flung himself on the ground for a long
drink. Unluckily, the mermaid happened at that moment to be floating
on the water not very far off, and knew he was the boy who had been
given her before he was born. So she floated gently in to where he was
lying, she seized him by the arm, and the waves closed over them both.
Hardly had they disappeared, when the Red Knight stole cautiously up,
and could hardly believe his eyes when he saw the king's sword on the
bank. He wondered what had become of the youth, who an hour before had
guarded his treasure so fiercely; but, after all, that was no affair
of his! So, fastening the sword to his belt, he carried it to the
king.

The war was soon over, and the king returned to his people, who
welcomed him with shouts of joy. But when the princess from her window
saw that her betrothed was not among the attendants riding behind her
father, her heart sank, for she knew that some evil must have befallen
him, and she feared the Red Knight. She had long ago learned how
clever and how wicked he was, and something whispered to her that it
was _he_ who would gain the credit of having carried back the sword,
and would claim her as his bride, though he had never even entered her
chamber. And she could do nothing; for although the king loved her, he
never let her stand in the way of his plans.

The poor princess was only too right, and everything came to pass
exactly as she had foreseen it. The king told her that the Red Knight
had won her fairly, and that the wedding would take place next day,
and there would be a great feast after it.

In those days feasts were much longer and more splendid than they are
now; and it was growing dark when the princess, tired out with all she
had gone through, stole up to her own room for a little quiet. But the
moon was shining so brightly over the sea that it seemed to draw her
towards it, and taking her violin under her arm, she crept down to the
shore.

'Listen! listen!' said the mermaid to the prince, who was lying
stretched on a bed of seaweeds at the bottom of the sea. 'Listen! that
is your old love playing, for mermaids know everything that happens
upon earth.'

'I hear nothing,' answered the youth, who did not look happy. 'Take me
up higher, where the sounds can reach me.'

So the mermaid took him on her shoulders and bore him up midway to the
surface. 'Can you hear now?' she asked.

'No,' answered the prince, 'I hear nothing but the water rushin