Page 130 - Demo

130into 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. %u201cThere it is for you,%u201d%u2022 said the witch. Then she cut off the mermaid%u2019s tongue, so that she became dumb, and would never again speak or sing. %u201cIf the polypi should seize hold of you as you return through the wood,%u201d said the witch, %u201cthrow over them a few drops of the potion, and their fingers will be torn into a thousand pieces.%u201d But the little mermaid had no occasion to do this, for the polypi 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%u2019s palace the torches in the ballroom were extinguished, and all within asleep; but she did not venture to go in to 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 in sight of the prince%u2019s palace, and approached the beautiful marble steps, but the moon shone clear and bright. Then the little mermaid drank the magic draught, and it seemed as if a twoedged 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%u2019s 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