The Daughter of the Sea

In the distance of the sea, the water is so blue, like the most beautiful cornflower petals, and at the same time so clear, like the brightest cornflower petals

Glass. However, it is very deep, so deep that no anchor chain can reach the bottom. In order to reach the water from the bottom of the sea, there must be many church spiers connected one after another. The people at the bottom of the ocean live down here.

But people must not think that it is just a seabed covered with white sand. No, the most bizarre trees and plants grow there. Their branches and leaves are so soft that they sway with the slightest movement of water as if they are alive. All kinds of fish, big and small, swim among these branches, like birds in the sky. The deepest place in the sea is where Neptune's palace is located. Its walls are built of coral, and its tall, pointed windows are of the brightest amber; but the roof is paved with black clam shells, which follow the flow of the water. Can

open and close automatically. It is very beautiful, because every clam shell contains sparkling pearls. Any pearl

can become the main decoration on the queen's hat.

The sea king who lives down there has been a widower for many years, but he has an old mother to manage the housework for him. She is a smart woman, but she always feels arrogant about her noble origin, so she always wears a dozen oysters on her tail - the rest The dignitaries could only wear half a dozen each. Besides this, she deserves great praise, especially

because she loved those little sea princesses--her granddaughters--so much. They were six beautiful children, and among them, the youngest was the most beautiful. Her skin is smooth and tender, like rose petals, and her eyes are as blue as the deepest lake. However, like other princesses, she has no legs: the lower part of her body is a fish tail.

They could spend the whole long days in the palace, in the halls with the flowers on the walls. The large amber-encrusted windows were open, and fish swam towards them, just as swallows would fly in when we opened the windows.

But the fish kept swimming towards these little princesses, looking for food in their hands and letting them touch themselves.

There is a large garden outside the palace, with many fiery red and dark blue trees growing in it; the fruits on the trees are as bright as gold, and the flowers bloom like burning The fire, flower branches and leaves are constantly shaking. The ground was covered with the finest sand,

but it was as blue as the blaze of sulfur. There was a strange, blue light everywhere. It is easy

to think that you are high in the air instead of at the bottom of the sea, with the blue sky above and below you. When the sea is very still, you can catch a glimpse of the sun: it is like a purple flower, shooting out various colors of light from its calyx.

In the garden, each little princess has her own small area where she can plant whatever she wants. Some arranged their flower beds to look like a whale, while others thought it would be better to arrange their flower beds to look like a little mermaid. But

the youngest arranged her flower bed to be round, like a sun, and she only planted flowers that were as red as the sun

. She is a weird child who doesn't like to talk much and is always thinking about something quietly. While the other sisters

decorated their gardens with the strangest things they had found from shipwrecks, she had nothing but flowers as red as the sun high in the sky

Besides, I just want to have a beautiful marble statue.

This stone statue represents a beautiful man. It was carved from a piece of pure white stone and sank to the bottom of the sea together with a shipwrecked ship. She planted a weeping willow tree as red as a rose next to the stone statue. The tree grew very luxuriantly. Its fresh branches and leaves hang down to the stone statue and all the way to the blue sandy bottom. Its reflection has a purplish-blue hue. Like its branches, the shadow is never still.

The roots and top of the tree seem to be playing a kissing game.

Her greatest pleasure was hearing stories about the human world above. Her old grandmother had to tell her all she knew about ships and cities, people and animals. One thing that especially made her feel beautiful was that the flowers on the ground could emit fragrance, but the flowers on the seabed could not; the forests on the ground were green, and people

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The fish you see swimming between the branches will sing so crisply and beautifully, which makes people feel happy. The "fish" the old grandmother said was actually a little bird, but if she hadn't said it this way, the little princess wouldn't have understood her story, because

She had never seen a bird.

"When you are fifteen years old," said the old grandmother, "I will allow you to float to the surface of the sea. Then you can

sit on the stone under the moonlight Above, watch the great ships pass by you. You can also see the woods and the city." In the coming year, one of these sisters turned fifteen; but the rest. Well - meet, they

One is one year younger than the other. Therefore, the youngest princess has to wait a full five years before she can rise from the bottom of the sea to see our world.

But each one promised the next that she would tell everyone what she saw and discovered on the first day, because what their grandmother told them was really not enough—— There are so many things they hope to know

!

None of them was as eager as the younger sister, who had to wait the longest, and who was so

silent and thoughtful. Countless nights she stood by the open window, staring up through the dark blue water, watching the fish waving their tails and wings. She also saw the moon and the stars - of course, they emitted a faint

light, but through a layer of water they looked much larger than they appear to us. If something like a black cloud passed beneath them, she knew it was either a whale swimming above her or a boat carrying many passengers. The ship is sailing. But these passengers could no longer imagine that there was a beautiful little mermaid below them, stretching out her white hands towards the keel of their ship.

The eldest princess is now fifteen years old and can rise to the surface of the water.

When she came back, she had countless things to tell: but she said that the most beautiful thing was lying on a beach under the moonlight when the sea was calm

, stick close to the coast and gaze at the lights in the big city that are as bright as countless stars

Listen to the music, noise, and the sounds of carriages and people, watch the domes and spires of the churches, and listen to the jingle bells

The bell. It was precisely because she could not go there that she longed for these things most.

Ah, the youngest sister listened with such rapt attention! When she stood by the open window at night and looked up through the dark blue water, she thought of the great city and its bustling sounds. So she seemed to be able to hear the church bells drifting towards her.

The second year the second sister got permission to surface and swim wherever she wanted.

When she jumped out of the water, the sun had just set; she thought the scene was really beautiful. She said that the whole sky looked like a piece of gold at this time, and the clouds - well, she really couldn't describe their beauty! They flew over her head, sometimes red, sometimes purple. However, what flies faster than them, like a long and free veil, is a group of wild swans skimming across the water. They were flying towards the sun, and she was swimming towards the sun. But the sun sets. A rose-colored sunset

slowly disappeared between the sea and the clouds.

Another year passed, and the third sister floated up. She was the boldest of them all, so she swam to a large river that

went into the sea. She saw some beautiful green hills covered with rows of grapes. The palace and the farmland were faintly exposed among the lush woods; she heard how beautifully the various birds sang and how warm the sun shone.

She sometimes couldn't help but Not sinking into the water, so that her burning face could get some coolness. In a small river bend, she encountered a group of human children; they were naked and swimming in the water. She really wanted to play with them for a while, but they were frightened and ran away. Then a small black animal came over - it was a puppy, a puppy she had never seen before. It barked at her so fiercely that she became frightened and ran away to the sea

. But she will never forget the magnificent forest, the green mountains, and those cute babies that can swim in the water - although they don't have tails like fish.

The fourth sister is not so bold. She stayed on the desolate sea. She said that the most beautiful thing is

stopping on the sea: because you can look far and far away from here, while the sky hangs above like a giant

Big glass clock. She had seen ships, but they were far away from her and looked like seagulls. She saw overly happy dolphins turning somersaults, and huge whales spurting water from their nostrils, as if there were countless fountains surrounding them.

Now comes the fifth sister. Her birthday happened to be in the winter, so she could see things that the other sisters had not seen when they first emerged from the sea. The sea was dyed green, and huge icebergs were moving around.

She said that each iceberg looks like a bead, but is much larger than the church tower built by humans. They appear in

all kinds of strange shapes; they shine like diamonds. She once sat on the largest iceberg,

letting the sea breeze blow her slender hair. All the ships circled the place where she sat, staying away in panic. However, at dusk, a dark cloud suddenly appeared in the sky. Lightning flashed and thunder roared. The huge black waves lifted up whole pieces of ice, causing them to shine in the blood-red thunder and lightning. All the ships had lowered their sails, creating an atmosphere of panic and terror, but she sat quietly on the floating iceberg, looking at the blue power grid, twisting and turning

The ground shot into the reflective sea.

Whenever one of these sisters rises to the surface of the sea for the first time, he is always very happy to see these

new and beautiful things. But now, they are already grown girls and can go anywhere they like, so these things no longer interest them much. They longed to return home. After a month, they said: After all, it is better to live in the sea - how comfortable it is at home!

At dusk, these five sisters often come up arm in arm and line up on the water.

They can sing

beautifully—more beautiful than any human voice. When a storm was coming and they thought some ships were about to be in trouble, they would float in front of these ships and sing a very beautiful song, saying how dangerous it was under the sea.

Love, while telling these sailors not to be afraid of sinking to the bottom of the sea; however, these people did not understand their lyrics. They thought

it was the sound of a huge wind. They also didn't expect that they would see anything beautiful on the bottom of the sea, because if the ship sank, the people on it would also drown, and they could only reach the palace of the Sea King as dead people.

One night, when the sisters emerged from the sea arm in arm like this, the youngest sister stayed alone

behind and looked at them. It looked like she wanted to cry, but mermaids don't have tears, so she felt even more uncomfortable.

"Oh, how I wish I were fifteen!" she said. "I knew I was going to like the world above, and the people who lived in it." Finally, she really turned fifteen.

"You know, you can leave our hands now," said her grandmother, the old Queen Mother. "Come on, let me dress you up like your sisters." So she put a wreath of lilies in the little girl's hair. , but each petal of this flower is half a pearl. The old lady ordered eight big oysters to attach tightly to the princess's tail to show her noble status.

"This makes me so sad!" said the little mermaid.

"Of course, in order to be beautiful, a person should endure some hardships," the old grandmother said.

Why, she wished she could get rid of these decorations and throw this heavy garland aside! The red flowers in her garden looked much better on her, but she didn't dare to do so. "Goodbye!" she said. So she was as light and bright as a bubble rising out of the water.

When she raised her head out of the sea, the sun had already set, but all the clouds were still shining like roses and gold

; at the same time, in this pale In the red sky, the big white star is already blinking beautifully and brightly. The air is

mild and fresh. The sea is very calm, and there is a big ship with three masts parked here. There was only one sail on the boat,

because there was no wind blowing. The sailors were sitting around the shrouds and on top of the yard.

There is music and singing here. When dusk gradually becomes darker, various lanterns light up together

. They look like flags from all over the world flying in the sky. The little mermaid swam toward the ship's window. Every time

when the waves lifted her up, she could see many men in gorgeous clothes standing inside through the mirror-like window glass; but among them The most beautiful of them all was the prince with the big black eyes: no doubt he was not yet sixteen. Today is his birthday, which is why it is so lively today.

The sailors were dancing on the deck. When the prince came out, more than a hundred rockets were shot into the sky.

The sky was illuminated as if it were daylight, so the little mermaid became very frightened and quickly sank to the bottom of the water. But after a while, she stuck out her head. At this time, she felt as if all the stars in the sky were falling towards her. She had never seen such flames.

fire. Many huge suns were making hissing sounds all around, and dazzling big fish were leaping into the blue sky.

Everything is reflected on this clear and calm sea.

The whole body of the ship was so brightly illuminated that even every small rope could be seen. Of course, the people on the ship could see clearly. Oh, how beautiful this young prince is! When

the music slowly faded away in this glorious night, he shook hands with the sailors, laughed and smiled...

The night was already very late, but the little mermaid There was no way she could take her eyes off the ship and the beautiful prince.

The colorful lanterns went out, the rockets stopped shooting into the air, and the sound of cannons stopped. But there was a buzzing and rumbling sound in the depths of the sea. She sat on the water, bobbing up and down, so that she could see the contents of the cabin. But

the ship speeded up: its sails were all unfurled one after another. The waves got bigger, heavy dark clouds floated up, and lightning struck in the distance. Ah, the terrible storm is coming soon! The sailors therefore lowered their sails. This huge ship swayed forward in the violent sea.

The waves rose like huge black mountains. It wants to break the mast.

But the boat was like a swan. It plunged into the waves for a while, and then raised its head on the high waves.

The little mermaid thought this was a very interesting voyage, but the sailors thought otherwise. The ship made a splintering sound now; its thick planks were bent by the incoming waves. The mast was broken in the middle like a reed.

Then the boat began to tilt and water rushed into the cabin. Only then did the little mermaid realize that they were in danger. She also had to be careful

of the beams and wreckage of ships floating on the water.

The sky immediately became dark and she could not see anything. But when the lightning started, the sky became very bright, allowing her to see everyone on the ship. Now everyone is trying their best to find a way out for themselves. She paid special attention

to the prince. She saw him as the ship split open and sank deeper into the sea. She immediately became very happy that he was now coming to her. But she also remembered that humans cannot live in water, and he could not enter her father's palace unless he became a dead person.

No, we must not let him die! So she swam between the floating beams and planks, without the slightest thought that they might crush her to death. She sank deeply into the water, and then surfaced high in the waves. Finally she reached the prince. In this violent sea, he would never have the strength to float up again. His arms and legs began to fail. His beautiful eyes were closed. If the little mermaid hadn't arrived in time, he would have drowned.

She lifted his head out of the water and let the waves carry her and drift anywhere with him.

By dawn, the storm had passed. There wasn't even a scrap of the ship. The bright red sun rose, shining brightly on the water. It seemed to breathe life into the prince's face. But his eyes were still closed.

The little mermaid kissed his delicate forehead and cut his long, soaked hair back. She thought he looked a lot like the marble statue she had in her little underwater garden. She kissed him again, hoping he would wake up.

Now she saw before her a stretch of land and a group of high blue mountains, the shining white of which looked

like sleeping swans. Along the coast was a beautiful green forest, and in front of it was a church or a monastery -

She didn't know what it was called, but it was just a building anyway. There are some lemon and orange trees growing in its garden, and a tall palm stands in front of the door. The sea forms a small bay here. The water is very calm, but it is very deep from here to there

near the rocky cliffs where there is a lot of fine sand.

She carried the beautiful prince and swam there. She laid him

on the sand, very carefully resting his head high in the warm sunlight.

The bells rang from the majestic white building, and many young women came out through the garden. The little man

The fish swam far into the sea and swam behind several large rocks on the sea. She covered her hair and breasts with lots of sea foam so that no one could see her little face. Here she stared to see who would come to the poor prince.

After a while, a young woman came over. She seemed very surprised, but it didn't take long, so she found many people. The little mermaid saw that the prince gradually came to life and smiled at the people around him. But he didn't smile at her: of course, he had no idea that she was the one who saved him. She felt very sad. So when he was being carried into the tall house, she threw herself sadly into the sea and returned to her father's palace.

She has always been a quiet and thoughtful child, and now she has become even more so. Her sisters all asked her what she had seen when she first rose to the sea, but she could not tell them anything.

Many nights and mornings she surfaced and swam toward the spot where she had left her prince. She saw the fruits in the garden being ripe and picked; she saw the snow on the top of the mountain melting; but she could not see the prince.

So every time she came home, she always felt more painful. Her only comfort was to sit in her little garden, holding in her hands a beautiful marble statue resembling the prince. But she no longer tended her flowers. These flowers seemed

to be things growing in the wilderness, and they were spread all over the ground: their long stems and leaves were intertwined with the branches, making the place look

flat. Very dark.

Finally she couldn't stand it anymore. But as long as she told one of her sisters what was on her mind, everyone else would soon know. But except for them and one or two other mermaids (they only told this secret to a few close friends), no one else knew. One of them knew who the prince was. She also saw

the celebration on the ship. She knew where the prince came from and where his kingdom was.

"Come on, little sister!" said the other princesses. They put their hands on each other's shoulders, and rose up to the surface in a long row until they reached what they thought was the prince's palace.

The palace was built with a luminous light yellow stone, and there were many wide marble steps inside - one of them

still stretched into the sea. Ornate, golden round towers stretch into the sky from the rooftops. Among the columns surrounding the entire building, there are many marble statues. They look like living people. Through the bright glass of the tall windows one could see splendid halls, hung with precious silk curtains and brocades, and with large pictures on the walls. ——Just looking at these things is a very pleasant thing. In the center of the largest hall

there is a huge fountain spraying water. The water strands shoot towards the glass dome above, and the sun shines down through the glass, onto the water, and onto the plants growing in the large pool.

Now she knew where the prince lived. Here on the water she spent many evenings and nights. She swam far away

toward the land, farther than any other sister dared to go.

Indeed, she even swam down into the narrow river,

right under the magnificent marble balcony, whose long shadow was reflected in the water. She sat here, looking at the young prince, who thought he was the only one in the moonlight.

Several nights she saw him sailing aboard that gorgeous ship with many flags flying to the sound of music. She peeked up from the green grass. When the wind blows her long silver mask, if anyone sees it, they always think it is a swan spreading its wings.

For several nights, when the fishermen went out to sea with torches to catch fish, she heard them saying

many words of praise to the prince. She became happy, feeling that she had saved his life when the waves knocked him half to death; she remembered how his head lay tightly in her arms, How passionately she kissed him. But he himself didn't know any of these things, and he wouldn't even think of her in his dreams.

She gradually began to love humans and gradually began to look forward to living among them. She felt that their world was much bigger than hers. Indeed, they could travel the seas in ships and climb mountains soaring into the sky, while their lands, with their forests and fields, stretched as far as she could see. There was so much she wished to know

But none of her sisters could answer all her questions. So she had to ask her grandmother. She did know quite well about the "upper world," as she aptly called her maritime country.

"If humans don't drown," asked the little mermaid, "will they live forever? Will they die like us

those who live in the sea? ?"

"That's right," the old lady said, "They will die too, and their lives will be even shorter than ours. We can live longer. Three hundred years old, but when our life here is over, we will become foam on the water. We won't even leave a grave for our beloved ones here. An immortal soul

We never get a life after death. We are like the green seaweed. Once we are cut off, we will never be green again. Arise! On the contrary, man has a soul; it lives forever, even if the body turns to dust, it still lives. It rises to the clear sky, to the shining stars! Just like we rise to the water and see the human world, they rise to those mysterious and gorgeous places that we will never see."

"Why can't we. To an immortal soul?" the little mermaid asked sadly. "As long as I can become a human being and enter the heavenly world, even if I only live there for one day, I am willing to give up the hundreds of years I can live here.

Life,"

"You must not entertain such thoughts," said the old lady. "Compared to the humans above, our life here is much happier and better!"

"Then I will have no choice but to die and become a bubble floating on the water. Will I no longer hear the music of the waves, see the beautiful flowers and the bright red sun? Is there no way for me to get an eternal soul? "

"No? !" said the old lady. "Only when a person loves you and treats you as a person who is closer than his parents: only when he puts all his thoughts and love on you; only when he When he asks the pastor to put his right hand

in your hand and promise to be loyal to you now and forever in the future, his soul will be transferred to your body.

And you will get a piece of human happiness.

He will give you a soul, while at the same time his own soul will remain immortal. But such things never happen! What we consider beautiful here at the bottom of the sea - that fish tail of yours - they consider very ugly on land: they don't know what beauty and ugliness are. In their country, if a person wants to be beautiful, he must have two stupid pillars - they call them legs! "

The little mermaid sighed and glanced sadly at his fish tail.

"Let's be happy! "The old lady said. "In the three hundred years that we can live, let us dance and dance.

This is a long time after all, and we can rest happily in our graves from now on. Let's have a dance in the palace tonight! ”

It was really a magnificent scene that people would never see on land. The walls and ceiling of this spacious dance hall were made of thick and transparent glass. Thousands of huge grass-green and pink shells stood in rows on all sides; blue flames burned inside them, lighting up the entire ballroom and shining through the walls. , thus also illuminating the sea outside. People can see countless schools of fish swimming toward this crystal palace, some with purple light on their scales. , some lit up like silver and gold. A wide torrent passed through the center of the dance hall. Men and women in the sea sang beautiful songs and danced on this torrent, so gracefully. People who live on land cannot sing.

coc1① Last time it was said that mermaids turned into foam on the sea after death, but here it is said that mermaids rest in graves after death.

I forgot what I said before. coc2

Among these people, the little mermaid sang the most beautifully. Everyone applauded her; she felt very happy for a while.

Because she knew that only her voice was the most beautiful on land and in the sea. But she immediately thought of the world above.

She could not forget the beautiful prince, and she could not forget her because she was not as lonely as him. So she secretly left her father's palace: while it was full of song and joy, she sat there sadly.

In the small garden. Suddenly she heard a horn sound coming from the water. She thought: "He must be sailing on it: He

-I love him more than my father and mother." ; He - I miss him all the time; I put the happiness of my life in his hands. I would sacrifice everything to win him and an immortal soul. While my sisters are dancing in my father's palace now, I am going to visit the witch of the sea. I have always been very afraid of her, but maybe she can teach me some methods and help me. ”

The little mermaid then went out of the garden and walked toward a whirlpool of foam behind which the witch lived. She

had never walked this way before. There were no flowers or seaweed here, just a smooth gray sandy bottom that stretched toward the whirlpool, where the water swirled like a noisy water wheel, swaying it. To reach the area where the witch lived, she had to walk through a steep whirlpool for a long time. The hot-soaked mud: the witch called this place her peatfield. Behind it was a terrible forest, where her house was, and all the trees and bushes were. Polyps - half-plant, half-animal things. They look like hydra snakes emerging from the ground. Their branches are all long, slimy arms. The fingers are as soft as worms. They are trembling from root to top.

They cling tightly to whatever they can grab in the sea and don't relax at all.

The little mermaid stopped in front of the forest, very frightened. Her heart jumped with fear, and she almost wanted to turn around and go back. But when she thought of the prince and the human soul, she took courage again. She tied her long flowing hair tightly around her head so that the polyps could not catch her. She pressed her hands tightly to her chest, and then she jumped forward like a fish in the water among these ugly polyps, which were only behind her.

Waving their long, soft arms and fingers. She saw that each of them had grasped something, and countless little arms were wrapped around it, like strong iron rings. Those who drowned in the sea and sank to the bottom of the sea had white skeletons exposed in the arms of these coral polyps. They hugged the rudder and the box tightly, hugged the bones of land animals, and even hugged a little mermaid that they had grabbed and strangled - this was a big deal for her. The most terrible thing.

Now she came to a slimy clearing in the forest. The big and fat water snakes here are turning over, revealing their yellowish and ugly bellies. In the middle of the land there was a house built with the bones of the dead. The sea witch is sitting here, feeding a toad with her mouth, just as we feed a little canary with sugar. She called those ugly, fat water snakes her chickens, and let them crawl up and down her fat, floppy breasts.

"I know what you have come to ask for," said the Sea Witch. "You are a fool! However, my beautiful princess, I will still let you achieve your goal, because this matter will give you a tragic ending. You want to get rid of you

The tail of the fish gives birth to two pillars so that you can walk like a human being. You want to make that prince fall in love with you so that you can

get him, so you can also walk. Get an immortal soul." Then the witch laughed hatefully, and the toads and water snakes rolled to the ground and crawled around. "You have come just in time," said the witch. "After the sun comes out tomorrow,

I won't be able to help you. I can only wait for a year. I can fry it