The Mermaid's Message

The mermaid looks for treasure from the sea.

 THE MERMAID'S MESSAGE.

BY MAUD LINDSAY.

    Down, down, down in the deep blue sea lived a mermaid. Mermaids are sea-fairies, and they have beautiful homes under the deep waters, with sponges and sea-anemones growing in their gardens, instead of flowers like our lilies and roses. They are very happy, too, and this little mermaid was merry all the time as she darted here, there and everywhere, joining the shining Ashes in their play of swimming around to stir the ripples into circles.

    Then, when she was tired, she would sit and sing while she made her crowns of coral and shells, or strung a chain of pearls which the oysters gave her. Sometimes, too, when the stars were out and the moon was bright, she would come up and ride on the backs of the great waves as the winds blew them far out after the ships or rolled them in to the shore.

    One night, as she rode so lively there, the ripples ran back to the shore with pleasant news to tell. "To-day," said the ripples, "we chased each other up on the beach, and there, playing in the sand, were the dearest little children; and when they saw us dancing with the sunbeams, they stretched out their hands to us, and oh! how we wanted to slip up and kiss their little feet! but we dared not do it.''

       "Dear little children!" said the mermaid. And the waves repeated it over: ''Dear little children!" in such a big voice that it sounded along the shore with a boom.

       Then the ripples ran away and the waves rolled on; but the mermaid still thought of the children, and wished again and again that she could tell them that she loved them.

       At last she thought of something that pleased her very much, and she slipped down from the wave and back to her home, in a great hurry; for she remembered her stores of shells, and wanted to send them as a present to the children. So she selected the prettiest ones, smooth and twisted, lined with pink and purple, and to one, the largest of all, she whispered a message, and she hastened up just in time to catch a great wave on its way to the shore.

       The wave was glad to carry the shells, so she gave them into his keeping; and he tossed them far up on the yellow sand and they lay there waiting through the quiet night until the sunbeams came and brought the children out.

       The children spied the shells immediately, and then there was such a rejoicing. Mammas, nurses, and everybody had to look at each new treasure as it was found; and one mamma told about the wee creatures that had lived in each one long ago, while the children peeped into the pretty shell houses, and wondered how it would feel to have a shell for a home.

       Then there were gardens to make, with broad, shell-bordered walks; and seaweed to plant in the round sand beds; but at last a little boy found the shell that carried the mermaid's message, and when he held it to his ear, it repeated the message, soft and low like the sound of the sea.

       Over and over it told the message as each child listened, and they knew that it was a message; and though they could not guess who sent it, or what it meant, they were sure it was a sweet one; and so it was, for the mermaid had said, "I love you."

       Let's whisper something back to it ourselves," said the children, "the very nicest thing we can." And so it happened that a little girl whispered the words her mamma loved best, and they threw the shell far out into the water and it dropped down, down, down to the bottom of the blue sea, where the mermaid found it; and when she heard the message she knew the meaning; and it was just as sweet as her own had been, for the child had said, "We love you too."