The World Under the Sea

Far out in the ocean, where the water is very deep and very blue, there lived the sea people. At the very bottom of the sea stood the palace of the Sea King. Its walls were made of coral, and its windows were made of amber. On the roof, hundreds of mussel shells opened and closed with the movement of the water, and inside each shell lay a shining pearl.

The Sea King had six daughters. All six were beautiful, but the youngest was the most beautiful of them all. Her skin was soft and pale, her eyes were as blue as the deep sea, and like all mermaids, she had a fish's tail instead of legs.

The six princesses spent their days playing in the halls of the palace, where living flowers grew out of the walls, and friendly fish swam in through the windows to eat from their hands. Outside the palace was a beautiful garden with trees of red and blue, and the ground was made of fine blue sand.

Each princess had a small piece of the garden that was her own. The youngest princess made her garden in the shape of a circle, like the sun, and she only grew red flowers. In the middle of her garden stood a beautiful marble statue of a boy, which had come down to the sea bottom from a shipwreck. She had planted a red weeping willow next to it, and its long branches hung down over the statue.

The youngest princess was quiet and thoughtful. While her sisters were happy to play, she spent much of her time dreaming about the world above the water. She asked her grandmother many questions about ships, and horses, and people, and flowers, and birds — all the things she had never seen.

"When you are fifteen years old," her grandmother told her, "you will be allowed to swim up to the surface and see the world above."

Each year, one of the sisters turned fifteen and could go up to the surface. When she came back, she told the others what she had seen. The eldest saw a big city by the sea, with lights and music and the sound of church bells. The second saw the sun setting, and the sky turned red and gold and violet. The third swam up a river and saw green hills, and children playing in the water. The fourth stayed far out at sea and watched dolphins jumping and whales blowing water into the air. The fifth went up in winter, and saw huge icebergs floating in the grey sea.

The youngest mermaid listened to every story with longing. She still had five years to wait, and the waiting felt very long.

At last, the day came. She was fifteen years old.