### The little Mermaid

####

Far, far from land, where the waters are as blue as the petals of the cornflower and as clear as glass, there, where no anchor can reach the bottom, live the Sea people. So deep is this part of the sea that you would have to pile many church towers on top of each other before one of them emerged above the surface.
Now you must not think that at the bottom of the sea there is only white sand. No, here grow the strangest plants and trees; their stems and leaves are so subtle that the slightest current in the water makes them move, as if they were alive. Big and small fishes flit in and out among their branches, just as the birds do up on earth.
At the very deepest place, the Sea king has built his castle. Its walls are made of coral and its long pointed windows of amber. The roof is oyster shells that are always opening and closing. It looks very beautiful, for in each shell lies a pearl, so lustrous that it would be fit for a queen's diadem.

The Sea Queen passed away a long time ago and the King’s mother looked after his beautiful daughters.They were six beautiful children but the youngest was the prettiest and purest of them all.
The princessess had their own garden decorated with objects they found from ship wrecks. The youngest princess' garden was different from her sisters': it had a marble statue of a boy. The youngest princess claimed to see the land above the sea and her grandmother promised that when she was 15 she will be allowed to go to the surface and watch the land above.
Each year one of the sisters would turn 15 and rise to the surface of the ocean. As the years past, each sister had different stories to tell. The eldest loved the moonlight and gazing at the twinkling lights of the town. The second sister saw the sun set and the third sister found a troop of human children playing around in the water. The fourth sister watched the ships from afar and fifth sister saw them sail through lightening.

The youngest sister listened in awe to each story and the day came when she finally turned 15. She rose lightly as a bubble to the surface of the water and saw a large ship sailing along the calm sea. The little mermaid swam closer and through the window panes there was a handsome young prince who was rejoicing his birthday. The little mermaid could not take her eyes off the beautiful prince. Suddenly heavy clouds darkened the sky and a dreadful storm sent the great ship flying amongst the sea in rage. The ship broke and the prince sank into the waves. The little mermaid knew he could not live in water so she dove into the water and saved him.
In the morning the little mermaid found a bay and swam the prince there. She then swam farther from the shore and watched to see what would happen. A young girl who happened to be walking by found the prince and he soon woke up and smiled at the young girl. The prince however, did not see the little mermaid.

When the little mermaid went back to her sea kingdom she could not forget about the prince. She found out from a friend where the prince’s palace was and from then onwards she would often swim near the shore of his palace and watch the young prince.
The little mermaid grew more and more fond of the world above and she asked her grandmother if humans die like mermaids. Her grandmother told her that humans die much earlier than mermaids but they had an immortal soul which lives forever whereas mermaids just turn into foam and become nothing. The little mermaid felt sad that mermaids could not have an immortal soul and she wished so hard that she could have one.
Unable to stand her desire any longer, the little mermaid visited the sea witch. The sea witch promised to give her a pair of legs so that se can live with the humans. the sea witch said that every time the little mermaid walked with her new pair of legs, it will feel like knives piercing through her body.

The sea witch also warned that in order for the little mermaid to obtain an immortal soul, she must gain the love of the prince. If the prince does not fall in love with her then she will turn into foam on the day of his wedding to another. In return for the sea witch’s magic, the sea witch took the little mermaids voice.
The little mermaid swam to shore and drank the magic potion. She felt a sharp pain and fainted. When she woke up she saw that she had a pair of pretty legs and just before her was the prince. The prince asked her where she was from but she could not reply. The prince thought she was very beautiful and took her into his palace where she was dressed in a page dress. The prince said that the little mermaid should remain with him always and she was allowed to sleep outside his door on a velvet cushion. The little mermaid followed the prince almost everywhere, she rode with him on horseback and accompanied him into the sweet scented woods.

One day the Prince was to marry a young princess of a neighbouring kingdom. The prince told the little mermaid that they must travel by sea to visit this princess.He said that he would never love the princess. He explained that the only girl he could possibly love would be the girl he saw when he woke up after the ship accident. He believed it was that girl who saved him. This made the little mermaid sad because the prince did not know that the his true saviour was her.
The next morning they arrived at the new kingdom. The princess appeared and the little mermaid saw that she was very beautiful. The prince cried: “It was you, the one saved my life when I lay dead on the beach!” and he folded his blushing bride in his arms.
The church bells rang, and the festive music played as the bride and bridegroom went onboard the ship. The little mermaid knew this would be the last night she will spend as a human before she turned into nothing but foam on the sea.

She will never gain an immortal soul. During the celebrations after the wedding the little mermaid danced very gracefully. She smiled and laughed with the others for she knew this was the last night she would spend in the human world.
At midnight, she wandered to the edge of the vessel and saw her sisters waving her at mournfully. They had cut off their hair and given it to the sea with in exchange for the little mermaid to have a chance to live. They gave the little mermaid a knife and said that if she plunged the knife into the prince’s heart before sunrise then she can turn back into a mermaid and live the rest of her life bountifully.
The little mermaid took the knife and she wandered into the prince’s tent. She could not bear to kill the prince so instead she tossed the knife away and as she saw the first rays of sunrise, she threw herself into the ocean. Instead of feeling her body turn into foam, she felt herself rising higher and higher into the sky.

She heard ethereal voices around her. “We are the daughters among the air although we do not possess an immortal soul we fly to countries and spread health and happiness, once we have done as much good as we can for three hundred years we receive an immortal soul, you have been so kind and tried with your whole heart by your good deeds and will now join us in our journey”
The little mermaid was happy beyond tears and she lifted her glorified eyes towards the sun. She saw the prince and his beautiful bride look sorrowfully at the sea, as if they knew she had thrown herself into the waves.
The little mermaid mounted with the other children of the air and floated to a rosy cloud, beginning her journey towards an immortal soul.