The King of the Seas had been a widower for many years, and his old mother had been at home for him. She was a very sensible woman, and very proud of her high birth-rate; on that account she wore twelve oysters on her tail; whereas other nations, also of high rank, were only allowed to wear six. But she deserves great praise especially for her care of the little Sea Princess, her eldest daughter. They were six beautiful children, but the youngest was the most beautiful of all; her skin was clear and subtle with rose leaves, and her eyes the deepest of the blue sea; but, like all the others, she had no feet and her body ended in a fish's tail. All day long they were in the hall of the huge castle, or living flower, that grew out of the wall. The large amber-colored windows were opened, and the fish were swimming like swallows flying into our house when we opened the windows, just to say that the fish swam up to the princess, ate out of their hands, and allowed themselves to be caressed. Outside the castle there was a beautiful garden, which grew bright red and dark blue with flowers and cherry blossoms like flames of fire; the fruits glittered like gold, and the leaves and stems waved back and forth continually. The earth itself is the best sand, but the blue flame burns with sulfur. In everything was laid a distinctive blue glow, as if the air around it shone from above, through the blue sky, instead of the dark abyss of the sea. In calm weather, the sun could be seen, looking like a purple flower, with a light flow of calyxes. Every young princess had nothing to intrigue with on the ground in the garden, where she might dig and plant as much as she pleased. She arranged a flower-bed in the form of a whale; and again felt well enough to make her think of the figure of the Little Mermaid; but the youngest was like a wheel of sun, and contained red flowers as he shone in the setting sun. She was a strange child, quiet and thoughtful; and her sisters would have been very happy with the wonderful things they got from the shipwrecked vessel, for which she cared nothing, but her very red flower, like the sun, was just a beautiful marble statue. It was representing a handsome boy, carved out of pure white stone, which had fallen to the bottom of the shipwreck. She planted a statue of a rose-red weeping willow. It grew excellently and soon hung new branches of the statue, almost to the blue sand. The shadows took on a purple hue, and waved back and forth just like branches; as if the roots of the crown tree were at work, and trying to kiss each other. What gave her so much pleasure was to hear the elevation of the world. She made her old grandmother tell her that she knew all the ships and towns, the people and the animals. She seemed most wonderfully and beautifully to hear that the flowers of the land should have a fragrance, and not be below the level of the sea; that the trees of the forest should be green; and that the fish among the trees would sing so sweetly that it was a great delight to hear their voices. What her grandmother called small birds, fish, or she would not have understood her, because she had never seen birds.
"When you have reached your fifteenth year and say, "Great Mother", you will have permission to rise to the sea, to sit on the rocks by moonlight, while great ships sail by; then you will meet the forests and the towns. "
The next year, one of the sisters will be fifteen: but each one is younger each year than the other, and the youngest will have to wait five years before she comes to rise again from the bottom of the ocean to see the Earth as we do. But each one promised to tell someone what she saw on her first visit, and what she thought was the most beautiful; for their grandmother could not tell them enough; there was so much stuff out there that they wanted information. But they longed so much for her to come again as the youngest, for her who had waited the longest, who was so quiet and thoughtful. Many nights she stood at the open window, wishing to look through the deep blue water at the fish as they fell into their fins and tails. She could see the moon and the stars shining vaguely; rather through the water they look bigger than their eyes on us. When a bit of dark clouds passed between her and them, she knew that it was not a whale swimming over her head, or a ship full of people, who did not expect that a pretty little mermaid was standing underneath them, holding her white hands on the keel of the ship.
As soon as the firstborn was 15, she was allowed to rise to the surface of the ocean. When she came back, she talked of hundreds of things, but the most beautiful, she said, lied to be being in the moonlight, on a sandbar, in the quiet of the sea, near the coast, and gazing at a large town near the lights twinkling of hundreds of similar stars; listening to the sound of music, and the noise of carriages, and the sound of people, and then hearing a peal of delightful bells from the church of Stipples; and, as near as she could be without to all these beautiful things, she longed for them. things, she was tempted to treat them more than ever. Oh, had not the youngest sister listened eagerly to all these notes? Later, as she stood at the open window looking up through the deep blue water, she remembered the great city, with all its hustle and bustle and noise, and even felt that she could hear the sound of church bells in the depths of the sea.
In another year the second sister received permission to rise to the surface of the water, in connection with swimming, and she was delighted. She had only risen when the sun was set, and this, she said, was the most beautiful of all to behold. The whole sky was like gold, while purple and rose-colored clouds, as she could not describe, floated about her; and, more rapidly exceeding the clouds, flew into a large flock of wild swans toward the setting sun, looking like a long white veil across the sea. She also swam towards the sun, but it plunged into the waves, as well as the wonderful colors gradually from the clouds and the sea.
The third sister again followed, and daring all of them, she swam up the vast river, emptying herself into the sea. On the banks saw green hills covered with beautiful vineyards; palaces and castles peeped out of pride due to the forests of trees; she heard birds singing, and the rays of the sun were so powerful that she had to dive often under the falling water to cool the water burning her face. In the narrow stream she found a whole troop of small human children, quite clothed, and sporting about the water; she wanted to play, but they fled into a great fright, and then a black animal came to the water; it was a dog, but she did not know that she had never seen one before. This animal growled at her so terribly that she was frightened, and immediately returned to the sea. But she said that she should never forget the beautiful forests, the green mountains, and the pretty children who could swim in the water, though they had not the tails of fish.
The fourth sister was more timid; she was still at sea, but she said it was very beautiful to be near the land there. She could see so many miles around her that the sky overhead looked like the glass of a bell. She saw ships, but at such a great distance they were like sea gulls. Dolphins showed in the waves, and big whales sprayed water from their nostrils to what seemed like fountains a hundred hit in every direction.
The fifth sister's birthday took place in winter, so when it was her turn, she saw the first rise of others who had not seen them. The sea looked green, and great icebergs were floating, each like a pearl, she said, but larger and more sublime than the men the Church had built. They were of the strangest shapes, and glittered like diamonds. She sat herself down on one of the largest, letting the wind play with her long hair, and she said that all ships sailed swiftly, and guided as far as they could from the tip of the icebergs, as if they were afraid. In the evening, as the sun descended, dark clouds covered the sky, thunder rolled out and lightning flashed, and the icebergs glowed red as they shook and threw out the frozen bloated sea. To all the sails the ship was reefed with fear and trembling, while she sat calmly on the tip of the floating iceberg, watching the blue lightning as it shot out in forked flashes thrown into the sea.
When the sisters were first allowed to rise to the surface, they were separately delighted with the new and beautiful sights to see, but now that the girls are grown up and they can go when they please, they have become indifferent. They wished they were back in the water, and after a month had passed, they said it was more beautiful downstairs, and comfortable at home. Often at night, however, the five sisters would wind their arms around each other and rise to the surface, in line. Their voices were more beautiful than any could be, and they used to practice storms, and when they expected that the ship would be lost they swam before the vessel, and sang of the sweet joys that could be found in the depths of the sea, and begged the sailors not to be afraid if they sank under the water. But the crew could not understand the song, and they took it to the howling storm. And these things were never to be beautiful for them; and if the ship sank, the men were drowned, and their corpses reached the palace of the king of the sea.
When the sisters rose, arm in arm, through the water in such a way that their youngest sister would be quite, merely looking at them, ready to cry, only to say that the mermaids had no tears, and therefore they suffered more. "Oh, it is I, but fifteen years old," she said, "I know that I will love the world there, all the people who live here. "
She finally reached her fifteenth year. "Well, now that you're grown up," says the old dame, her grandmother, "so you must let me embellish you like your other sisters", and she lays a wreath of white lilies in her hair, with a pearl halfway up each flower leaf. Then the old lady showed her high level of seniority by ordering eight large oysters to attach to her own tail, Princess.
"But they hurt me to say so," said the Little Mermaid.
"Pride must suffer," replied the old lady. Ah, she would be glad to be rid of all this opulence and reserved heavy wreaths! Red flowers in her own garden would suit her far better, but she could not help herself: so she said, "Bully," and rose into the lightly foaming waters. The sun was just setting, and she looked up above the waves; but the clouds were tinted with crimson and gold, and smiled through the shimmering haze of all the beauty of the starry evening paper. The sea was calm, and the mild air fresh. The large ships, with three masts, lay becalmed on the water, with only one sail set; not a thing lightly stiffed, and idle sailors on deck or maneuvering one. There was music and song on board; and, coming into the darkness, a lantern of 100 colors was illuminated as if the flags of all the nations were waving in the air. The mermaid swam close to the cabin window; and now and then, as the waves lifted her, she could look in through the clear glass window, the glass, and viewed a number of well-dressed men. Among them was a young prince, the fairest of all, with large black eyes, who was sixteen years of age, and whose birthday was kept with great delight. The crew was dancing on the deck, but when the prince stepped out of the cabin, more than 100 rockets rose in the air, making the day bright. The Little Mermaid was so amazed that she dived down into the water; and when she stretched out her head again, it looked as if all the stars of heaven were falling about her, and she had never seen such fireworks before. The great sun spouted fire, brilliant fireflies flew into the blue sky, and everything was reflected in the clear, calm sea below. The ship itself was so brightly illuminated that all the men, even the smallest rope, could be distinctly and clearly seen. And how the handsome young prince looked on as he pressed his hands to all the current and smiled at them, while the music resounded clearly through the night sky.
It was very late, but the Little Mermaid could not take her eyes off the ship, or off the beautiful prince. The colored lights had been extinguished, no more rockets rose in the air, the cannons ceased firing, but the sea became restless, and moaning and complaining voices could be heard on the waves below: still the Little Mermaid remained by the cabin window, rocking her chair up and down in the water, which made her look forward to the inches after a while, the sails unfurled quickly, and the sublime ship continued her passage; but very soon the waves rose higher, and the heavy dark cloud darkened the sky, and lightning seemed at a distance. A terrible storm was approaching; again the sails were reefed, and the great ship pursued her course of flight over the raging sea. The waves grew as high as if they would have crossed the mast, but the ship dived like a swan between them, and then rose again the sublime, foaming crests. To the Little Mermaid this seemed a pleasant sport; not so to the sailors. At the length of the ship and creaking and groaning; the thick planking gave way to lashings under the sea as it broke the deck of the mainmast ended in pieces like reeds; the ship laid up at her side; and the water sent inches towards The Little Mermaid now thought that the crew was in danger, even as she had to be careful to avoid the wreckage of beams and planks scattered and laid in the water. At a certain moment it was so dark that she could not see a single object, but rather a flash of lightning revealed the whole scene, and she could see every one who had been on board except the prince; and when the ship broke up, and she had seen him plunged into the deep waves, she was glad, for she felt that she could now be with her, and then she remembered that a man could not live under water, and that so when he got to her father's palace, he would be very dead. But he must not die. So she swam against the various beams and planks which strewed the sea, forgetting that they could crush her to pieces. Then she dived down into the deep dark waters of the undulating waves, until she finally barely reached the young prince, who was rapidly losing power by swimming in these turbulent waves. His limbs failed him, his beautiful eyes were closed, and he would die without the Little Mermaid to his aid. She held his head above the water and let them drift where they would.
The storm had ceased in the morning, but not a fragment of the ship could be seen. The sun rose up red and glowing in the water, and its beams brought back the tints to the Prince's cheeks, but his eyes remained closed. The mermaid kissed his high, smooth forehead, stroked afresh and his wet hair; he seemed to her like a marble statue in her little garden, and she kissed him again, hoping that he might live. Presently they saw the land; she saw sublime blue mountains, while the snow rested as if a flock of swans lay upon them. The coast was surrounded by beautiful green forests, and stood close by a large building, both church and monastery, which she could not judge. Orange and grapefruit trees grow in the gardens, and then again stand at the doorway sublime palm trees. The sea here was set up in a little cove, where the water was still quite, but very deep; and letting her swim with the handsome prince to the beach, which was covered with fine, white sand, there she laid him in the warm sunshine, while taking care to raise his head above his body. Then the bells rang on the large white building, and some young girls came into the garden. The mermaid swam out away from the shore, placed herself on some high rocks, rose out of the water, and then she covered her head and neck with a sea of foam, so that her little face might not be seen, and watched to see what would become the poor prince. She did not wait long before she saw a young girl approaching the place where he was. She seemed afraid at first, but only for a moment, and then she reported to some people, as well as to the mermaids, to see the prince coming to life, and smiled at those races who stood by him. But, for her sake, he did not give out a smile, and he did not know that she had rescued him. This displeased her greatly, and when he was taken away to the great building, she sadly swooped down into the water and returned to her father's castle. She had been silent and thoughtful, and now she was more so than ever. Her sisters asked her what she had seen on her first visit to the water; but she would tell them nothing. Many a night and this morning she rose to the place where she left the Prince. She thought that the fruits were ripening in the gardens until they were gathered together, and that the snow had disappeared from the tops of the mountains; but she had never seen the Prince, and so she returned home, always the sadder for it. It was her only consolation to sit in her own little garden, and fling her arms round the beautiful marble statue that was the same as the prince's; but she gave up caring for her flowers, and they grew up in the wild confusion of the paths of the trees, whose long-entangled leaves and stems wheeled round the branches, making the whole place obscure. At last she could not help it any longer, and told her sisters all about it. Then, having listened to the secrets of others, and soon became known as the prince of the two mermaids, whose happenings were known to close friends. She also saw the movie festival on the boat, and she told them where the prince came from, and where his palace was as it was.
"Come on," said the little sister, "the other princesses, and then they got together their arms and added a long succession of water, close to the place where they knew the prince's palace as it was. It was built of bright yellow gleaming stone, with long flights of marble steps, one of which reached quite down to the sea. Splendid gilded cupolas rose between the roofs, as well as marble statues in pillars encircling the whole building for the living classes. Through the sublime windows of clear crystals may be seen the sublime rooms, furnished with costly silk curtains and tapestries of drapery; while the walls covered with beautiful paintings are an honor to behold. The largest saloon fountain in the center sparkles and throws its fighters high into the cells of the glass dome