“Living in Norway sounds wonderful,” said the daughter, “but where are your sons?”
They were running around in the fields blowing out the jack-o-lanterns, which were lighting the torch dance.
“What kind of behaviour is that?” said the old gnome. “I have found a mother for you, and now you can choose one of the aunts.”
But the sons said they would rather drink and have fun than get married. They talked and drank all night, and afterwards they fell asleep on the table. The old gnome danced with his new bride and they swapped boots, which in those days was more fashionable than swapping rings.
“The cock is crowing,” said the old elf lady, “it’s time to close the shutters so we don’t get burnt by the sun.”
So the elf hill shut itself up. Outside, the lizards ran up and down the tree and said, “I like that old Norwegian gnome!”
“I prefer the sons,” said the earthworm. But that was because the poor thing couldn’t see.
THE LITTLE MERMAID
Far away, deep down under the sea where the water is crystal clear and as blue as cornflowers, live the sea-folk. On the sea floor a forest of strange trees and flowers sways back and forth, with fish gliding among them like birds riding the wind. In the deepest spot stands the sea-king’s palace; it has walls of coral, windows of clear amber and a roof of seashells, each holding a priceless pearl.
The sea-king’s wise old mother looked after the palace, and the six pretty little princess-mermaids. The youngest, with her delicate soft skin and sea-blue eyes, was the loveliest.
All day long, the little princesses played in the underwater palace and fed and stroked the fishes that swam in and out of the amber windows. Each princess had a garden in which she planted flowers and made decorations from things found in shipwrecks. On calm days the mermaids looked up and saw the sun above the blue waters, like a shining flower with petals of light. The youngest mermaid planted her garden in a circle like the sun, with flowers of the same red colour. In the middle she placed the pretty marble statue of a boy that she had found on the seabed after a shipwreck. She also grew a weeping-willow tree and, as it got bigger, its branches wound round the statue and reached down to the fine yellow sand. The little mermaid loved listening to her grandmother’s stories about the world above the sea, where flowers smelled of perfume and birds sang in the trees.
“On your fifteenth birthday,” said her grandmother, “you will be allowed to swim up to the surface and sit on the rocks in the moonlight. Then you will see the ships, towns and forests.”
The eldest princess would soon be fifteen, but the rest were younger and it would be a long time before the little mermaid, the youngest of them all, had her chance to see the world. At night she could think of little else and would stand gazing upwards through the dark, blue water. She would see the pale moon and the twinkling stars, and watch the fish as they swam. When a black shadow went gliding overhead she knew it might be a ship full of people, and she would stretch up her arms towards it.
On the eldest mermaid’s birthday, she swam to the surface of the sea. When she returned, she told them all she had seen.
“I lay on a sandbank in the calm sea,” she said, “and gazed at a city with shining lights. I heard music playing and people talking and church bells ringing.”
The youngest mermaid went to the open window and looked up towards the surface. She thought about the busy city and imagined she could hear the church bells.
In a year’s time, it was the second sister’s turn to swim to the surface. She told her sisters about the sunset that turned the sky gold, the clouds violet and the sun rose-red.
The third sister swam up a river and saw vine-covered hills, woods and castles. She heard birds singing and felt the warm sun, and saw human children playing in the water. She swam towards them to join in, but they ran away and a dog barked fiercely at her. The younger mermaid longed to see the beauty of the setting sun, but most of all she wanted to watch human children playing.
The fourth sister rose in the middle of the ocean and watched dolphins turn somersaults, whales blow fountains of water and ships sail by.
It was winter when the fifth sister’s turn came. Huge icebergs, bigger than cathedrals built by humans, floated like diamonds in the green sea. She sat on the biggest of them and let the wind blow her long hair. She watched the ships begin to go faster as they sailed past, almost as though they were frightened of her. Towards evening, red and blue lightning lit the dark sky and illuminated the icebergs lifted high by the dark waves.
All five sisters were enchanted by the beauty of what they had seen above the sea, but even so they agreed that their own sea-world was even more beautiful. In the evenings, they would hold hands and rise to the surface singing. If a storm arose, they would swim down with the sinking ship, and sing sweetly to the sailors not to be afraid of the world below. But the sailors mistook the singing for the howling of the wind and drowned without seeing the sea-kingdom.
And all the time, the youngest sister watched and wanted to cry – but she couldn’t because mermaids have no tears.
“How I wish I could be fifteen at once!” she sighed. “I know I shall love the world and all the people in it.”
At long last, the little mermaid’s fifteenth birthday arrived.
“Well, now you are grown up!” said her grandmother, as she put a headdress of pearls shaped like lilies in her hair, and servants fastened eight oyster shells to her tail to show that she was a princess. The little princess complained that the shells hurt and the headdress was heavy but, as her grandmother told her, “Pride must suffer pain.”
As she lifted her head above the waves for the very first time, the sun was just setting and there were golden fringes around the pink clouds. A ship lay still on the calm sea. The little mermaid could see sailors sitting on deck and hear music and singing. When it was dark, hundreds of coloured lanterns were lit and the little mermaid swam up to a cabin window and peeped in. A celebration was going on: she saw people dressed in fine clothes and a handsome boy with large, dark eyes. He was a prince and this was his birthday party. Up on deck the sailors danced and, when the prince came to watch them, fireworks were lit and sparkled in the air. The little mermaid thought they were stars falling from the sky and dived under the water. When she came up she watched the dazzling fireworks light up the sky and the face of the handsome boy.
But in a while the clouds gathered and a terrible storm blew up. Although the sailors struggled to steer a course through the raging sea, the ship began to break up. At first, the little mermaid was pleased to see it sink, thinking the prince was coming to join her in her world. Then she remembered that humans cannot live in water and knew that somehow she must save him.
She swam towards him through the heavy beams and planks that were tumbling on the waves as the ship broke into pieces, and reached him just as he had given up his struggle against the sea. His eyes were closed and his arms and legs were still. The little mermaid held his head above the water and let the waves carry them all night.
By dawn, the storm was over, and not a single piece of the ship could be seen. The mermaid kissed the prince’s head and stroked his wet hair. He seemed so like the marble statue in her garden and she wanted desperately to save him. Soon she saw land and, as they got nearer, the white convent of a church in a garden of lemon and orange trees. She swam to the shore and pushed the prince onto the sand, and then she went and hid behind some rocks. As she watched, a bell rang in the white convent and some young girls came out into the garden. Before long, one of them came to the shore and saw the prince. She went running back to fetch help, and soon the prince was carried away.
With a sigh, the sad little mermaid slid back into the water and swam down to her father’s palace. When her sisters asked what she had seen, she would not tell them. She would often swim to the spot where she had left the prince in the hope of seeing him, but she never did. Her only comfort was to sit in her little garden with
her arms around the beautiful statue.
At length, she could keep her secret to herself no longer and she told her sisters all about it. Now all the mermaids went searching for the handsome prince, and before long they found him.
“Come, little sister,” they said, and holding hands they rose to the surface together at the very spot where the prince’s palace stood.
It was a magnificent palace, built of shining yellow stone with a flight of marble steps that reached down to the sea. Through the large windows the mermaids could see splendid rooms decorated with beautiful wall-hangings and priceless paintings. In one room, a fountain shot sparkling jets of water towards a glass-domed ceiling, through which the sun shone.
Now that the little mermaid knew where the prince lived she visited the palace often, swimming nearer and nearer until she could gaze at his handsome face. She longed to be with him, and to belong to his world that seemed to her more beautiful than her own. She wanted to know everything about the lands above the sea and never stopped asking her grandmother questions.
“If human beings do not get drowned, does that mean they live for ever?” she asked one day.
“They die, just as we do,” said her grandmother, “and they live shorter lives than ours. We can live to three hundred years but, when we die, we change into foam on the wave tops. Humans have souls that live on after their bodies are dead. They rise up beyond the stars to a place that no one has ever seen or known.”
“I would happily change my long life for just one day as a human being if I had the hope of seeing that wonderful place,” said the little mermaid sadly. “Is there nothing I can do to have a soul?”
“Nothing,” said her old grandmother, “unless a human loves you enough to marry you and get the blessing of a priest. Then the human’s soul will enter your body and give you a soul of your own. But that could never happen unless you could change your mermaid’s tail into human legs.”
That night there was a grand ball in the sea-king’s palace. It was lit by hundreds of blue flames flickering in gigantic seashells. They shone through the glass walls, lighting up the sea all around and attracting countless tiny fishes, whose rainbow colours flashed and sparkled like liquid silver. The mermaids and mermen danced the night away to the sound of their own sweet singing. The little mermaid sang more sweetly than anyone else in the room, and everyone applauded her and she felt happy. But her thoughts soon went back to the upper world, and the handsome prince who might marry her and give her a soul. She crept away from the palace to sit in her little garden. Through the water, she thought she heard the sound of a trumpet and felt sure that the prince was sailing up above.
“I will risk everything to win him,” thought the little mermaid. “The sea-witch must help me.”
It was a dangerous journey to the sea-witch’s house. First, the little mermaid had to pass rushing whirlpools that tried to suck her into their swirling depths. Then she had to cross great mud banks that heaved and bubbled all around her. She nearly turned back when she reached the ugly forest of half-animal, half-plant creatures with branches like long, slimy arms and grasping, worm-like fingers. But all the time she thought of the prince and of the human soul she would have. She pinned up her hair and darted through the wriggling forest until she reached a vast swamp. In the middle of the swamp stood a house built of human bones. Inside it sat the sea-witch, feeding a toad, with fat water-snakes coiled all around her.
“I know what you want little mermaid!” said the sea-witch. “And you are very stupid to want something that will plunge you into misfortune! But if you are determined to do it, I can prepare you a magic potion. Before sunrise tomorrow you must swim ashore and drink it. Your tail will shrivel away and human legs will grow, but it will be agony, as if a sharp sword is being thrust through you. When you walk, you will move like a beautiful dancer, but every step you take will be like treading on sharp knives. Are you prepared to suffer so much for a handsome prince and a human soul?”
“I am,” said the little mermaid in a trembling voice.
“But be warned!” said the witch. “Once you have human form you can never be a mermaid again, and if the prince does not fall in love with you and marry you with a priest’s blessing you will never obtain a human soul. If he marries another your heart will break, and the very next day you will dissolve into the foam on the sea.”
The little mermaid turned deathly pale, but all she said was, “I understand your warning.”
“In exchange for my magic potion, you must give me your most valuable possession,” said the sea-witch. “You must give me your lovely voice.”
“But if you take my voice,” said the little mermaid, “what have I left?”
“You will still have your prettiness and your beautiful eyes,” said the witch. “Are they not enough to capture a man’s heart? Don’t be afraid. Put out your tongue and let me cut it off and then you shall have the potion.”
The sea-witch prepared the magic potion in her cauldron. When the boiling mixture was ready, it looked like pure spring water. The witch poured the sparkling liquid into a crystal bottle and cut off the little mermaid’s tongue.
On the journey back through the forest, the slimy creatures backed away from the dazzling potion that shone in her hand. The sea-king’s palace was deserted and the little mermaid did not dare to look for her sisters to say goodbye. Instead, she picked a flower from each of their gardens before rising up through the blue waters.
It was just before sunrise when she reached the marble steps of the prince’s palace. She drank the magic potion, and the pain that burned through her body was so terrible that she fainted. When she awoke, the handsome young prince stood over her, gazing at her tenderly. She looked down at her slim white legs and wrapped her long hair around her body to cover herself.
The prince asked who she was, but she could not answer. He held out his hand to lead her into the palace, and every delicate step she took was like treading on knife-points.
The prince ordered the little mermaid to be dressed in silk and muslin robes and everybody agreed that they had never seen a more beautiful, graceful girl. But then a girl with a beautiful voice sang to the court making the prince smile and clap, and this made the little mermaid sad.
“If only he knew that I have sacrificed my own sweet voice for love of him!” she thought.
When the music began to play for dancing, the little mermaid raised her beautiful white arms, stood on tiptoe and seemed to float across the floor. Although she felt as if she was stepping on daggers, she danced so enchantingly that everyone in the court declared they had never seen anything so lovely. The delighted prince never took his eyes off her and said that he would never part with her – his “little creature from the seas”.
They spent their days together, riding through the perfumed forests where the little birds sang amongst the cool leaves. They climbed mountains together until they could see the clouds rolling beneath them. Although her tender feet bled, she only laughed at her sufferings. At night, while other people slept, the little mermaid sat on the marble steps and bathed her poor, burning feet in the cool sea water.
One night, her sisters swam to the surface hand in hand and floated over the water towards her, singing. They told her how much they missed her. Once, in the distance, she saw her old grandmother and the sea-king with his crown on his head, stretching their arms out towards her. But neither of them would venture near the shore.
Each day, she grew fonder of the prince and he loved her as though she were a favourite child. But if he married someone else, she would never have a human soul and would melt into foam the day after his wedding.
“Do you love me best of all?” she asked with her eyes.
“Yes, I love you best of all,” replied the prince, “and I know that you love me. You remind me of a girl I once saw, but who I shall never meet again. I was shipwrecked and thrown ashore near the convent of a church where some young girls were saying their prayers. The youngest o
f them found me and saved my life. She is the only other one in this world that I could love, but she belongs to the convent. You have almost made me forget about her.”
“ ‘I KNOW WHAT YOU WANT,’ SAID THE SEA WITCH”
“He doesn’t know that it was I who carried him across the sea and saved his life!” thought the little mermaid. She sighed deeply, and would have cried if mermaids were able to shed tears. “I will take care of him and love him, and sacrifice my whole life to him.”
One day the prince came to tell her that she must get ready for a journey. “My parents wish me to meet a princess in another kingdom. They want me to marry her, but that I can never do since I do not love her. But at least I must obey my parents by going to visit her,” he said. “I cannot marry my love in the convent, but if I am ever forced to choose a bride, it would be you.” And he kissed her rosy mouth.
A few days later, they boarded a magnificent ship and set sail for the neighbouring kingdom where the princess lived. At night, when everyone was asleep, the little mermaid sat on deck in the moonlight and gazed into the clear waters. She thought she could see her father’s palace and her grandmother staring up at the ship. Then her sisters appeared on the surface and gazed at her sadly. She waved and smiled to tell them she was happy.
Next morning, the ship arrived in the neighbouring king’s capital city. For many days, the prince and his court were entertained with feasts and balls. The princess had not yet arrived as she was travelling from far away.
When at last she arrived the prince could not believe his eyes.
“It is you!” he cried, “You are the girl who rescued me from death on the shore!” The princess blushed and nodded. “I am so happy!” said the prince to the little mermaid. “My dream has come true. You must be happy, too, for you love me better than anyone!” The little mermaid kissed his hand and felt as if her heart was about to break.
Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales: Twenty Tales Illustrated by Harry Clarke Page 11
