Page 120 - Demo

120beings, 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.%u201d%u201cWhy have not we an immortal soul?%u201d%u2022 asked the little mermaid mournfully; %u201cI 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.%u201d%u201cYou must not think of that,%u201d%u009d said the old woman; %u201cwe feel ourselves to be much happier and much better off than human beings.%u201d%u201cSo I shall die,%u201d said the little mermaid, %u201cand 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?%u201d%u201cNo,%u201d said the old woman, %u201cunless 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%u2019s tail, 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.%u201dThen the little mermaid sighed, and looked sorrowfully at her fish%u2019s tail. %u201cLet us be happy,%u201d said the old lady, %u201cand dart and spring about during the three hundred years that we have to live, which is really quite long enough; after that we can rest ourselves all the