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| She planted a bright red weeping-willow beside the statue. |
Far out at sea, the water is as blue as the prettiest cornflowers, and as clear as the purest crystal. But it is very deep - so deep, indeed, that no rope can fathom it ; and many church steeples need be piled one upon the other to reach from the bottom to the surface. It is there that the sea-folk dwell.
Nor must it be imagined that there is nothing but a bare, white, sandy ground below. No, indeed! The soil produces the most curious trees and flowers, whose leaves and stems are so flexible that the slightest motion of the waters seems to fluster them as if they were living creatures. Fishes, great and small, glide through the branches as birds fly through the trees here upon earth. In the deepest spot of all stands the sea-king's palace ; its walls are of coral, and its tall pointed windows of the clearest amber, while the roof is made of mussel-shells, that open and shut according to the tide. And beautiful they look; for in each shell lies a pearl, any one of which would be worthy to be placed in a queen's crown.
The sea-king had been a widower for many years, so his aged mother kept house for him. She was a very wise woman, but extremely proud of her noble birth, which entitled her to wear twelve oyster-shells on her tail, while other well-born persons might only wear six. In all other respects she was a very praiseworthy sort of body ; and especially as regards the care she took of the little princesses her grand-daughters. They were six pretty children ; but the youngest was the prettiest of all. Her skin was as clear and delicate as a rose-leaf, and her eyes as blue as the deepest sea ; but she had no feet any more than the others, and her body ended in a fish's tail.
They were free to play about all day long in the vast rooms of the palace below water, where live flowers grew upon the walls. The large amber windows were opened, when the fishes would swim inwards to them just as the swallows fly into our houses when we open the windows; only the fishes swam right up to the princesses, ate out of their hands, and allowed themselves to be stroked.
In front of the palace was a large garden with bright red and dark blue trees, whose fruit glittered like gold, and whose blossoms were like fiery sparks, as both stalks and leaves kept stirring continually. The ground was strewed with the most delicate sand, but blue as the flames of sulpher. The whole atmosphere was of a peculiar blue tint that would have led you to believe you were hovering high up in the air, with clouds above and below you, rather than standing at the bottom of the sea. When the winds were calm, the sun was visible ; and to those below it looked like a scarlet flower shedding light from its calyx.
Each of the little princesses had a plot of ground in the garden where she might dig and plant as she pleased. One sowed her flowers so as to come up in the shape of a whale; another preferred the figure of a little mermaid; but the youngest planted hers in a circle to imitate the sun, and chose flowers as red as the sun appeared to her. She was a singular child, both silent and thoughtful ; and while her sisters were delighted with all the strange things that they obtained through the wrecks of various ships, she had never claimed anything - with the exception of the red flowers that resembled the sun above - but a pretty statue, representing a handsome youth, and carved out of pure white marble, that had sunk to the bottom of the sea when a ship foundered. She planted a bright red weeping-willow beside the statue; and when the tree grew up, its fresh boughs hung over it nearly down to the blue sands, where the shadow looked quite violet, and kept dancing about like the branches. It seemed as if the top of the tree were at play with its roots, and each trying to snatch a kiss.
There was nothing she delighted in so much as to hear about the upper world. She was always asking her grand-mother to tell her all she knew about ships, towns, people, and animals; what struck her as most beautiful was, that the flowers of the earth should shed perfumes, which they do not below the sea; that the forests were green; and that the fishes amongst the trees should sing so loud and so exquisitely, that it must be a treat to hear them. It was the little birds that her grandmother called fishes, or else her young listeners would not have understood her, for they had never seen birds.
"When you have accomplished your fifteenth year,'' said the grandmother, ''you shall have leave to rise up out of the sea, and sit on the rocks in the moonshine, and look at the large ships sailing past. And then you will see both forests and towns.''
In the following year one of the sisters would reach the age of fifteen; but as all the rest were each a year younger than the other, the youngest would have to wait five years before it would be her turn to come up from the bottom of the ocean and see what our world is like. However, the eldest promised to tell the others what she saw, and what struck her as most beautiful on the first day; for their grandmother did not tell them enough, and there were so many things they wanted to know.
But none of them longed for her turn to come so intensely as the youngest, who had to wait the longest, and was so reserved and thoughtful. Many a night did she stand at the open window, and gaze upwards through the dark blue water, and watch the fishes as they lashed the sea with their fins and tails. She could see the moon and stars, that appeared indeed rather pale, though much larger, seen through the water, than they do to us. If something resembling a black cloud glided between the stars and herself, she knew that it was either a whale swimming overhead, or a ship full of human beings, none of whom probably dreamed that a lovely little mermaid was standing below, and stretching forth her white hands towards the keel of their vessel.
The eldest princess was now fifteen, and was allowed to rise up to the surface of the sea. On her return she had a great deal to relate ; but the most delightful thing of all, she said, was to lie upon a sand-bank in the calm sea, and to gaze upon the large city near the coast, where lights were shining like hundreds of stars; to listen to the sounds of music, to the din of carriages, and the busy hum of the crowd ; and to see the church steeples, and hear the bells ringing. And she longed after all these things, just because she could not approach them.
Oh, how attentively her youngest sister listened ! And later in the evening, when she stood at the open window, and gazed up through the dark blue water how she thought about the large city with its din and bustle, and even fancied she could hear the church-bells ringing from below!
In the following year, the second sister obtained leave to rise up to the surface of the water, and swim about at her pleasure. She went up just at sunset, which appeared to her the finest sight of all. She said that the whole sky appeared like gold ; and as to the clouds, their beauty was beyond all description. Red and violet clouds sailed rapidly above her head, while a flock of wild swans, resembling a long, white scarf, flew still faster than they, across the sea towards the setting sun. She, too, swam towards it, but the sun sank down, and the rosy hues vanished from the surface of the water and from the skies.
The year after, the third sister went up. She was the boldest of them all; so she swam up a river that fell into the sea. She saw beautiful green hills covered with vines; castles and citadels peeped out from stately woods; she heard the birds singing, and the sun felt so warm, that she was frequently obliged to dive down under the water to cool her burning face. In a small creek, she met with a whole troop of little human children. They were naked, and dabbling about in the water. She wanted to play with them, but they fled away in great alarm; and there came a little black animal (she meant a dog, only she had never seen one before), who barked at her so tremendously, that she was frightened, and sought to reach the open sea. But she should never forget the beautiful forests, the green hills, or the pretty children, who were able to swim in the water although they had no fish's tails.
The fourth sister was less daring. She remained in the midst of the sea, and maintained that it was most beautiful at that point, because from thence one could see for miles around, and the sky looked like a glass bell above one's head. She had seen ships, but only at a distance - they looked like sea-mews; and the waggish dolphins had thrown somersets, and the large whales had squirted water through their nostrils, so that one might fancy there were hundreds of fountains all round.
It was now the fifth sister's turn. Her birthday was in the winter, therefore she saw what the others had not seen the first time they went up. The sea looked quite green, and huge icebergs were floating about; each looked like a pearl, she said, only larger than the churches built by human beings. They were of the oddest shapes, and glittered like diamonds. She had placed herself upon the largest of them, and all the vessels scudded past in great alarm, as though fearful of approaching the spot where she was sitting and letting the wind play with her long hair ; but towards evening, the sky became overcast, it thundered and lightened, while the dark sea lifted up the huge icebergs on high, so that they were illuminated by the bright flashes. All the vessels reefed in their sails, and their passengers were panic-stricken, while she sat quietly on her floating block of ice, and watched the blue lightning as it zig-zagged along the shining sea.
The first time that each of the sisters had successively risen to the surface of the water, they had been enchanted by the novelty and beauty of all they saw ; but being now grown up, and at liberty to go above as often as they pleased, they had grown indifferent to such excursions. They longed to come back into the water, and at the end of a month they had all declared that it was far more beautiful down below, and that it was pleasanter to stay at home.
It frequently happened in the evening, that the five sisters would entwine their arms, and rise up to the surface of the water all in a row. They had beautiful voices, far finer than any human being's; and when a storm was coming on, and they thought some ship likely to sink, they swam before the vessel, and sang most sweetly of the delights to be found beneath the water, begging the sea-farers not to be afraid of coming down below. But the sailors could not understand what they said, and mistook their words for the howling of the tempest; and they never saw all the fine things below, for if the ship sank, the men were drowned, and their bodies alone reached the sea-king's palace.
When the sisters rose up arm-in-arm through the water, the youngest would stand alone, looking after them, and felt ready to cry ; only mermaids have no tears, and therefore suffer all the more.
''How I wish I were fifteen!'' said she. ''I am sure I shall love the world above, and the beings that inhabit it.''
At last she reached the age of fifteen.
''Well! now you are grown up,'' said her grandmother, the widow to the late king. ''So let me dress you like your sisters.'' And she placed in her hair a wreath of white lilies, every leaf of which was half a pearl; and the old dame ordered eight large oyster-shells to be fastened to the princess's tail, to denote her high rank.
"But they hurt me so," said the little mermaid.
"Pride must suffer pain," said the old lady.
Oh, how gladly would she have shaken off all this pomp, and laid aside her heavy wreath - the red flowers in her garden adorned her far better - but she could not help herself.
"Farewell!" cried she, rising as lightly as a bubble to the surface of the water.
