Life at the Palace

She drank the magic drink on the shore before sunrise. The pain was terrible, like a sword going through her body, and she fainted.

When she woke up, the sun was shining, and the prince was standing in front of her. She looked down and saw that she had legs — small, white, human legs. But she was without clothes, so she covered herself with her long hair.

The prince asked her who she was and where she had come from. She could only look at him with her dark blue eyes. She could not speak.

He took her hand and led her into the palace. She wore fine silk clothes, and everyone thought she was beautiful. But when the palace musicians played and the singers sang, the little mermaid felt sad. She knew her own voice had been more beautiful than any of theirs.

However, when music played and the dancers performed, the little mermaid stood up and began to dance. She moved so lightly and so gracefully that everyone stopped and stared. The prince clapped and called her his dear little foundling. She danced again and again, even though every step felt like knives cutting her feet.

The prince kept her near him always. They rode horses together through sweet-smelling forests. They climbed mountains so high that the clouds were below them. He was always kind to her, and she was always happy when she was near him.

"You are my dearest friend," the prince told her one day. "You remind me of a girl who once saved my life. I was in a shipwreck, and when I woke on the shore, a young girl from a temple was kneeling beside me. I only saw her for a moment, but I have never forgotten her. You look like her."

The little mermaid felt a sharp pain in her heart. She knew the truth — she was the one who had saved him. But the prince thought it was the girl from the temple.

Every night, she walked down to the sea to cool her burning feet in the cold water. Sometimes her sisters came to the surface and swam near her. They looked at her with sad eyes but could not come too close to the land.