Far out in the ocean, where the water is as blue as the prettiest cornflower and as clear as the purest glass, there stood a magnificent palace made of coral and shimmering pearls. This was the home of the Sea King and his six mermaid daughters. The youngest princess was the most curious of all her sisters. While they decorated their gardens with treasures from sunken ships, she tended only a round flowerbed shaped like the sun above, filled with red flowers that glowed like flames. In the center stood a marble statue of a human boy that had fallen from a shipwreck long ago. The little mermaid would spend hours gazing at it, wondering about the strange world above the waves where creatures walked on two legs instead of swimming with beautiful tails.
The little mermaid loved nothing more than listening to her grandmother's stories about the human world. 'When you turn fifteen,' her grandmother promised, 'you may rise to the surface and sit on the rocks in the moonlight, watching the great ships sail by.' One by one, her older sisters came of age and returned with wondrous tales of cities with twinkling lights, children playing on beaches, and birds that could fly through the air. The little mermaid waited and waited, her heart growing more impatient each year. Finally, on the evening of her fifteenth birthday, her grandmother placed a wreath of white lilies in her hair. 'Now it is your turn, my child,' she said. 'Go and see the world you have dreamed of for so long.'
The little mermaid rose through the water like a bubble floating upward, her heart pounding with excitement. When her head broke through the surface, she gasped in wonder. The sun had just set, painting the sky in shades of pink and gold. Before her floated a magnificent ship decorated with hundreds of colored lanterns, and the sound of beautiful music drifted across the waves. She swam closer and peered through a window. Inside, people were dancing and celebrating, but her eyes found only one person: a young prince with kind dark eyes and a warm smile. He was the most wonderful human she had ever seen. She watched him for hours, unable to look away, not even when the stars came out and the moon rose high above.
Without warning, dark clouds swallowed the moon and a terrible storm swept across the sea. The winds howled and the waves rose as tall as mountains. The little mermaid watched in horror as the great ship was tossed about like a toy. Lightning cracked the mast in two, and the vessel began to sink. She dove through the churning waters, searching desperately among the wreckage until she found the prince, unconscious and sinking into the depths. With all her strength, she held his head above water and swam through the night, fighting against the waves. By dawn, the storm had passed. She carried him to a sandy shore near a white building with bells, and laid him gently on the beach. She hid behind some rocks as a young woman in white came running from the building and found him.
Day after day, the little mermaid returned to the surface, hoping to see her prince again. She learned that the white building was a temple, and she often saw the prince walking in his garden by the sea, though he never knew she was watching. Her sisters noticed how sad she had become and asked what troubled her heart. When she told them about the prince, they found out where his palace stood and took her there. Now she would swim to his palace every evening, watching his shadow move behind the windows, falling more deeply in love. But she was a creature of the sea, and he was a creature of the land. How could they ever be together?
'Is there no way for a mermaid to become human?' the little mermaid asked her grandmother. 'Only one,' the old woman replied with a worried frown. 'The sea witch might help you, but her magic always comes with a terrible price.' That night, the little mermaid swam to the darkest corner of the ocean where the witch lived among the bones of old ships. 'I can give you legs,' the witch cackled, 'but in exchange, you must give me your voice. You will never speak or sing again. And every step you take will feel as though you are walking on something sharp. If the prince marries another, the morning after his wedding, your heart will break and you will become nothing but foam on the waves.'
The little mermaid knew the price was steep, but her love was stronger than her fear. She nodded, and the witch cut out her beautiful voice and gave her a glowing potion. 'Drink this on the shore before sunrise,' the witch instructed. The mermaid swam toward the prince's palace, and as the first rays of sun touched the horizon, she drank the potion. A strange feeling swept through her body, and everything went dark. When she opened her eyes, she was lying on the palace steps, and where her tail had been, she now had two human legs. The prince himself found her there and wrapped his cloak around her shoulders. 'Who are you, mysterious girl?' he asked gently. She could only smile, for she had no voice to answer.
The prince brought the silent girl to live in his palace. Though she could not speak, her eyes sparkled with intelligence and kindness, and her dancing was the most graceful anyone had ever seen. She became the prince's dearest companion, riding beside him through forests, climbing mountains, and sailing on his ship. Every step she took brought discomfort, but she never let it show, for being near him was worth any pain. Yet when the prince spoke of love, it was always of the girl he remembered finding him on the beach. 'She saved my life,' he would say, not knowing that his true rescuer was the silent dancer who stood before him. The little mermaid's heart ached, but she loved him too much to be angry.
One day, the prince's father announced that his son must marry a princess from a neighboring kingdom. 'I do not wish to marry someone I don't love,' the prince told the little mermaid. 'The only one I could love is the girl who saved me.' But when he met the princess, he gasped in surprise. 'It's you!' he cried. 'You're the one who found me on the beach!' The princess smiled, for she was indeed the young woman from the temple. The wedding was announced, and church bells rang across the kingdom. That night, as the celebration continued on the royal ship, the little mermaid's sisters rose from the waves. 'We have given our hair to the witch for this magic knife,' they called. 'If you use it before sunrise, you can return to the sea!' But the mermaid looked at the sleeping prince and let the knife fall into the waves. She could never hurt him.
As the first light of dawn touched the sky, the little mermaid felt herself growing lighter and lighter. But instead of becoming foam on the waves, something wonderful happened. She rose into the air and found herself surrounded by beautiful shining beings. 'We are the daughters of the air,' they sang. 'You chose love over selfishness, kindness over revenge. For three hundred years we fly around the world, bringing cool breezes to the sick and hope to the sad. And because of your pure heart, you have become one of us.' The little mermaid smiled as she had never smiled before. She had not won the prince's heart, but she had won something even more precious: a chance to bring happiness to others and, one day, earn an immortal soul. Far below, she saw the prince looking up at a beautiful rainbow that had appeared over his ship, never knowing that his dearest friend was dancing upon its colors.
