Today is part one of two where we are talking to Julie Rockwell about her books, but mostly her newest series The Seers Prophecy. Over the next 2 weeks you will learn how she comes up with the ideas for her novels, her tips and tricks for authors just starting out, and how she feels when she hears those novels in audio form.

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Welcome to Freya's Fairy Tales, where we believe fairy tales are both stories we enjoyed as children and something that we can achieve ourselves.

Each week we will talk to authors about their favorite fairy tales when they were kids and their adventure to holding their very owned fairytale in their hands.

At the end of each episode, we will finish off with the fairytale or short story read as close to the original author's version as possible.

I am your host, Freya Victoria.

I'm an audiobook narrator that loves reading fairy tales novels and bringing stories to life through narration.

I'm also fascinated by talking to authors and learning about their why and how for creating their stories.

We have included all of the links for today's author and our show in the show notes.

Today is part one of two where we're talking to Julie Rockwell about her books, but mostly her newest series, The Seers Prophecy.

Over the next two weeks, you will learn how she comes up with the ideas for her novels, her tips and tricks for authors just starting out, and how she feels when she hears those novels in audio form.

Jasmine wakes up to a whole new world she only thought existed in books and movies.

Realizing she is part of a prophecy that was in the works for over 10 years, she learns her bloodline holds the key to bringing the clans together for peace or war.

It all depends on the choices she makes.

The show is Freya's Fairy Tales and the Fairy Tales part is twofold.

As kids, we all either had a movie that we loved that we watched over and over again that was a fairy tale or another short story, or we had that one book that we had our parent read us over and over and over again because we loved it.

And for some people, that fairy tale kind of changed over time.

But it's also fairy tale because especially for someone like you who's written a lot of books holding that.

I'm sure you remember that first time holding your first book in your hand, the actual physical copy of it.

That's also a fairy tale every time, too, because anytime you hold a copy in your hand, I'm sure that brings back the same feelings.

Yeah, it does.

Yeah.

So the first question that I like to ask is, what was your favorite fairytale or short story as a kid?

And did that change to something else as you grew older?

There were two of them that I remember my mom reading to me.

One was Heidi and the other one was Hans Christian Anderson.

Any specific one of his?

Not really.

I think she would just read a bunch of them.

Okay.

So when you're little, it was just fascinating and the different stories that people could write.

And as I grew up, I just kept wanting to read more.

And it hasn't really changed, except for the older I got.

I was more interested in like Little Red Riding Hood and Hansel and Gretel type ones.

Okay.

And so at what age or maybe grade in school or whatever, do you remember thinking, this is cool?

I really want to try my hand at writing my own stuff.

I think it was like middle school, but I never did until high school is when I started writing short stories and stuff and had my friends read it and just went from there.

And so how old were you when you had your first book published?

Let's see, I'm 45, so probably I was about 43.

And how long did it take you to write that first one?

That one took me about six to seven months to write that one.

There was a lot of family issues going on HealthWise.

So that was my release to concentrate and get into the world of fantasy.

And so you said you started writing in high school now from high school to 43.

That's a pretty big age gap there.

Did you do any writing between those two time periods?

No.

Life got a hold of me and took me in a different direction.

All right.

And so it took you six months isn't really that long for a book.

Did you have any kind of plan before you started that or any idea of what you wanted to do, or did you just kind of sit down and it happened.

It just happened.

As a kid, like most kids, I was always told I had imagination.

My head was in the clouds.

And just one day long time ago, I bought an old fashioned typewriter and I just put the paper and I thought, I'm just going to mess around a bit, see what happens.

And then I switched over to the computer and it just took off.

It's like that with all of my books.

It just comes right out of me.

I don't plan anything.

I don't write things down unless I have more than two main characters.

Right.

I do the basic jot things.

Right.

And so what was that first book about?

That first one that you got down?

Oh, that one's adopted.

And when she hit 18, they kicked her out of the house.

And she was always told that she was crazy because she was always, you know, seeing things, hearing things.

And she ends up going on a journey with three brothers that are shapeshifters.

And she learns that she's connected to nature.

She ends up discovering that she is the Queen of the Faye.

And it goes on a journey and it has adventure and a lot of stuff mixed into it.

Okay.

And now you have quite a few because I've narrated some of your books.

Well, I've narrated one so far with several more scheduled.

But what determines whether you're going to have a book be a one off, like Stand Alone by itself or whether it's going to go into a series because this current series you're writing is you're working on book seven right now?

Yes, I'm on book seven.

So is there something that in your mind you just know?

Like I'm going like when you wrote book one, the Sears, did you know this is going to be seven books or did you start with that one?

And then you said, hey, let's expand.

No, I never know.

I let the characters in the book tell me what it wants.

I never look to see how many I'm going to write, or I just start writing and it just continues.

And then usually I know right at a cliffhanger, I'll stop.

I'll be like, okay, it's going to go to the next one.

I just let it flow that way for planning.

I let the story tell itself.

And if there needs to be more to it, I will.

Sometimes I leave it to where I think it's going to be a standalone book.

And when I get to the end, I'm like, there's going to be more to the story.

Yeah.

This one it started with, the first book is well, it's kind of the development of and I haven't gotten a chance to read all of the second book yet, but I know the first one is like a development kind of into the main female character and how she comes in contact with the other ones and then all the rest of them go into each of the male characters, right?

Yes.

Okay.

The first one is basically how things start.

And then each book after that is with her and her four mates.

So each book as the story continues, but each male has their own book, right.

That continues to where they all still interact and everything.

I know we've talked about this, but what made you decide other than just money, what made you decide to go the self published route as opposed to traditional publishing?

Like, how many traditional publishers did you reach out to and then just finally decided to go the self published route?

I've reached out to about five different publishing companies.

They all loved my book, but I couldn't afford because of I'm an unknown.

They wanted me to pay so much money for them to publish my book.

And I don't have the kind of money they wanted me to put down.

So I decided I did a lot of research, and there's a lot of other authors that I have read that have done self publishing.

And so looking into it, I felt that was the best course.

I do everything myself, and I'm lucky to find someone that will help me edit.

So for listeners and I'll get into this with you in a little bit.

But the first book that I auditioned for you that you picked me as the narrator, you said at the beginning, hey, if you notice any grammatical issues or like wording issues, let me know and I'll fix it.

And as I'm reading through it.

There weren't a lot.

A lot.

But it was just like, hey, this would be better if you actually on that first one, we added a prologue because it was like, we need a little more like, it's great that these care and that was dancing in the moonlight.

And so it was like, it's great that these characters have known each other for a long time, and you can feel that they've known each other for a long time.

But how did it start?

But how did it start on that one?

I know you worked on adding a prologue in there, and then we fixed some like your editor program hadn't caught some pretty obvious issues.

Go ahead.

Oh, you're fine.

Okay.

I was going to say, yeah, with one editing program, I thought it was catching everything.

And then we switched to the one that you use.

And I'm like, oh, there's a whole new world here.

Well, I actually just found out there's apparently extra things you can add into because Google Drive is all I was using.

But I've actually found out recently that there's an extra, like, add on thing that you can add that actually does an even better job of catching stuff.

So I haven't tried that yet, but I plan to today.

I'll be writing my own book later, so I'm going to try that as well.

Definitely let me know how that goes, because you can never have too many programs when I feel like too editing your own books is good.

But then it helps to have an extra set of eyes.

Just it does.

It really does.

Even narrating.

I mean, I will narrate reading the book, obviously.

I'll go listening back through and I'm like, man, that sounds really weird.

But I'm sure there's things, which is why typically when I submit a book, I'll say, hey, if there's something that sounds off to you or whatever, let me know and I'll fix it.

But there's just some things you just don't catch until you're like, in the moment or someone else's eyes on it.

Exactly.

And it is a big help having someone I used to.

My daughter would, you know, she started and she helped me and stuff until she realized that I had some spicy, spicy scenes.

She's 18.

She's like, no, I'm not reading my mother's books.

Now.

You have actually had several different narrators.

So when you put up a book for auditions, did you kind of listen for when you're listening?

And I have no idea how many different people you had auditioning for your books, but what do you kind of look for when you're listening through auditions?

To find the narrator for the book.

The voice has to almost match what I would envision the character sounding like, because all my books are the main character is a female, and she has to be strong but soft and gentle at certain places.

So I always do different scenes from the book that I want people to read.

The voice has to be because I grew up also listening with books on tape.

And the voice has to be worth listening to.

That something that draws you in and you want to keep listening that the voice is.

I don't know what the word is, but it just captivates you, right?

I would imagine it can't be super monotone and boring.

You don't want to listen anymore.

It's to where I've had that.

And I'm just like, no, there's always been a range that I've tried just to see what fits because I was so lucky to stumble upon you with how you narrate.

And it captures the book.

And I just want to keep listening.

It's like I want to know more even though I wrote it.

Right.

Listening to it just because, as you say, I'm in book seven, so I don't always remember what is in book one.

Listening to it, it's like, okay, I want no more.

It's just because you have bits and pieces, but you don't remember word for word when you're writing it, right?

That's cool.

Yes.

Honestly.

So Dancing in the moonlight, you were my first fiction book that I narrated Besides stuff that I had done for my other Me's podcast.

And so it was a little nerve racking because I'm like, man, I've never done or I hadn't yet to actually get a fiction narration.

But then as you're telling me like, hey, I have some spicy scenes in my books, I'm like, so the name that you hired me.

And I'm like, this is like clean nonfiction stuff.

So the phrase Victoria name actually came into existence because of you.

Things happen.

And it's good to keep and there's a lot of narrators that will keep different names like their children's books are under a different name than their spicy romance books, then whatever.

So it was just I'm thinking, do I need a different name?

And then you're like, I want you to do all of my stuff now.

And I'm like, okay, we're going to do a different name now.

Yeah.

And it was born.

And you I've probably talked to you more than any other author or publisher up to this point, just because we talked back and forth about the books and developing the books and then the editing back and forth where I really like that Google Drive gives us the option to I can change something and leave a little comment on there so you can see, hey, this is what I changed and approve it or not, right?

We clicked right off the bat as soon as we started talking, which is really nice to have almost it's a partnership and to have that communication.

And just some days, just when you're frustrated, just be like, hey, what you doing?

Yeah.

Well, I imagine I don't know how obviously I'm to the point where my book is still being written so I don't know how the editing relationship or any of that part works, but I imagine having that kind of relationship with anyone you're dealing with during the process just it would be weird to have for me, it would be weird to have this, like, dry, very business like relationship when it's like you're creating the book is your baby because you wrote it, but then it becomes mine because I'm the one that has to perform this and come up with all these voices and stuff.

So having that relationship and then in the case of I haven't had this issue with your books yet, but with other books that I've done.

Oh, that characters line came out too harsh in this spot or whatever the case may be.

At the end of the day, I don't want the author to be unhappy with the finished product.

Oh, yeah, that's the thing.

I've always been more easygoing because me with my books.

But as you said, we've talked about before, it's where when you're reading the manuscript, sometimes you'd be like, is it more meant this way or that way?

So we're able to communicate how the characters are supposed to be.

So when you read it, you have that idea.

And that's why when I listen to it, I'm like, Yep, that's it.

Well, that's for me, too, as the person that has to interpret and come up with these voices, that's definitely the sign to me of a good writer.

If you've written the book to where, like, I can read it.

And I know, oh, with this character, I need to use a more harsh voice because he's the Dragon King and he's kind of a D*** through the book.

And then the other one's like, oh, Duke is super nice and sweet, and so he needs to have a little bit of what I call my main male character voice just because it's like the one that if it's the person that's talking the most, it needs to be a voice I can use the most.

So that's kind of how I go about that.

But it's definitely, like, written into your book, how that person talks.

It's very obvious, like, how I imagine in my head they would sound right.

So moving on to you actually, have you designed all of your own covers?

Yes.

And what goes into that process?

Do you see it in your head or how do you go about designing the covers for your books?

There's a program that I use that we've talked about, and it's to where I go through the fantasy section, the werewolf, the vampire, mythical, and just scroll through because there's thousands of different photos and just whatever strikes out at me, that's the cover.

So then I designed that with the wording and the colors and everything.

And once I'm happy with that, then I can upload it to when I go to publish it's to where it's already set.

So then I can make sure it fits in the lines and stuff and all that.

And so how did you teach yourself how to do the formatting and stuff for the covers and the books themselves?

As a self publishing person that has to do that themselves?

Let's see, I just messed around with different programs and there was a lot of trial and error and a lot of frustrated nights and just mumbling to myself and walking away, then coming back to it and just I've always been that way.

I'm stubborn, so I have to get it right.

So I will constantly work at it.

And until it just right, I don't know how I taught myself.

It's just a lot of trial and error, I guess.

How many books have you written at this point, do you know?

Off the top of my head, I think 15.

Okay.

And in the last two years, three years.

I'd say about roughly around like about two years.

Okay.

That's quite a publishing schedule.

I imagine at this point, though, you're like formatting things.

You just know at this point after 15 ish books, you just kind of know, this is all the steps that I have to do to get it done because I've done it 15 times already.

Oh, yeah.

It's just like I can do it with my eyes closed because it's so programmed into my brain that it's just get it done.

It's sent off to do to get published and it's just there.

And so what do you do?

So once your book is you've come up with your idea, you've written at least one book.

At that point, you've decided whether the story needs to continue.

You've got it formatted, you've got it up for sale.

What do you do to get sales?

Do you do any kind of advertising or how do you go about getting people to then buy your books?

Oh, yeah.

It's because when you are by yourself, you know, you don't have a company help promoting it and putting all their team into it.

It's a lot of social media with like Facebook advertised through there, and then I have it going through Instagram and I'm still navigating TikTok now.

I have not come across any more videos.

I did come across one.

And I don't know if you haven't done more than the one or if I just haven't been shown that video yet.

But you did one that you did like lines and quotes from multiple books from the I think that was the one that I tagged you in the Sears.

There is six of them so far, each individual book.

And that's the hard part.

I'm not big with social media.

I've always been more old school.

Just do the work, get that to me, the top priority.

Plus with my kids and life gets going and everything and I'm sitting there, it's like, oh, yeah, it's been a couple of days.

I got to get on there.

Well, I've seen I think there's a lot of authors on there that do excuse me.

Like, you did the quotes and stuff like that from their book, but then there's a lot of them that just get on there and just talk about their product like we're doing on here, talking about their process and like books that they've read recently that they like and just life in general.

So it doesn't all have to be like quotes and stuff like that.

But yeah, you do have to actually do it.

Oh, yeah.

Well, see, that's the thing.

I've always been a private person.

And for me, like talking with you because I know you in a way, and we have that repertoire where I can talk this way on the podcast, and I'm good with that.

But being in front of a camera and talking and showing myself, I am very camera shy.

I'm the one always behind the camera, taking pictures, taking video, doing whatever needs to be done.

But turning it back on me, that is out of my comfort zone that I've been slowly working myself up to do a step.

It'll be to where I posted a couple just videos of myself talking, which I don't like to do on my Facebook page for my books.

And it's to where I figure once the nice weather hits and I can be outside, I can do more things and start getting myself more out there.

It's just the baby steps to overcome the shyness of a camera and to put myself out there that way.

I'm kind of the same well, not anymore, but in September when I started narrating, and then in October, when my first podcast launched, that's how I was like, man, this is so awkward to have, like a camera in my face while I'm doing this.

And now it's just like that's just what I do now.

When I made the jump over to Tik Tok, it was a little more natural because I was used to having for the last several months, I had had a camera in my face every day.

Right.

I've watched a lot of best selling authors and stuff, but they're so used to it.

But I'm sure a lot of people have that.

I'm sure some have that outgoing personality to wear a camera right there.

They have no problem.

And then there's others, I'm sure, like me that is not comfortable with it.

In fact, one of the authors that I interview, I think in two weeks, she said, if you're going to make me record myself, like, on video, I'm not going to do it.

I said, I don't have to see your face.

I'm not going to use the video anywhere.

Right.

Yeah.

It's just with that because there are some podcasts that shows the people and everything, and I just know my voice.

I'm good with that.

I can talk all day long.

Yeah, well, I've come to learn that a lot of authors are very introverted and so there's a few that are like on TikTok and showing their face or whatever.

But even some of them will say this is awkward and this is not me or whatever.

And then there's some that are just their faces there all the time and they seem totally comfortable with that.

Yeah, but I know I am definitely unless I'm with a group of friends, then I'm more outgoing.

But it's to where I have become more of an introvert than the pandemic and more of a hermit writing.

I just dive into my books.

There is the real world that I deal with, but to me, I enjoy being in the fantasy world, right?

Anything can happen and I have no problem talking about it.

But yeah, put me in front of a camera.

I clam right up.

Julie's mom used to read Hans Christian Anderson stories to her when she was a kid.

Today we have chosen the Little Mermaid.

The Little Mermaid is a Danish literary fairy tale written by the Danish author Hans Christian Anderson.

The story follows the journey of a young Mermaid who is willing to give up her life in the sea as a Mermaid to gain a human soul.

The tale was first published in 1837 as part of a collection of fairy tales for children.

The original story has been a subject of multiple analysis by scholars such as Jacob Bagguild and Pernil Higgard, as well as the folklorist Maria Tadar.

These analyses cover various aspects of the story, from interpreting the themes to discussing why Anderson chose to write a tragic story with a happy ending.

It has been adapted to various media, including musical theater, anime, ballet, opera and film.

There is also a statue portraying the Mermaid in Copenhagen, Denmark, where the story was written and first published.

Don't forget, we are also continuing the original story of Beauty and the Beast on our Patreon, the Little Mermaid.

Far out in the ocean, where the water is as blue as the prettiest cornflower and as clear as Crystal.

It is very, very deep.

So deep indeed, that no cable could fathom it.

Many Church steeples, piled one upon another, would not reach from the ground beneath to the surface of the water above.

There dwell the Sea King and his subjects.

We must not imagine that there is nothing at the bottom of the sea but bare yellow sand.

No, indeed, the most singular flowers and plants grow there, the leaves and stems of which are so pliant that the slightest agitation of the water causes them to stir as if they had life.

Fishes, both large and small, glide between the branches as birds fly among the trees.

Here upon land, in the deepest spot of all stands the Castle of the Sea King.

Its walls are built of coral, and the long Gothic windows are of the clearest Amber.

The roof is formed of shells that open and close as the water flows over them.

Their appearance is very beautiful, for an each lies a glittering Pearl which would be fit for the diadem of a Queen.

The sea King had been a widower for many years, and his aged mother kept house for him.

She was a very wise woman and exceedingly proud of her high birth.

On that account she wore twelve oysters on her tail, while others, also of high rank, were only allowed to wear six.

She was, however, deserving, a very great praise, especially for her care of the little sea princesses, her granddaughters.

They were six beautiful children, but the youngest was the prettiest of them all.

Her skin was as clear and delicate as a rose leaf, and her eyes as blue as the deepest sea.

But like all the others, she had no feet, and her body ended in a fish's tail.

All day long they played in the great halls of the Castle, or among the living flowers that grew out of the walls.

The large Amber windows were open, and the fish swam in just as the swallows fly into our houses when we open the windows, accepting that the fishes swam up to the princesses ate out of their hands and allowed themselves to be stroked.

Outside the Castle there was a beautiful garden in which grew bright red and dark blue flowers and blossoms like flames of fire.

The fruit glittered like gold, and the leaves and stems waved to and fro continually.

The Earth itself was the finest sand, but blue as the flame of burning sulphur.

Over everything lay a peculiar blue radiance, as if it were surrounded by the air from above through which the blue sky shone instead of the dark depths of the sea.

In calm weather the sun could be seen looking like a purple flower, with the light streaming from the Calyx.

Each of the young princesses had a little plot of ground in the garden where she might dig and plant as she pleased.

One arranged her flower bed into the form of a whale.

Another thought it better to make hers like the figure of a little Mermaid, but that of the youngest was round like the sun and contained flowers as red as his rays at sunset.

She was a strange child, quiet and thoughtful, and while her sisters would be delighted with the wonderful things which they obtained from the wrecks of vessels, she cared for nothing but her pretty red flowers like the sun, excepting a beautiful marble statue.

It was the representation of a handsome boy carved out of pure white stone, which had fallen to the bottom of the sea from a wreck she planted by the statue a rosecolored weeping Willow.

It grew splendidly and very soon hung its fresh branches over the statue, almost down to the blue Sands.

The shadow had a Violet tint and waved to and fro like the branches.

It seemed as if the Crown of the tree and the root were at play and trying to kiss each other.

Nothing gave her so much pleasure as to hear about the world above the sea.

She made her old grandmother tell her all she knew of the ships and of the towns, the people, and the animals.

To her it seemed most wonderful and beautiful to hear that the flowers of the land should have fragrance and not those below the sea, that the trees of the forest should be green, and that the fishes among the trees could sing so sweetly that it was quite a pleasure to hear them.

Her grandmother called the little birds fishes, or she would not have understood her, for she had never seen birds.

Then you have reached your 15th year, said the grandmother.

You will have permission to rise up out of the sea, to sit on the rocks in the moonlight while the great ships are sailing by, and then you will see both forests and towns.

In the following year.

One of the sisters would be 15, but as each was a year younger than the other, the youngest would have to wait five years before her turn came, to rise up from the bottom of the ocean and see the Earth as we do.

However, each promised to tell the others what she saw on her first visit and what she thought the most beautiful.

For their grandmother could not tell them enough.

There were so many things on which they wanted information.

None of them longed so much for her turn to come.

As the youngest, she who had the longest time to wait and who was so quiet and thoughtful.

Many nights she stood by the open window, looking up through the dark blue water and watching the fish as they splashed about with their fins and tails.

She could see the moon and stars shining faintly, but through the water they looked larger than they do to our eyes.

When something like a black cloud passed between her and them, she knew that it was either a whale swimming over her head or a ship full of human beings who never imagined that a pretty little Mermaid was standing beneath them, holding out her white hands towards the keel of their ship.

As soon as the eldest was 15, she was allowed to rise to the surface of the ocean.

When she came back, she had hundreds of things to talk about.

But the most beautiful, she said, was to lie in the moonlight on a sandbank in the quiet sea near the coast, and to gaze on a large town nearby where the lights were twinkling like hundreds of stars, to listen to the sounds of the music, the noise of carriages and the voices of human beings, and then to hear the Merry bells Peel out from the Church steeples.

And because she could not go near to all those wonderful things, she longed for them more than ever.

Oh, did not the youngest sister listen eagerly to all these descriptions, and afterwards, when she stood at the open window, looking up through the dark blue water, she thought of the great city with all its bustle and noise and even fancied.

She could hear the sound of the Church bells down in the depths of the sea.

In another year the second sister received permission to rise to the surface of the water and to swim about where she pleased.

She rose just as the sun was setting, and this, she said, was the most beautiful side of all.

The whole sky looked like gold, while Violet and rosecolored clouds, which she could not describe, floated over her, and still more rapidly the clouds flew a large flock of wild Swans towards the setting sun, looking like a long white veil across the sea.

She also swam towards the sun, but it sunk into the waves, and the rosy tints faded from the clouds and from the sea.

The third sister's turn followed.

She was the boldest of them all, and she swam up a broad river that emptied itself into the sea.

On the banks she saw green Hills covered with beautiful vines, palaces and castles peeped out from amid the proud trees of the forest.

She heard the birds singing, and the rays of the sun were so powerful that she was obliged often to dive down under the water to cool her burning face.

In a narrow Creek she found a whole troop of little human children, quite naked and sporting about in the water.

She wanted to play with them, but they fled in a great fright, and then a little black animal came to the water.

It was a dog, but she did not know that, for she had never before seen one.

This animal barked at her so terribly that she became frightened and rushed back to the open sea.

But she said she should never forget the beautiful forest, the green Hills, and the pretty little children who could swim in the water, although they had not fish's tails.

The fourth sister was more timid.

She remained in the midst of the sea, but she said it was quite as beautiful there as nearer the land.

She could see for so many miles around her, and the sky above looked like a Bell of glass.

She had seen the ships, but at such a great distance that they looked like Seagulls.

The Dolphins sported in the waves, and the great whales spouted water from their nostrils till it seemed as if 100 fountains were playing in every direction.

The fifth sister's birthday occurred in the winter, so when her turn came she saw that the others had not seen.

The first time they went up.

The sea looked quite green, and large icebergs were floating about each like a Pearl, she said, but larger and loftier than the churches built by men.

They were of the most singular shapes and glittered like diamonds.

She had seated herself upon one of the largest and let the wind play with her long hair.

She remarked that all the ships sailed by rapidly and steered as far away as they could from the iceberg, as if they were afraid of it.

Towards evening, as the sun went down, dark clouds covered the sky.

The Thunder rolled and the lightning flashed, and the red light glowed on the iceberg as they rocked and tossed on the heaving sea.

On all the ships the sails were reefed with fear and trembling, while she sat calmly on the floating iceberg, watching the blue lightning as it darted its forked flashes into the sea.

When first the sisters had permission to rise to the surface, they were each delighted with the new and beautiful sights they saw.

But now, as grown up girls, they could go when they pleased, and they had become indifferent about it.

They wished themselves back again in the water, and after a month had passed, they said it was much more beautiful down below and pleasanter to be at home.

Yet often in the evening hours, the five sisters would twine their arms round each other and rise to the surface in a row.

They had more beautiful voices than any human being could have, and before the approach of a storm, and when they expected a ship would be lost, they swam before the vessel and sang sweetly of the delights to be found in the depths of the sea, and begging the sailors not to fear if they sank to the bottom.

But the sailors could not understand the song.

They took it for the howling of the storm, and these things were never to be beautiful for them.

For if the ship sank, the men were drowned, and their dead bodies alone reached the palace of the sea King.

When the sisters rose arm in arm through the water in this way, their youngest sister would stand quite alone, looking after them, ready to cry only that the mermaids have no tears, and therefore they suffer more.

How were I but 15 years old?

Said she.

I know that I shall love the world up there and all the people who live in it.

At last she reached her 15th year.

Well, now you are grown up.

Said the old Dowager, her grandmother.

So you must let me adorn you like your other sisters.

And she placed a wreath of white lilies in her hair, and every flower leaf was half a Pearl, and the old lady ordered eight great oysters to attach themselves to the tail of the Princess to show her high rank.

But they hurt me so, said the little Mermaid.

Pride must suffer pain.

Replied the old lady.

Oh, how gladly she would have shaken off all this grandeur and laid aside the heavy wreath.

The red flowers in her own garden would have suited her much better, but she could not help herself.

So she said farewell and rose as lightly as a bubble to the surface of the water.

The sun had just set as she raised her head above the waves, but the clouds were tinted with Crimson and gold, and through the glimmering Twilight beamed the Evening Star in all its beauty.

The sea was calm, and the air was mild and fresh.

A large ship with three masts lay be calmed on the water, with only one sail set, for not a breeze stiffed, and the sailors sat idle on deck or amongst the rigging.

There was music and song on board, and as darkness came on, a hundred colored lanterns were lighted, as if the flags of all nations waved in the air.

The Little Mermaids swam close to the cabin windows, and now and then, as the waves lifted her up, she could look in through clear glass window panes and see a number of welldressed people within.

Among them was a young Prince, the most beautiful of all, with large black eyes.

He was 16 years of age, and his birthday was being kept with much rejoicing.

The sailors were dancing on deck, but when the Prince came out of the cabin, more than 100 Rockets rose in the air, making it as bright as day.

The Little Mermaid was so startled that she dived underwater, and when she again stretched out her head, it appeared as if all the stars of heaven were falling around her.

She had never seen such fireworks before.

Great sun spurted fire about, splendid fireflies flew into the blue air, and everything was reflected in the clear, calm sea beneath.

The ship itself was so brightly illuminated that all the people and even the smallest rope could be distinctly and plainly seen.

And how handsome the young Prince looked as he pressed the hands of all present and smiled at them while the music resounded through the clear night air.

It was very late, yet the Little Mermaid could not take her eyes from the ship or from the beautiful Prince.

The colored lanterns had been extinguished.

No more Rockets rose in the air, and the Cannon had ceased firing.

But the sea became restless, and a moaning, grumbling sound could be heard beneath the waves.

Still, the Little Mermaid remained by the cabin window, rocking up and down on the water, which enabled her to look in.

After a while the sails were quickly unfurled, and the Noble ship continued her passage.

But soon the waves rose higher.

Heavy clouds darkened the sky, and lightning appeared in the distance.

A dreadful storm was approaching once more.

The sails were reefed, and the great ship pursued her flying course over the raging sea.

The waves rose mountains high, as if they would have overtopped the mast, but the ship dived like a Swan between them and then rose again on their lofty, foaming crests.

To the Little Mermaid, this appeared pleasant sport.

Not so to the sailors.

At length the ship groaned and creaked.

The thick planks gave way under the lashing of the sea.

As it broke over the deck, the main mast snapped asunder like a Reed.

The ship lay over on her side, and the water rushed in.

The little Mermaid now perceived that the crew were in danger.

Even she herself was obliged to be careful to avoid the beams and planks of the wreck, which lay scattered on the water.

At one moment it was so pitch dark that she could not see a single object, but a flash of lightning revealed the whole scene.

She could see everyone who had been on board except the Prince.

When the ship parted.

She had seen him sink into the deep waves, and she was glad, for she thought he would now be with her.

And then she remembered that human beings could not live in the water, so that when he got down to her father's palace he would be quite dead, but he must not die.

So she swam about among the beams and planks which strewn the surface of the sea, forgetting that they could crush her to pieces.

Then she dived deeply under the dark waters, rising and falling with the waves, till at length she managed to reach the young Prince, who was fast losing the power of swimming in that stormy sea.

His limbs were failing him, his beautiful eyes were closed, and he would have died had not the little Mermaid come to his assistance.

She held his head above the water and let the waves drift them where they would.

In the morning the storm had ceased, but of the ship not a single fragment could be seen.

The sun rose up, red and glowing from the water, and its beams brought back the hue of health to the Prince's cheeks, but his eyes remained closed.

The Mermaid kissed his high, smooth forehead and stroked back his wet hair.

He seemed to her like the marble statue in her little garden, and she kissed him again and wished that he might live.

Presently they came in sight of land.

She saw lofty blue mountains on which the white snow rested, as if a flock of Swans were lying upon them.

Near the coast were beautiful green forests, and close by stood a large building, whether a Church or a convent, she could not tell.

Orange and Citron trees grew in the garden, and before the door stood lofty palms.

The sea here formed a little Bay in which the water was quite still, but very deep.

So she swam with the handsome Prince to the beach, which was covered with fine white sand, and there she laid him in the warm Sunshine, taking care to raise his head higher than his body.

Then Bell sounded in the large white building, and a number of young girls came into the garden.

The little Mermaid swam out further from the shore and placed herself between some high rocks that rose out of the water.

Then she covered her head and neck with the foam of the sea so that her little face might not be seen, and watched to see what would become of the poor Prince.

She did not wait long before she saw a young girl approach the spot where he lay.

She seemed frightened at first, but only for a moment.

Then she fetched a number of people, and the mermaids saw that the Prince came to life again and smiled upon those who stood around him.

But to her he sent no smile.

He knew not that she had saved him.

This made her very unhappy, and when he was led away into the great building, she dived down thoroughly into the water and returned to her father's Castle.

She had always been silent and thoughtful, and now she was more so than ever.

Her sisters asked her what she had seen during her first visit to the surface of the water, but she would tell them nothing.

Many an evening and morning did she rise to the place where she had left the Prince.

She saw the fruits in the garden ripen till they were gathered, the snow on the tops of the mountains melt away.

But she never saw the Prince, and therefore she returned home, always more sorrowful than before.

It was her only comfort to sit in her own little garden and fling her arm round the beautiful marble statue, which was like the Prince.

But she gave up tending her flowers, and they grew in wild confusion over the paths, Twining their long leaves and stems round the branches of the trees, so that the whole place became dark and gloomy.

At length she could bear it no longer, and told one of her sisters all about it.

Then the others heard the secret, and very soon it became known to two mermaids whose intimate friend happens to know who the Prince was.

She had also seen the festival on board ship, and she told them where the Prince came from and where his palace stood.

Come, little sister, said the other princesses.

Then they entwined their arms and rose up in a long road to the surface of the water, close by the spot where they knew the Prince's Palace stood.

It was built of bright yellow shining stone, with long flights of marble steps, one of which reached quite down to the sea.

Splendid gilded Capulas rose over the roof, and between the pillars that surrounded the whole building stood lifelike statues of marble.

Through the clear Crystal of the lofty windows could be seen Noble rooms with costly silk curtains and hangings of tapestry, while the walls were covered with beautiful paintings, which were a pleasure to look at.

In the center of the largest saloon, a fountain threw its sparkling jets high up into the glass cupola of the ceiling, through which the sun shone down upon the water and upon the beautiful plants growing round the Basin of the fountain.

Now that she knew where he lived, she spent many an evening and many a night on the water near the palace.

She would swim much nearer the shore than any of the others ventured to do.

Indeed, once she went quiet up the narrow channel under the marble balcony, which threw a broad shadow on the water.

Here she would sit and watch the young Prince, who thought himself quite alone in the bright moonlight.

She saw him many times of an evening, sailing in a pleasant boat, with music playing and flags waving.

She peeped out from among the green rushes, and if the wind caught her long, silvery white veil, those who saw it believed it to be a Swan spreading out its wings.

On many a night, too, when the fishermen with their torches were out at sea, she heard them relate so many good things about the doings of the young Prince that she was glad she had saved his life when he had been tossed about half dead on the waves, and she remembered that his head had rested on her bosom, and how heartily she had kissed him.

But he knew nothing of all this and could not even dream of her.

She grew more and more fond of human beings and wished more and more to be able to wander about with those whose world seemed to be so much larger than her own.

They could fly over the sea and ships and Mount the high Hills which were far above the clouds, and the lands they possessed.

Their woods and their fields stretched far away beyond the reach of her sight.

There was so much that she wished to know, and her sisters were unable to answer all her questions.

And she applied to her old grandmother, who knew all about the upper world, which she very rightly called the Lands Above the Sea.

If human beings are not drowned, asked the little Mermaid, can they live forever?

Do they never die as we do here in the sea?

Yes, replied the old lady.

They also must die, and their term of life is even shorter than ours.

We sometimes live to 300 years, but when we cease to exist here, we only become the foam on the surface of the water, and we have not even a grave down here.

Of those we love, we have not immortal souls.

We shall never live again.

But like the green seaweed, when once it has been cut off, we can never flourish more.

Human beings, on the contrary, have a soul which lives forever, lives after the body has been turned to dust, it rises up through the clear, pure air beyond the glittering stars.

As we rise out of the water and behold all the land of the Earth, so do they rise to unknown and glorious regions which we shall never see.

Why have not we in a mortal soul?

Asked the little Mermaid Mournfully.

I would give gladly all the hundreds of years that I have to live to be a human being only for one day and to have the hope of knowing the happiness of that glorious world above the stars.

You must not think of that.

Said the old woman.

We feel ourselves to be much happier and much better off than human beings.

So I shall die, said the little Mermaid.

And as the foam of the sea I shall be driven about never again to hear the music of the waves or to see the pretty flowers nor the red sun.

Is there anything I can do to win an immortal soul?

No, said the old woman.

Unless a man were to love you so much that you were more to him than his father or mother.

And if all his thoughts and all his love were fixed upon you, and the priest placed his right hand in yours, and he promised to be true to you here and hereafter.

Then his soul would glide into your body and you would obtain a share in the future happiness of mankind.

He would give a soul to you and retain his own as well.

But this can never happen.

Your fish's tale, which amongst us is considered so beautiful, is thought on Earth to be quite ugly.

They do not know any better.

And they think it necessary to have two stout props which they call legs in order to be handsome.

Then the little Mermaid sighed and looked sorrowfully at her fish's tail.

Let us be happy.

Said the old lady.

And Dart and spring about during the 300 years that we have to live, which is really quite long enough.

After that we can rest ourselves all the better.

This evening we are going to have a court ball.

It is one of those splendid sights which we can never see on Earth.

The walls and the ceiling of the large ballroom were a thick but transparent Crystal may.

Hundreds of colossal shells, some of a deep red, others of a grass green, stood on each side in rows with blue fire in them, which lighted up the whole saloon and shone through the walls so that the sea was also illuminated.

Innumerable fishes, great and small, swam past the Crystal walls.

On some of them the scales glowed with a purple, brilliant sea, and on others they shone like silver and gold.

Through the halls float a broad stream, and in it danced the mermen and the mermaids to the music of their own sweet singing.

No one on Earth has such a lovely voice as theirs.

The little mermaids sang more sweetly than them all.

The whole court applauded her with hands and tails, and for a moment her heart felt quite gay, for she knew she had the loveliest voice of any on Earth or in the sea.

But she soon thought again of the world above her, for she could not forget the charming Prince, nor her sorrow that she had not an immortal soul like his.

Therefore she crept away silently out of her father's palace, and while everything within was gladness and song, she sat in her own little garden, sorrowful and alone.

Then she heard the bugle sounding through the water and thought, he is certainly sailing above he, on whom my wishes depend and in whose hands I should like to place the happiness of my life.

I will venture all for him and to win an immortal soul while my sisters are dancing in my father's palace.

I will go to the Sea Witch, of whom I have always been so much afraid.

But she can give me counsel and help.

And then the little Mermaid went out from her garden and took the road to the foaming Whirlpools behind which the sorceress lived.

She had never been that way before.

Neither flowers nor grass grew there.

Nothing but bare, Gray Sandy ground stretched out to the Whirlpool where the waterlike foaming mill wheels whirled around everything that it seized and cast it into the fathomless deep.

Through the midst of these crushing whirlpools, the little Mermaid was obliged to pass to reach the dominions of the Sea Witch, and also for a long distance.

The only road lay right across a quantity of warm, bubbling mire called by the witch her turf Moor.

Beyond this stood her house, in the center of a strange forest in which all the trees and flowers were Paula Pi.

Half animals and half plants.

They looked like serpents, with 100 heads growing out of the ground.

The branches were long, slimy arms with fingers like flexible worms, moving limb afterlimb from root to the top.

All that could be reached in the sea they seized upon and held fast so that it never escaped from their clutches.

The little Mermaid was so alarmed at what she saw that she stood still, and her heart beat with fear, and she was very nearly turning back.

But she thought of the Prince and of the human soul for which she longed, and her courage returned.

She fastened her long, flowing hair around her head so that the Paulippi might not seize hold of it.

She laid her hands together across her bosom, and then she darted forward as a fish shoots through the water.

Between the supple arms and fingers of the ugly polypi which were stretched out on each side of her, she saw that each held in its grasp something it had seized with its numerous little arms, as if they were iron bands, the white skeletons of human beings who had perished at sea and had sunk down into the deep waters.

Skeletons of land animals, oars rudders, and chests of ships were lying tightly grasped by their clinging arms.

Even a little Mermaid whom they had caught and strangled.

And this seemed the most shocking of all to the little Princess.

She now came to a space of marshy ground in the wood where large, fat water snakes were rolling in the mire and showing their ugly, drab colored bodies.

In the midst of this spot stood a house built with the bones of shipwrecked human beings.

There sat the sea witch, allowing a toad to eat from her mouth, just as people sometimes feed a Canary with a piece of sugar.

She called the ugly water snakes her little chickens and allowed them to crawl all over her bosom.

I know what you want.

Said the sea witch.

It is very stupid of you.

But you shall have it your way.

And it will bring you to sorrow.

My pretty Princess.

You want to get rid of your fish's tail and have two supports instead of it like human beings on Earth, so that the young Prince may fall in love with you and that you may have an immortal soul.

And then the witch laughed so loud and disgustingly that the toad and the snakes fell to the ground and lay there wiggling about you are but just in time.

Said the witch, for after sunrise tomorrow, I should not be able to help you till the end of another year.

I will prepare a draft for you with which you must swim to land tomorrow before sunrise and sit down on the shore and drink it.

Your tail will then disappear and shrink up into what mankind calls legs, and you will feel great pain as if a sword were passing through you.

But all who see you will say that you are the prettiest little human being they ever saw.

You will still have the same floating gracefulness of movement, and no dancer will ever tread so lightly.

But at every step you take, it will feel as if you were treading upon sharp knives, and that the blood must flow.

If you will bear all this, I will help you.

Yes, I will, said the little Princess in a trembling voice as she thought of the Prince and the immortal soul.

But think again, said the witch, for when once your shape has become like a human being, you can no more be a Mermaid, you will never return through the water to your sister's or to your father's palace again.

And if you do not win the love of the Prince so that he is willing to forgive his father and mother for your sake and to love you with his whole soul and allow the priest to join your hands, that you may be man and wife, then you will never have an immortal soul.

The first morning after he marries another, your heart will break and you will become foam on the crest of the waves.

I will do it, said the little Mermaid, and she became pale as death.

But I must be paid also, said the witch, and it is not a trifle that I ask.

You have the sweetest voice of any who dwell here in the depths of the sea, and you believe that you will be able to charm the Prince with it.

Also.

But this voice you must give to me the best thing you possess will I have for the price of my draft?

My own blood will be mixed with it, that it may be as sharp as a twoedged sword.

But if you take away my voice, said the little Mermaid, what is left for me?

Your beautiful form, your graceful walk, and your expressive eyes.

Surely with these you can Enchain a man's heart.

Well, have you lost your courage?

Put out your little tongue that I may cut it off as my payment.

Then you shall have the powerful draft.

It shall be, said the little Mermaid.

Then the witch placed her cauldron on the fire to prepare the magic draught.

Cleanliness is a good thing.

Said she, scouring the vessel with snakes, which she had tied together in a large knot.

Then she pricked herself in the breast and let the black blood drop into it.

The steam that rose formed itself into such horrible shapes that no one could look at them without fear.

Every moment the witch threw something else into the vessel, and when it began to boil, the sound was like the weeping of a crocodile.

When at last the magic draught was ready, it looked like the clearest water.

There it is for you.

Said the witch, and she cut off the Mermaid's tongue so that she became dumb and would never again speak or sing.

If the palabi should seize hold of you as you return through the wood, said the witch, throw over them a few drops of the potion, and their fingers will be torn into a thousand pieces.

But the little Mermaid had no occasion to do this, for the Paula Pi sprang back in terror when they caught sight of the glittering draught which shone in her hand like a twinkling star.

So she passed quickly through the wood and the Marsh, and between the rushing whirlpools she saw that in her father's palace the torches in the ballroom were extinguished, and all within asleep.

But she did not venture to go into them.

For now she was dumb and going to leave them forever.

She felt as if her heart would break.

She stole into the garden, took a flower from the flower beds of each of her sisters, kissed her hand a thousand times towards the palace, and then rose up through the dark blue waters.

The sun had not risen when she came inside of the Prince's Palace and approached the beautiful marble steps.

But the moon shone clear and bright, and the little Mermaid drank the magic draught, and it seemed as if a two edged sword went through her delicate body.

She fell into a swoon and lay like one dead.

When the sun arose and shone over the sea, she recovered and felt a sharp pain.

But just before her stood the handsome young Prince.

He fixed his coal black eyes upon her so earnestly that she cast down her own and then became aware that her fish's tail was gone and that she had as pretty a pair of white legs and tiny feet as any little maiden could have.

But she had no clothes, so she wrapped herself in her long, thick hair.

The Prince asked her who she was and where she came from, and she looked at him mildly and sorrowfully with her deep blue eyes, but she could not speak.

Every step she took was as the witch had said it would be.

She felt as if treading upon the point of needles or sharp knives, but she bore it willingly and stepped as lightly by the Prince's side as a soap bubble, so that he and all who saw her wandered at her graceful, swaying movements.

She was very soon arrayed in costly robes of silk and muslin, and was the most beautiful creature in the palace, but she was dumb and could neither speak nor sing.

Beautiful female slaves dressed in silk and gold stepped forward and sang before the Prince and his Royal parents.

One sang better than all the others, and the Prince clapped his hands and smiled at her.

This was great sorrow to the little Mermaid.

She knew how much more sweetly she herself could sing once, and she thought, oh, if he could only know that I have given away my voice forever to be with him.

The slaves next performed some pretty fairylike dances to the sound of beautiful music.

Then the little Mermaid raised her lovely white arms, stood on the tips of her toes, and glided over the floor and danced as no one yet had been able to dance.

At each moment her beauty became more revealed, and her expressive eyes appealed more directly to the heart than the songs of the slaves.

Everyone was enchanted, especially the Prince, who called her his little Foundling, and she danced again quite readily to please him, though each time her foot touched the floor it seemed as if she trod on sharp knives.

The Prince said she should remain with him always, and she received permission to sleep at his door on a velvet cushion.

He had a Page's dress made for her that she might accompany him on horseback.

They rode together through the sweet scented woods where the green bows touched their shoulders and the little birds sang among the fresh leaves.

She climbed with the Prince to the tops of high mountains, and although her tender feet bled so that even her steps were marked, she only laughed and followed him till they could see the clouds beneath them, looking like a flock of birds traveling to distant lands.

While at the Prince's Palace, and when all the households were asleep, she would go and sit on the broad marble steps, for it eased her burning feet to bathe them in the cold sea water.

And then she thought of all those below in the deep.

Once during the night, her sisters came up arm in arm, singing sorrowfully as they floated on the water.

She beckoned to them, and then they recognized her and told her how she had grieved them.

After that they came to the same place every night, and once she saw in the distance her old grandmother, who had not been to the surface of the sea for so many years, and the old sea King, her father with his Crown on his head.

They stretched out their hands towards her, but they did not venture so near the land as her sisters did.

As the days passed, she loved the Prince more fondly, and he loved her as he would love a little child.

But it never came into his head to make her his wife.

Yet unless he married her, she could not receive an immortal soul, and on the morning after his marriage with another, she would dissolve into the foam of the sea.

Do you not love me the best of them all?

The eyes of the little Mermaid seemed to say when he took her in his arms and kissed her fair forehead.

Yes, you are dear to me, said the Prince, for you have the best heart, and you are the most devoted to me.

You are like a young maiden whom I once saw, but whom I shall never meet again.

I was in a ship that was wrecked, and the waves cast me ashore near a Holy temple where several young maidens performed the service.

The youngest of them found me on the shore and saved my life.

I saw her but twice, and she is the only one in the world whom I could love.

But you are like her, and you have almost driven her image out of my mind.

She belongs to the Holy temple, and my good fortune has sent you to me instead of her, and we will never part.

He knows not that it was I who saved his life, thought the little Mermaid.

I carried him over the sea to the wood where the temple stands.

I sat beneath the foam and watched till the human beings came to help him.

I saw the pretty maiden that he loves better than he loves me, and the Mermaid sighed deeply, but she could not shed tears.

He says the maiden belongs to the Holy temple, therefore she will never return to the world.

They will meet no more.

While I am by his side and see him every day.

I will take care of him and love him and give up my life for his sake.

Very soon it was said that the Prince must marry, and that the beautiful daughter of a neighboring King would be his wife, for a fine ship was being fitted out.

Although the Prince gave out that he merely intended to pay a visit to the King, it was generally supposed that he really went to see his daughter.

A great company were to go with him.

The little Mermaid smiled and shook her head.

She knew the Prince's thoughts better than any of the others.

I must travel, he had said to her.

I must see this beautiful Princess.

My parents desire it, but they will not oblige me to bring her home as my bride.

I cannot love her.

She is not like the beautiful maiden in the temple whom you resemble.

If I were forced to choose a bride, I would rather choose you, my dumb Foundling with those expressive eyes.

And then he kissed her rosy mouth, played with her long, waving hair, and laid his head on her heart while she dreamed of human happiness and an immortal soul.

You are not afraid of the sea, my dumb child, said he as they stood on the deck of the Noble ship which was to carry them to the country of the neighboring King.

And then he told her of storm and of calm, of strange fishes in the deep beneath them, and of what the divers had seen there, and she smiled at his descriptions, for she knew better than anyone what wonders were at the bottom of the sea in the moonlight, when all on board were asleep excepting the man at the helm who was steering, she sat on the deck, gazing down through the clear water.

She thought she could distinguish her father's Castle, and upon it her aged grandmother with a silver Crown on her head, looking through the rushing tide at the keel of the vessel.

Then her sisters came up on the waves and gazed at her mournfully wringing their white hands.

She beckoned to them and smiled and wanted to tell them how happy and welloff she was.

But the cabin boy approached, and when her sisters dived down, he thought it was only the foam of the sea which he saw.

The next morning the ship sailed into the harbor of a beautiful town belonging to the King, whom the Prince was going to visit.

The Church bells were ringing, and from the high towers sounded a flourish of trumpets and soldiers with flying colors and glittering bayonets lined to the rocks through which they passed.

Every day was a festival.

Balls and entertainments followed one another, but the Princess had not yet appeared.

People said that she was being brought up and educated in a religious house where she was learning every Royal virtue.

At last she came, and the little Mermaid, who was very anxious to see whether she was really beautiful, was obliged to acknowledge that she had never seen a more perfect vision of beauty.

Her skin was delicately fair, and beneath her long dark eyelashes her laughing blue eyes shone with truth and purity.

It was you, said the Prince, who saved my life when I lay dead on the beach.

And he folded his blushing bride in his arms.

Oh, I am too happy, said he to the little Mermaid.

My fondest hopes are all fulfilled.

You will rejoice at my happiness for your devotion to me is great and sincere.

The little Mermaid kissed his hand and felt as if her heart were already broken.

His wedding morning would bring death to her, and she would change into the foam of the sea.

All the Church bells rung, and the heralds wrote about the town proclaiming.

The betrothal perfumed oil was burning in costly silver lamps.

On every altar the priests waved the censors, while the bride and bridegroom joined their hands and received the blessing of the Bishop.

The little Mermaid, dressed in silk and gold, held up the bride's train, but her ears heard nothing of the festive music, and her eyes saw not the Holy ceremony.

She thought of the night of death which was coming to her and of all she had lost in the world.

On the same evening, the bride and bridegroom went on board.

Ship cannons were roaring, flags waving, and in the center of the ship a costly tent of purple and gold had been erected.

It contained elegant couches for the reception of the bridal pair.

During the night, the ship, with swelling sails and a favorable wind, glided away smoothly and lightly over the calm sea.

When it grew dark, a number of colored lamps were lit and the sailors danced merrily on the deck.

The little Mermaid could not help thinking of her first rising out of the sea when she had seen similar festivities and joys, and she joined in the dance, poised herself in the air as a swallow when he pursues his prey, and all present cheered her with wonder.

She had never danced so elegantly before.

Her tender feet felt as if cut with sharp knives, but she cared not for it.

A sharper Pang had pierced through her heart.

She knew this was the last evening she should ever see the Prince, for whom she had forsaken her kindred and her home.

She had given up her beautiful voice and suffered unheard of pain daily for him while he knew nothing of it.

This was the last evening that she would breathe the same air with him or gaze on the starry sky and the deep sea in eternal night without a thought or a dream awaited her.

She had no soul, and now she could never win one.

All was joy and Gaiety on board ship till long after midnight.

She laughed and danced with the rest while the thoughts of death were in her heart.

The Prince kissed his beautiful bride while she played with his Raven hair till they went arm in arm to rest in the splendid tent, and all became still on board the ship.

The helmsmen, alone awake, stood at the helm.

The little Mermaid leaned her white arms on the edge of the vessel and looked towards the east for the first blush of mourning, for that first Ray of dawn that would bring her death.

She saw her sisters rising out of the flood.

They were as pale as herself, but their long, beautiful hair waved no more in the wind and had been cut off.

We have given our hair to the witch, said they, to obtain help for you that you may not die tonight.

She has given us a knife.

Here it is, see, it is very sharp.

Before the sun rises, you must plunge it into the heart of the Prince.

When the warm blood falls upon your feet, they will grow together again and form into a fish's tail, and you will be once more a Mermaid and return to us to live out your 300 years before you die and change into the salt sea foam.

Haste, then, he, or you must die before sunrise.

Our old grandmother moans so for you that her white hair is falling off from sorrow as ours fell under the witch's scissors.

Kill the Prince and come back hasten.

Do you not see the first red streaks in the sky?

In a few minutes the sun will rise and you must die.

And then they sighed deeply and mournfully and sank down beneath the waves.

The little Mermaid drew back the Crimson curtain of the tent and beheld the fair bride.

With her head resting on the Prince's breast.

She bent down and kissed his fair brow, then looked at the sky on which the rosy dawn grew brighter and brighter.

Then she glanced at the sharp knife and again fixed her eyes on the Prince, who whispered the name of his bride in his dreams.

She was in his thoughts, and the knife trembled in the hand of the little Mermaid, and she flung it far away from her into the waves.

The water turned red where it fell, and the drops that spurted up looked like blood.

She cast one more lingering, half fainting glance at the Prince and then threw herself from the ship into the sea and thought her body was dissolving into foam.

The sun rose above the waves, and his warm rays fell on the cold foam of the little Mermaid, who did not feel as if she were dying.

She saw the bright sun, and all around her floated hundreds of transparent, beautiful beings.

She could see through them the white sails of the ship and the red clouds in the sky.

Their speech was melodious but too ethereal to be heard by mortal ears, as they were also unseen by mortal eyes.

The Little Mermaid perceived that she had a body like theirs, and that she continued to rise higher and higher out of the foam.

Where am I?

Asked she, and her voice sounded ethereal as the voice of those who were with her.

No earthly music could imitate it among the daughters of the heir, answered one of them.

A Mermaid has not an immortal soul, nor can she obtain one unless she wins the love of a human being.

On the power of another hangs her eternal destiny.

But the daughters of the heir.

Although they do not possess an immortal soul can by their good deeds procure one for themselves.

We fly to warm countries and cool the sultry air that destroys mankind with the pestilence we carry the perfume of the flowers to spread health and restoration.

After we have striven for 300 years to all the good in our power we receive an immortal soul and take part in the happiness of mankind.

You poor little Mermaid have tried with your whole heart to do as we are doing.

You have suffered and endured and raised yourself to the spirit world by your good deeds and now by striving for 300 years in the same way you may obtain an immortal soul.

The little Mermaid lifted her glorified eyes towards the sun and felt them for the first time filling with tears.

On the ship in which she had left the Prince there were life and noise she saw him and his beautiful bride searching for her sorrowfully they gazed at the pearly foam as if they knew she had thrown herself into the waves.

Unseen, she kissed the forehead of her bride and fanned the Prince and then mounted with the other children of the heir to a rosy cloud that floated through the ether.

After 300 years, thus shall we float into the Kingdom of heaven, said she.

And we may even get there sooner, whispered one of her companions.

Unseen.

We can enter the houses of men where there are children and for every day on which we find a good child who is the joy of his parents and deserves their love our time of probation is shortened.

The child does not know when we fly through the room that we smile with joy at his good conduct for we can count one year less of our 300 years but when we see a naughty child or a wicked child we shed tears of sorrow and for every tear a day is added to our time of trial.

Thank you for joining Freya's fairy tales.