and wringing their
hands.

'Have you met with fear?' shouted the boy. And the answer came above
the noise of the waves.

'Oh, help! help! We are drowning!'

Then the boy flung off his clothes, and swam to the ship, where many
hands were held out to draw him on board.

'The ship is tossed hither and thither, and will soon be sucked down,'
cried the crew again. 'Death is very near, and we are frightened!'

[Illustration: THE SEA-MAIDEN WITH A WICKED FACE]

'Give me a rope,' said the boy in reply, and he took it, and made it
safe round his body at one end, and to the mast at the other, and
sprang into the sea. Down he went, down, down, down, till at last his
feet touched the bottom, and he stood up and looked about him. There,
sure enough, a sea-maiden with a wicked face was tugging hard at a
chain which she had fastened to the ship with a grappling iron, and
was dragging it bit by bit beneath the waves. Seizing her arms in both
his hands, he forced her to drop the chain, and the ship above
remaining steady, the sailors were able gently to float her off the
rock. Then taking a rusty knife from a heap of seaweed at his feet, he
cut the rope round his waist and fastened the sea-maiden firmly to a
stone, so that she could do no more mischief, and bidding her
farewell, he swam back to the beach, where his clothes were still
lying.

The youth dressed himself quickly and walked on till he came to a
beautiful shady garden filled with flowers, and with a clear little
stream running through. The day was hot, and he was tired, so he
entered the gate, and seated himself under a clump of bushes covered
with sweet-smelling red blossoms, and it was not long before he fell
asleep. Suddenly a rush of wings and a cool breeze awakened him, and
raising his head cautiously, he saw three doves plunging into the
stream. They splashed joyfully about, and shook themselves, and then
dived to the bottom of a deep pool. When they appeared again they were
no longer three doves, but three beautiful damsels, bearing between
them a table made of mother of pearl. On this they placed drinking
cups fashioned from pink and green shells, and one of the maidens
filled a cup from a crystal goblet, and was raising it to her mouth,
when her sister stopped her.

'To whose health do you drink?' asked she.

'To the youth who prepared the cake, and rapped my hand with the spoon
when I stretched it out of the earth,' answered the maiden, 'and was
neve