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Deep under the sea, colorful fishes glide among strange 

plants which wave gently to and fro in the crystal-clear 

water. In the deepest part which no human has ever visited, 

the mermaid -people live. The king's palace has coral walls 

and a roof of oyster shells which open and close gently with 

the waves, each one hiding a gleaming pearl. Now the 

mermaid's   king

had six beautiful daughters but the youngest mermaid was 

the loveliest of all. Her eyes were deepest sea-blue, her skin 

like a rose petal and the scales on her mermaid tail shone 

like precious jewels.

The mermaid loved hearing about the world above the sea 

which her grandmother described to her.

"When you are fifteen," her grandmother said, "you may swim to the top 

of the ocean and see these wonderful things for yourself."

How impatiently she waited for her fifteenth birthday. At last the clay 

arrived. She

combed her long golden hair, she polished the scales on her tail, then 

waving to her sisters she put her arms together and glided, up, up through 

the waves.

When she lifted her head above the water, she saw a big sailing ship with a 

large anchor and chain holding it firmly in place. She noticed sailors 

lighting pretty lanterns along the deck: The mermaid swam swiftly to a 

porthole in the captain's cabin and when the waves lifted her up, she 

peeped inside. There were many fine gentlemen but the finest of all was a 

prince. He was laughing and shaking hands with everyone while soft music 

played. She had never seen anyone like him before. She could not keep 

her eyes away from him.

Suddenly the sky darkened and the ship started to roll. The 

waves grew mountainous, thunder rolled around and the ship 

was tossed up and then plunged clown into the stormy seas. 

Then the ship's mast snapped and the ship rolled right over 

and started to sink. At first the mermaid felt happy for now 

the prince would sink to her father's palace.

"But humans can't live under the sea," she remembered. "I must save his 

life somehow." And she swam through the wreckage until she spied the 

prince, just as he was slipping beneath the waves. His eyes were closed 

for he had no strength left. He was drowning. Quickly, the mermaid 

seized his head and held it above water. Then she rested on a huge wave 

and let it carry her and the prince safely away from the wrecked ship.

When morning came the storm died away and the warm sun appeared. 

The mermaid still held the prince but he did not move. She touched his 

face gently and kissed his cold lips. His eyes did not open. "Wake up, 

please don't die," she whispered.

Now she could see dry land ahead and, still clutching the prince, she 

swam into a pretty bay with calm clear water. Tenderly she laid the prince 

on the warm golden sand away from the waves. At that moment she saw 

some girls walking along the sands. Quickly she swam away. She covered 

herself with seaweed and hid behind some rocks and watched the prince 

anxiously. "Please wake up," she begged.

Soon one girl noticed him and called for help. He opened his eyes and 

smiled at the girl who had found him. As the prince was carried away 

the mermaid sadly dived into the waves and swam back to the 

mermaids king's palace.

"What did you see?" her sisters asked. She told them nothing but all 

day long she dreamed quietly by herself.

At night she often swam to Prince Bay as she called it, but she never 

saw the prince there. She became sadder each time she swam back 

home.

The mermaid now had only one wish – to be a human. She started to 

ask her grandmother many questions: "Do humans live for ever? Do 

they die like us?"

"They die," came the reply, "only human lives are shorter than ours. 

We live for three hundred years then we turn into foam upon the 

waves. Humans have souls that live for ever in the skies."

"Why can't I be like that?" sighed the mermaid. "I'd like to exchange my 

three hundred years for one clay of human life. I'd rather live in the sky for 

ever than change into foam!"

"That's no way to speak," said her grandmother.

"Can't I ever get this human immortal soul?" the mermaid asked over and 

over again until in the end her grandmother said: "There is only one way. If 

a man loved you more than anyone or anything else then his soul could run 

into you and you would be immortal. But this won't happen because humans 

say that our tails are ugly. They only like something they call legs 

She glided away and the little mermaid looked sad y at her lovely tail. She 

couldn't forget the prince. Somehow she must become human. "I'll ask the 

sea-witch to help she exclaimed. Off she swam to the whirlpool where the 

evil witch lived. be waters bubbled and hissed but she dived bravely 

through. There was dirty Grey sand everywhere and a hut made from the 

bones of shipwrecked sailors. Grey slugs crawled around and in the middle 

sat a fearsome creature.

"So, mermaid," she cackled, "first, you want to lose your beautiful tail.

Then you want the prince to love you and give you an immortal soul." She 

laughed so horribly that even the slugs scuttled away. "I'll mix something 

for you to drink when you've reached the shore. Your tail will shrink and 

divide into two funny things called legs. You will have a terrible pain like a 

knife cutting through you and this pain will never leave you. You will always 

be beautiful and you'll be the best dancer in the world but every step you 

take will be painful."

"I'll bear anything for the prince," the mermaid said bravely.

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