swallows fly into our houses when we open the windows; only 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
the blue sky were everywhere, above and below, instead of the dark
depths of the sea. In calm weather the sun could be seen, looking like a
reddish-purple flower with 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 in the form of a whale; another preferred to make hers like the
figure of a little mermaid; while the youngest child made hers round,
like the sun, and in it grew flowers as red as his rays at sunset.

She was a strange child, quiet and thoughtful. While her sisters showed
delight at the wonderful things which they obtained from the wrecks of
vessels, she cared only for her pretty flowers, red like the sun, and 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 rose-colored weeping willow. It grew rapidly
and soon hung its fresh branches over the statue, almost down to the
blue sands. The shadows had the color of violet and waved to and fro
like the branches, so that it seemed as if the crown of the tree and the
root were at play, 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 had
fragrance, while those below the sea had none; that the trees of the
forest were green; and that the fishes among the trees could sing so
sweetly that it was a pleasure to listen to them. Her grandmother
called the birds fishes, or the little mermaid would not have understood
what was meant, for she had never seen birds.

"When you have reached your fifteenth year," said the grandmother, "you
will have permission to