great waves pushed me to the shore next to a temple. There were several young women praying. The youngest of them found me on the shore and saved my life. I've only seen her twice: she's the only person I can love in this world, but you're so much like her that you've almost replaced the impression she's left in my soul. She belongs to this temple, so I am lucky to give you to me in particular. Let's never separate! ”

"Ah, he didn't know I had saved his life!" The little mermaid thought. "I lifted him out of the sea and sent him to a grove where the temple was located. I sat behind the foam and peeked to see if anyone was coming. I saw the beautiful girl—he loved her more than he loved me. "Then the little mermaid sighed deeply—she couldn't cry." The girl belonged to that temple—he had said. She would never come into this earthly world—they would never meet again. I was with him and saw him every day. I want to look after him, love him, and give my life to him!" ”

Now it is said that the prince is about to get married, and her wife is a daughter of the king of a neighboring country. He had specially equipped a beautiful ship for this. The prince ostensibly said that he was going to visit the neighboring kingdoms, but in fact he was going to see the daughter of the monarch of the neighboring country. He will go with a large number of entourage. The little mermaid shook his head and smiled. She could guess the prince's mind better than anyone.

"I've got to travel!" He said to her, "I have to see a beautiful princess, it's my parents' orders, but they can't force me to bring her home as a fiancée!" I won't love her. You are very much like the beautiful girl in the temple, and she is not. If I were to choose the bride, I would have to choose you before I could—my dear mute orphan girl with talking eyes. ”

So he kissed her bright red lips, stroked her long hair, and pressed his head to her heart, causing her heart to dream of human happiness and an immortal soul.

"Aren't you afraid of the sea, my dumb orphan?" he asked. Now they were standing on the magnificent ship, which was heading for the neighboring kingdom. He and she talked about storms and the calm sea, the strange fish that lived in the sea, and what the divers could see at the bottom of the sea. She only smiled slightly at this kind of story, because she knew more about the bottom of the sea than anyone else.

In the moonlit night, everyone slept, and only the helmsman stood at the helm. Then she sat on the edge of the boat, gazing at the clear water below, and she seemed to see her father's palace. Her old grandmother, wearing a silver crown on her head, was standing high on the roof of the palace; she looked through the rapids toward the keel of the ship. After a while, his sisters were floating on the water, and they looked at her sadly, twisting their white hands in pain. She waved at them, smiled, and at the same time wanted to tell them that everything was beautiful and happy for her now. But then one of the ship's attendants suddenly came to her side. Her sisters immediately sank into the water, and the waiter thought that the white things he saw were just foam from the sea.

The next morning, the ship sailed into the harbor of the magnificent imperial city of neighboring countries. All the church bells rang, trumpet flutes blew from many tall buildings, and soldiers saluted with fluttering flags and dangling bayonets. There is a banquet every day. Balls and parties were taking turns, but the princess had not yet appeared. It is said that she was educated in a distant temple, learning all the virtues of the royal family. Finally she arrived.

The little mermaid was desperate to see her beauty. She had to admit her beauty, she had never seen a more beautiful form. Her skin was so delicate and white; behind her long black eyelashes were a pair of smiling, loyal, dark blue eyes.

"It's you!" The prince said, "When I lie on the shore like a dead body, it is you who save me!" So he held the shy bride in his arms. Ah, I'm so happy! He said to the little mermaid, "The best thing I never dared to hope for is now finally a fact." You will rejoice in my happiness, because you are the one who likes me the most of all! ”

The little mermaid kissed his hand. She felt her heart shatter. The first morning after his wedding would bring her ruin, and it would turn her into a bubble on the sea.

Church bells rang, and the good news of the engagement announced on horseback in the street. On each altar, fragrant oil burns in a precious oil lamp. Priests waved incense burners, and the bride and groom held hands with each other to receive the bishop's blessing. The little mermaid was now dressed in silk, gold ornaments, and the bride's veil, but her ears could not hear the joyful music, and her eyes could not see the sacred ritual. She remembered the morning when she was going to perish, and everything she had lost in this world.

On the same night, the bride and groom came to the boat. The salute sounded and the flag flew. A royal tent of gold and purple was erected in the center of the ship, and it was furnished with the most beautiful cushions. Here, the beautiful newlyweds will spend their cool and silent evenings.

The wind was blowing the sails. The ship sailed gently on this clear sea, without great fluctuations.

As twilight began to fall, the colored lights came on, and the sailors danced happily on the deck. The little mermaid could not help but think of the first time she had floated to the surface of the sea, of the same gorgeous and joyful scene she had seen. She then swirled and flew, like a chased swallow. Everyone was cheering and praising her, she had never danced so beautifully. The fast knife seemed to be slashing at her delicate feet, but she didn't feel the pain, because her heart hurt more than that.

She knew it was the last night she'd seen him—for him, she had left her people and family, she had handed over her beautiful voice, she had endured endless pain every day, yet he knew nothing about it. 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. At the same time an eternal night without thoughts and dreams awaited her—a woman without a soul and without a soul. Until after midnight, everything on board was joyful and pleasant. She laughed and danced, but she had a dead thought in her heart. The prince kisses his beautiful bride: the bride strokes his shiny hair. They went hand in hand to rest in the magnificent tent.

The boat is quiet now. Only the helmsman stood at the helmsman. The little mermaid leaned her white arms against the bulwark and stared eastward, waiting for the morning sun to appear—she knew that the first rays of the sun would bring her to ruin, and she saw her sisters emerge from the waves. They were as pale as she was herself. Their beautiful long hair was no longer fluttering in the wind—because it had been cut off.

"We have given our hair to the witch, and we hope that she will help you so that you will not perish in the future." She gave us a knife. Take it, you see, how fast it is! Before the sun comes out, you have to insert it into the heart of the prince. When his blood flows to your feet, your feet will be joined together again to become a fish's tail, and then you can return to the original form of a mermaid, and you can return to our water; so that you can still live three hundred years before you become an inanimate brackish water bubble. Get started! Before the sun comes out, either he dies or you die! Our old grandmother mourned so much that even her white hair fell out, just as our hair fell under the witch's scissors. Stab the prince to death, come back quickly! Let's get started! Don't you see the red light in the sky, and in a few minutes the sun will come out, and then you will perish! ”

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

The little mermaid lifted the purple curtain on the tent and saw the beautiful bride asleep with her head resting in the prince's arms. She bent down and kissed prince Qingxiu's eyebrows, and he stared into the sky—and the morning glow gradually became brighter. She glanced at the sharp knife, and then dropped her eyes again at the prince; he was murmuring in a dream the name of his bride. She was the only one in his mind. The knife trembled in the little mermaid's hand. But just then, she threw the knife far into the waves. Where Wanzi sank, the waves emitted a red light, as if many drops of blood had splashed out of the water. Once again she cast her bewildered gaze at the prince, and then she jumped from the boat into the sea, and she felt her body melt into foam.

Now the sun rises from the sea. The sun shines softly and warmly on the cold foam. Because the little mermaid did not feel destroyed. She saw the bright sun, and at the same time countless transparent, beautiful creatures flew above her. Through them, she could see the white sails of the ship and the colorful clouds of the sky. Their sounds are harmonious music. But it was so ethereal that the human ear could hardly hear them, just as the eyes on the earth could not see them. They have no wings, but float in the air in their lightly floating form. The little mermaids felt that they had also acquired their form, and gradually rose from the bubble.

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

"Go to the daughter of the sky!" Other voices replied. "Mermaids have no immortal soul, and never will have such a soul unless she acquires the love of a mortal. Her eternal existence depends on external forces. Nor do the daughters of the sky have eternal souls, but they can create a soul through acts of kindness. We fly into the hot country, where the air of disease is hurting the people, we can blow a cool wind, we can spread the fragrance of flowers in the air, we can spread a healthy and happy spirit. Three hundred years from now, when we have done all the good deeds that we might do, we will be able to attain an immortal soul and share in all the eternal happiness of mankind. You, poor individual fish, like us, once fought wholeheartedly for that goal. You have endured pain; you have persevered; you have ascended into the world of the elves. Through your good work, in three hundred years you will be able to create an immortal soul for yourself. ”

The little mermaid raised her shining arm to the sun of God, and for the first time she felt that tears were about to flow.

On that boat, the vocals and the activity began 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 darkness she kissed the bride's forehead, and she smiled at the prince. So she joined the other children in the air, rode on the rose-colored clouds, and rose into the sky.

"In this way, in three hundred years, we can ascend to heaven!"

"We may not have to wait that long!" A voice whispered. "We flew into the human house, where some children lived. Every day if we find a good child, if he brings joy to his parents and deserves his parents' love for him, God can shorten the time of our test. When we fly over the house, the child will not know. When we smile happily at Him, we can subtract one year from these three hundred years; but when we see a naughty and bad child and have to cry out in sorrow, then every tear adds one more day to our testing days. ”