And so, a fairy tale came to your house.
  You know the story of the beauty of the underwater world of the mermaid Ariel, you know her father, Tsar Triton and Prince Erik ... In this tale everything will be completely different.
  A long time ago, on a distant island of Crete, washed by two seas, there lived a little mermaid, her name was Daphne. The father of this sea girl, as it should be, was the king and ruler of all oceans, seas, lakes, rivers and even small streams.
  It was from one of these streams that it all started.
  The sun on Daphne's birthday shone so brightly that it seemed as if it wanted to burn all life on Crete, and neither the Aegean Sea on the one hand, nor the Mediterranean on the other, could help the inhabitants of this island. But one trickle was very very kind, he loved and felt sorry for everything around him: trees, grass, flowers, birds, pretty squirrels and hares, and, of course, his friends frogs.
  The brook could not calmly watch them die of thirst, trying to drink the last droplets of water from its drying bed.
  And then, he collected the remnants of the forces and with all speed rushed to the Aegean Sea. There at this time Neptune was feasting with his young daughters, six beautiful mermaids.
  The trickle told the king of the seas about what was happening on his favorite island. Neptune thought a little, and then grabbed his trident, and from all over the blunder struck them in the waters of the Aegean Sea. The brook was frightened, he decided that he had angered the terrible king, but then he saw that the sky had turned black, thunder boomed, lightning flashed that lit up the whole of Crete, and it poured heavy rain.
The streamlet returned to its course, and when the sky brightened, such a beautiful rainbow ascended on it. This is the Greek goddess Hera after the rain appeared to people and animals in such a guise. But today she was especially beautiful, Neptune himself emerged from the waters of the sea to look at her. The sea king was amused by the way he deftly led the sun god Helios, and hit the trident on the waters of the stream, the spray fell right on the rainbow-Hera. The goddess was embarrassed, reddened all entirely, and disappeared from sight. But one small multi-colored droplet, broken from it turned into a pearl, and fell to the bottom of the stream. Neptune burst out laughing and swam away to his mermaids.
  For several days, the trickle was quietly playing with the frogs. A week later, he noticed how on his rocky bottom someone was moving and crying.
  Seeing the one crying brook was stunned. It was a tiny, inexpressibly beautiful little mermaid. The little head is covered in a golden chestnut cannon, and the big brown eyes are in long black eyelashes.
  Several years have passed. The little mermaid grew up, the trickle taught her to understand the world and all those living in it, she became kind and intelligent.
  The day came when he had to introduce little beautiful father Neptune and the mermaid sisters. Daphne is 6 years old.
  The brook brought the little mermaid to the palace. The king was not there. And then the Cretan baby left the child. He firmly knew that she would not be offended here.
  Two hours later, Neptune returned. Daphne, just at this time, climbed on his throne and fell asleep, hiding in the robe of the king.
  My father did not see the little mermaid, he only realized that someone had climbed onto the royal throne without his will, Neptune was furious, and already wanted to grab onto his trident, but the baby woke up, and quietly whimpered when he saw that she had no favorite streamer and forest friends.
  Neptune was very surprised to hear a child’s voice, swam up to the throne, cast off his robe. And numb, on the throne sat a magnificent little creature with beautiful long golden curls and an unusually beautiful tail, iridescent with all the colors of the rainbow. “What is your name?” Asked the king.
“Daphne,” she said softly. Neptune asked: "How did you get into my possession?". “My friend a brook brought me here, he told me that my story should continue here, which began in Crete after one heavy rain.” "Oh! Why, you are my daughter! And your mother goddess Hera is from Mount Olympus. Come to me, Daphne, I will hug you! You will now live with me and your sisters. I will inform Hera and she will come down to look at you, she sure to love you. " "But I want to see my friends from Crete sometimes. Do you allow me to swim there occasionally?" “Of course, baby, I didn’t cast a spell,” Neptune pressed his little daughter tightly to him.
  Soon Daphne met with the sisters, and then with her mother, they loved her. The little princess often visited Crete and played with her forest buddies and the best friend in the world - a streamlet.
  At this, our tale ends, but the story about the little mermaid Daphne does not end. Soon baby you will find out what happened to the little sea princess when she grew up.

Daphne has grown since she settled in the palace of Neptune ten years have passed. The little mermaid has become even more beautiful, and the strength of her kindness and mind has become known throughout the oceans.
  The brook — Daphne’s friend also grew; he became a deep river, on which the ships of Cretan inhabitants floated, but still remained the best friend of the underwater princess.
  But after all the fairy tale about the mermaid cannot but tell about her love.
  On high grief Olympus, other than the goddess Hera, lived other gods. Among them, one was particularly distinguished by strength, power, and beauty. His name was Apollo. Apollo had a sister, Artemis, the goddess of animals, birds and forests. She often rested on her favorite island Daphne, and once these two beautiful creatures met and became best friends. Artemis visited her friend in the palace of her father. And then the young goddess with delight told her brother about the beautiful sea princess. Apollo really wanted to see an unusual little mermaid. He descended from Olympus to Crete and met her. Love did not take long to wait, she lit a strong fire in the hearts of God and the mermaids. But Daphne had no legs, only a rainbow tail. And Daphne and Paul, so affectionately called the little mermaid of her lover, really wanted to run together in the woods, walk on the beautiful Olympus, and become someday husband and wife.
  But the princess’s father did not even want to hear about letting go of his daughter; he didn’t like any of the mermaids as the youngest was the most intelligent, kind and beautiful. And Daphne persuaded Artemis to transfer her request to Hera.
  As soon as the great goddess found out how her child was suffering, she became angry, grabbed the fiery lightning of her husband, the main god of the God of Thunder, and struck her from Olympus about the waters of the Aegean Sea, so much so that the ceiling in the palace of Neptune fell off.
  Neptune roared, he sent his trident to Olympus, and hit them with all its might. An earthquake happened on Olympus. Gods gathered advice on Crete. Hera and Daphne, Neptune and Apollo were called to him. And Zeus-Lord of Olympus decided that neither Neptune nor Hera could decide the fate of his daughter.
  The right to decide her fate was given to the one who raised the young mermaid, and took care of her, starting from infancy. And they called to the council a stormy Cretan river, formerly a streamlet.
  The brook reconciled all the gods, asked Neptune for legs instead of tail for Daphne, and Zeus had a place on Olympus for the future wife of Apollo, the former son of Zeus. He assured the king of the seas that his daughter would visit him and her sisters.
  Finally, lovers Daphne and Paul got married and decided to live on Crete, they built themselves a palace on the bank of their beloved river. Daphne now had slender and strong legs, and together with Apollo and his sister she walked a lot in the woods, and rode on horses.
  She did not forget the little mermaid and her father, she often descended to the bottom of the sea to him and the sisters, and also climbed Olympus to her mother Hera and her father Apollo
  Zeus, who loved her as his own daughter.
Soon, Daphne and Paul had beautiful children, two sons and two daughters. They were born with tails, and by the age of three the tails themselves turned into legs.
  That's all. The daughter of Neptune and the son of Zeus found their happiness, you will find it and you when you grow up, Baby.

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  Other tales.

Today we will read the tale "Little Mermaid". The tale of G.Kh. Andersen "The Little Mermaid" - written in 1837. And since then, she has remained the model story of true love. "This is very sad story, very - sad and very - beautiful! This is a story about love, which knows no obstacles, about courage and kindness. ” Read the tale of the little mermaid to your kiddies. With illustrations by B. Diodorov

G.H. Andersen.

Mermaid

Far into the sea, the water is blue-blue, like the petals of the most beautiful cornflowers, and transparent-transparent, like the purest glass, only very deep, so deep that no anchor rope is enough. Many bell towers should be put one on another, then only the top will look out on the surface. Underwater people live there at the bottom.

Just do not think that the bottom is bare, only white sand. No, there are growing unprecedented trees and flowers with such flexible stems and leaves that they move, as if alive, from the slightest movement of water. And between the branches scurry fish, large and small, just like birds in the air above us. In the deepest place stands the palace of the king of the sea - its walls are made of coral, high lancet windows of the purest amber, and the roof is entirely of shell; they either open, then close, depending on whether it is ebb or flow, and it is very beautiful, because in each are shining pearls - the one and only would be a great decoration in the crown of any queen.

The king of the sea was a widow long ago, and the farm was run by an old mother, an intelligent woman, only proudly proud of her familyhood: she wore as many as twelve oysters on her tail, while other nobles were supposed to be six. For the rest, she deserved all praise, especially because she didn’t adore her little granddaughters - princesses. There were six of them, all very pretty, but the nicest of all, the youngest, with skin clean and delicate, like a rose petal, with blue eyes and deep as the sea. Only she, like the others, had no legs, and instead of them there was a tail, like in fish.

All day long the princesses played in the palace, in the spacious wards, where fresh flowers grew from the walls. Large amber windows were opened, and fish swam inside, just as the swallows fly into our house when the windows are wide open, only the fish swam directly to the little princesses, took food from their hands and allowed themselves to be stroked.

There was a large garden in front of the palace, fiery red and dark blue trees grew in it, their fruits sparkled with gold, the flowers - hot fire, and the stems and leaves were constantly moving. The earth was entirely fine sand, only bluish, like sulfuric flame. Everything down there gave in some special blue, it was fit to think that you were standing not at the bottom of the sea, but in the air height, and the sky was not only your head, but also under your feet. In the calmness from the bottom the sun was visible, it seemed purple flower, from the cup of which light flows.

Each princess had a place in the garden, here they could dig and plant anything. One made herself a flower bed in the shape of a whale, the other thought of her bed to look like a mermaid, and the youngest made herself a bed, round like the sun, and the flowers on it were planted as scarlet as it was. A strange child was this little mermaid, quiet, thoughtful. Other sisters decorated themselves with various differences that they found on sunken ships, and she only loved that the flowers were bright red, like the sun up there, and also a beautiful marble statue. It was a beautiful boy, carved out of pure white stone and descended to the bottom of the sea after a shipwreck. Near the statue, the little mermaid planted a pink weeping willow, she sprawled out magnificently and hung her branches above the statue to the blue sandy bottom, where a purple shade was formed, unsteady in the fluttering of the branches, and it seemed as if the top and the roots were falling together.

Most of all, the little mermaid loved listening to stories about the world of people up there. The old grandmother had to tell her everything she knew about ships and cities, about people and animals. It seemed especially wonderful and surprising to the little mermaid that the flowers on the ground smelled — not that here on the seabed — the forests were green there, and the fishes among the branches sang so loudly and beautifully that they would just be heard. Grandmother called birds a fish, otherwise her granddaughters would not understand her: after all, they had never seen birds.

“When you are fifteen years old,” said grandmother, “they will let you float to the surface, sit in the moonlight on the rocks, and look at the huge ships sailing past, at the forests and cities!”

This year, the eldest princess just turned fifteen, but the sisters were after the day, and it turned out that only five years later the youngest could rise from the bottom of the sea and see how we live here, upstairs. But each promised to tell the others what she saw and what she liked most about the first day — they were not enough grandmother’s stories, they wanted to know more.

None of the sisters was so attracted to the surface as the youngest, quiet, brooding little mermaid, who had to wait the longest. Night after night she spent at the open window and kept looking up through the dark blue water, in which she splashed her tails and fins. Month and the stars saw her, and although they shone very pale, but they seemed through the water a lot more than us. And if a dark cloud seemed to slide beneath them, she knew that it was either a whale swimming, or a ship, and there were a lot of people on it, and, of course, they didn’t even think that a pretty little mermaid was reaching for the ship below white hands.

And now the eldest princess was fifteen years old, and she was allowed to surface.

How many stories were there when she came back! Well, best of all, she said, it was lying in the moonlight on the shallows, when the sea was calm, and looking at the big city on the coast: exactly hundreds of stars, lights were flickering there, music, noise and noise of crews and people could be seen, belltowers and spiers were visible , the bells rang. And just because there she could not, there and pulled her the most.

How eagerly listened to her stories the youngest sister! And then, in the evening, she stood at the open window and looked up through the dark blue water and thought about the big city, noisy and lively, and it seemed to her that she could hear the bells.

A year later, the second sister was allowed to rise to the surface and swim anywhere. She emerged from the water just at that moment when the sun was setting, and decided that there was no more beautiful sight in the world. The sky was completely golden, she said, and the clouds - oh, she simply has no words to describe how beautiful they are! Red and purple, they swam across the sky, but even faster rushed to the sun, like a long white veil, a flock of wild swans. She, too, swam to the sun, but it plunged into the water, and the pink glow on the sea and the clouds went out.

A year later, a third sister rose to the surface. This was the boldest of all, and sailed into the broad river, which fell into the sea. She saw green hills with vineyards there, and palaces and manors looked out from the thicket of a wonderful forest. She heard the birds singing, and the sun was so hot that she had to dive into the water more than once to cool her burning face. In the bay she came across a whole flock of small human children, they ran naked and splashed in the water. She wanted to play with them, but they were frightened of her and ran away, and instead of them some kind of black animal appeared - it was a dog, only she had never seen the dog before - and barked at it so scary that it freaked out and swam away back to sea. But never forget her wonderful woods, green hills and lovely children who can swim, although they do not have a fish tail.

The fourth sister was not so brave, she kept on the open sea and believed that there was something better: the sea can be seen around for many, many miles, the sky overhead is like a huge glass dome. She saw the ships, only from far away, and they looked quite like seagulls, and even the frisky dolphins and whales tumbled into the sea, letting water out of their nostrils, so that it seemed that hundreds of fountains were beating around.

The turn has reached and to the fifth sister. Her birthday was in the winter, and so she saw what others could not see. The sea was completely green, she said, huge ice mountains floated everywhere, each giving neither a pearl, but much higher than any bell tower built by people. They were the most bizarre-looking and sparkled like diamonds. She sat down on the largest of them, the wind was waving her long hair, and the sailors frightened around this place. By evening, the sky was clouded with clouds, lightning flashed, thunder boomed, the blackened sea raised huge ice blocks, illuminated by flashes of lightning. Sails were removed on ships, there was fear and horror around, and she, as if nothing had happened, was floating on her icy mountain and watched as lightning with blue zigzags hit the sea.

And so it went: one of the sisters would come up to the surface for the first time, admire everything new and beautiful, and then, when an adult girl can climb up at any moment, everything becomes uninteresting to her and she wants to go home and a month later she says that they have the best below, only here and you feel at home.

Often in the evenings, embracing, five sisters surfaced. They all had wonderful voices, like no other person, and when a storm was gathering that threatened ships, they sailed in front of the ships and sang so sweetly about how well on the seabed they persuaded the sailors to go down without fear. Only the sailors could not make out the words, it seemed to them that it was just a noise of the storm, and they couldn’t see any miracles at the bottom - when the ship was sinking people were choking and falling into the palace of the sea king already dead.

The younger little mermaid, when her sisters came to the surface like this, remained all alone and looked after them, and she fit to cry, but only the mermaids were not given tears, and from this she was even worse.

“Ah, when shall I be fifteen years old!” She said. - I know that I will love very much the world and the people who live there!

Finally, she was fifteen years old.

- Well, they raised you too! Said the grandmother, the widow queen.

- Come here, I will decorate you like the rest of the sisters!

And she put a white lily wreath on her head, only each petal was a half pearl, and then she put eight oysters on her tail as a sign of her high rank.

- Yes it hurts! - said the little mermaid.

- To be beautiful, you can suffer! - said grandmother.

Oh, how willingly the little mermaid would throw off all this magnificence and a heavy wreath! Red flowers from her garden would go to her much more, but nothing can be done.

- Goodbye! She said, and lightly and smoothly, like a bubble of air, rose to the surface.

When she raised her head above the water, the sun had just set, but the clouds still gleamed pink and gold, and in the pale red sky the evening stars were already lit up; the air was soft and fresh, the sea was calm. Not far away there was a three-mast ship with only one sail raised - there was not the slightest breeze. Everywhere on the rigging and yoke sat sailors. Music and singing resounded from the deck, and when it was completely dark, the ship lit up with hundreds of multi-colored lanterns and it seemed as if flags of all nations flashed in the air. The little mermaid swam right up to the window of the cabin, and whenever she was lifted by the wave, she could look inside through the transparent glass. There were many well-dressed people, but the most beautiful of all was the young prince with big black eyes. He was probably no more than sixteen years old. His birthday was celebrated, that's why on the ship and there was such fun. The sailors danced on the deck, and when the young prince came out there, hundreds of rockets soared up into the sky, and it became as bright as day, so the little mermaid was completely frightened and dived into the water, but immediately thrust her head out again, and it was as if all the stars were the sky fall into her sea. She had never seen such a firework. Spinning wheel huge suns, soaring fiery fishes flew into the blue height, and all this was reflected in the quiet, clear water. It was so light on the ship itself that it was possible to distinguish each rope, and even more so for the people. Oh, how good the young prince was! He shook hands with everyone, smiled and laughed, and the music all rattled and rattled in a wonderful night.

It was already too late, and the little mermaid could not tear her eyes away from the ship and from the handsome prince. Multicolored lanterns went out, no more rocket took off, no guns thundered, but it boomed and grunted into the depths of the sea. The little mermaid swayed on the waves and everything looked into the cabin, and the ship began to pick up speed, one after another the sails bloomed, all the waves were rising, clouds were gathering, lightning flashed in the distance.

The storm was coming, the sailors began to set sail. The ship, swaying, flew across the raging sea, the waves heaved huge black mountains, striving to roll over the mast, and the ship dived like a swan between tall trees and re-ascended to the crest of the crowded wave. Mermaid all this seemed a pleasant walk, but not sailors. The ship groaned and crackled; here, under the blows of the waves, a thick lining of the sides, the waves swept the ship, broke in half, like a reed, a mast, the ship lay on its side, and water poured into the hold. At this point, the little mermaid realized the danger threatening people - she herself had to dodge logs and debris that were worn on the waves. It became dark for a minute, even if it was a clear eye, but then a flash of lightning flashed, and the little mermaid again saw people on the ship. Everyone saved as he could. She searched the eyes of the prince and saw him fall into the water when the ship fell apart. At first she was very happy - because he would now fall to her bottom, but then she remembered that people could not live in water and he would sail to the palace of her father, only dead. Not, no, he must not die! And she swam between the logs and the boards, not thinking at all that they could crush her. She then dived deep, then flew up the wave and finally swam to the young prince. He was almost completely exhausted and could not swim in the stormy sea. His hands and legs refused to serve him, his beautiful eyes were closed, and he would have died if the little mermaid had not come to his aid. She lifted his head above the water and let the waves carry them both wherever they went ...

By morning, the storm subsided. There was no sliver left of the ship. Again the sun glittered above the water and as if the paint returned the cheeks of the prince, but his eyes were still closed.

The little mermaid pushed the hair back from the prince's forehead, kissed him on a high, beautiful forehead, and she thought that he looked like a marble boy standing in her garden. She kissed him once more and wished him to live.

At last she gazed at the land, the high blue mountains, on the tops of which, like flocks of swans, white snow. There were wonderful forests near the coast, and in front of them stood not the church, not the monastery, - she could not say for sure, she only knew that it was a building. Orange and lemon trees grew in the garden, and tall palm trees were near the gate. The sea went into the coast here by a small bay, quiet but very deep, with a cliff at which the sea washed a fine white sand. Here the little mermaid with the prince sailed and laid him on the sand, so that his head was higher in the sun.

Here, in a tall white building, the bells rang, and a whole crowd of young girls poured into the garden. The little mermaid sailed away behind the high stones sticking out of the water, covered her hair and chest with sea foam, so now no one would distinguish her face and began to wait if anyone would come to help the poor prince.

Soon a young girl came up to the cliff and at first was very frightened, but then she gathered her courage and called other people, and the mermaid saw that the prince came to life and smiled at everyone who was near him. And she did not smile at her, he did not even know that she had saved his life. It became sad for the little mermaid, and when the prince was taken to a large building, she sadly dived into the water and swam away home.

Now it has become even quieter, more thoughtful than before. The sisters asked her what she saw for the first time on the surface of the sea, but she did not tell them anything.

Often in the mornings and evenings she sailed to the place where she left the prince. She saw how the fruits ripened in the garden, how they were collected later, saw how snow melted on the high mountains, but she never saw the prince again and returned home every time all the sadder. The only joy was for her to sit in her garden, wrapped her arms around a beautiful marble statue that looked like a prince, but she no longer looked after her flowers. They ran wild and sprawled along the paths, intertwined with stems and leaves with tree branches, and it became completely dark in the kindergarten.

Finally, she could not stand it and told one of the sisters about everything. The rest of the sisters found out after her, but no one else, except maybe two or three mermaids and their closest friends. One of them also knew about the prince, saw the festival on the ship, and even knew where the prince was from and where his kingdom was.

- Swam together, sister! Said the sister to the little mermaid, and, embracing, climbed to the surface of the sea near the place where the prince's palace stood.

The palace was made of a bright yellow shiny stone, with large marble staircases; one of them went straight down to the sea. Magnificent gilded domes stood above the roof, and between the columns surrounding the building stood marble statues, just like living people. Through the high mirrored windows one could see luxurious rooms; expensive silk curtains hung everywhere, carpets were spread out, and large paintings decorated the walls. Feast for the eyes, and more! In the middle of the largest hall a large fountain murmured; jets of water beat high-high under the glass dome of the ceiling, through which water and strange plants growing on the edges of the pool lit up the sun.

Now the little mermaid knew where the prince lived, and began to sail to the palace almost every evening or every night. None of the sisters dared to swim to the ground so close, and she swam even into a narrow channel that passed just under a marble balcony, casting a long shadow on the water. Then she stopped and stared at the young prince for a long time, and he thought he was walking alone in the light of the month.

Many times she saw him ride with musicians on his smart boat, decorated with flying flags. The little mermaid was peeking out of a green reed, and if people sometimes noticed how her long silver-white veil was rushing in the wind, it seemed to them that it was splashing its wings with a swan.

Many times she heard fishermen who used to catch fish at night with a torch; they told a lot of good things about him, and the little mermaid was glad that she had saved his life when he, half-dead, was being carried along the waves; she recalled how his head rested on her chest and how she gently kissed him then. But he did not know anything about her, she could not dream him!

More and more the little mermaid began to love people, more and more attracted her to them; their earthly world seemed to her much more than her underwater; after all, they could sail on their ships, climb the sea high mountains  above the clouds, and their countries with forests and fields stretched so wide that they could not reach the eye! I really wanted the mermaid to learn more about people, about their lives, but the sisters could not answer all of her questions, and she turned to her grandmother: the old woman knew well " elite, As she rightly called the land lying above the sea.

“If people don't drown,” the little mermaid asked, “then they live forever, don't die, like us?”

- Well, what are you! - answered the old woman. - They also die, their age is even shorter than ours. We live three hundred years; only when we cease to be, we are not buried, we do not even have graves, we just turn into sea foam.

“I would give all my hundreds of years in one day of human life,” said the little mermaid.

- Nonsense! Nothing to think about it! Said the old woman. - We live here much better than people on earth!

- So, I will die, I will become sea foam, I will not hear the music of the waves anymore, I will not see any wonderful flowers, nor the red sun! Can I really not live among the people?

“You can,” said grandmother, “if only one of the people loves you so that you will become dearer to him than your father and mother, may he give himself to you with all his heart and all thoughts, make you his wife and swear eternal loyalty.” But this will never happen! After all, what we consider to be beautiful - your fishtail, for example, people find ugly. They do not make sense of beauty; in their opinion, to be beautiful, one must have two clumsy supports, or legs, as they call them.

The little mermaid took a deep breath and looked sadly at her fishtail.

- We will live - do not torment! Said the old woman. - Have fun plenty, three hundred years - a considerable time. Tonight we have a ball in the palace!

Here was a magnificence, what you will not see on earth! The walls and ceiling of the dance hall were of thick but clear glass; along the walls were rows of hundreds of huge purple and grassy green shells with blue lights in the middle; these lights brightly lit the entire hall, and through the glass walls - and the sea around. It was evident that flocks of large and small fish swim up to the walls, and their scales shimmer with gold, silver, and purple.

In the middle of the hall, the water ran in a wide stream, and in it, water and mermaids danced to their wonderful singing. Such beautiful voices do not happen to people. The little mermaid sang better than anyone, and everyone clapped her hands. For a minute, she was having fun at the thought that no one anywhere, neither in the sea nor on the earth, had such a wonderful voice as hers; but then she again began to think about the surface world, about the beautiful prince, and she became sad. She slipped out of the palace imperceptibly and, while they sang and had fun there, sadly sat in her garden. Suddenly, the sound of horns came from above, and she thought: “Here he is again riding a boat! How I love him! More than a father and mother! I belong to him with all my heart, with all my thoughts, to him I would willingly hand over the happiness of my life! At all I would go - if only I would be with him. While the sisters are dancing in their father's palace, I will sail to the sea witch. I was always afraid of her, but maybe she would advise something or help me in some way! ”

And the little mermaid swam from her garden to the turbulent maelstrom, behind which the witch lived. Never had she ever sailed this way; neither flowers, nor even grass grew here - only bare gray sand was everywhere; the water behind it raged and roared, as if under a mill wheel, and carried away into the abyss everything that she had met on its way. It was between such swirling whirlpools that the mermaid had to sail to get to the land where the witch ruled. Then the path lay through the hot bubbling mud, this place the witch called her peat bog. And there it was already a hand to move to its dwelling, surrounded by a strange forest: instead of trees and bushes, polyps grew in it - half-animals-half-plants, similar to hundred-headed snakes that grew out of the sand; their branches were like long, slimy hands with fingers twisting like worms; polyps did not stop moving for a minute from the root to the very top and squeezed all that they came across with flexible fingers, and they no longer let it out. The little mermaid stopped in fright, her heart began to beat with fear, she was ready to return, but she remembered the prince and braced herself: tightly tied her long hair around her head so that polyps didn’t cling to them, she crossed her arms over her chest and swam like a fish between the disgusting polyps that stretched toward her with their writhing arms. She saw how tightly, like iron pincers, they held with their fingers everything they managed to grab: the white skeletons of drowned people, ship's rudders, drawers, animal bones, even one little mermaid. Polyps caught and strangled her. It was the worst of all!

But then she found herself in a slippery forest glade, where they tumbled, showing a nasty yellowish belly, large, fatty water snakes. In the middle of the clearing a house of white human bones was built; immediately the sea witch herself sat and fed the toad from her mouth as people fed the little canaries with sugar. She called the disgusting snakes with her chickens and allowed them to crawl along their big, spongy chest.

- I know, I know why you came! Said the sea witch to the little mermaid. - You foolishly foolishly, well, yes, I will help you all the same - to your misfortune, my beautiful! You want to get off your tail and get two props instead to walk like people. You want the young prince to love you.

And the witch laughed so loudly and disgustingly that both the toad and the snake fell from her and plopped down on the sand.

- Well, okay, you came at the same time! - continued the witch. “Come tomorrow morning, it would be too late, and I could not help you before next year.” I will make you a drink, you will take it, swim with it to the shore before the sun rises, sit there and drink everything to the drop; then your tail will be split in two and turned into a pair of slender, as people would say, legs. But it will hurt you as if you were pierced with a sharp sword. But everyone who sees you will say that they have not yet met such a pretty girl! You will keep your smooth gait - not a single dancer can compare with you; but remember: you will step on sharp knives, and your feet will bleed. Can you bear it all? Then I will help you.

“Remember,” said the witch, “since you take on the human form, you really cannot become a mermaid again!” You can see neither the seabed, nor the father’s house, nor the sisters! And if the prince does not love you so much that he forgets for you and his father and mother, does not surrender to you with all his heart and does not make you his wife, you will perish; from the very first dawn after his marriage to another your heart will break apart and you will become the foam of the sea.

- Let be! - said the little mermaid and turned pale as death.

“And you have to pay me for the help,” said the witch. - And I'll take a cheap! You have a wonderful voice, you are the one who thinks to enchant the prince, but you must give this voice to me. I will take for my priceless drink the best that you have: after all, I have to mix my own blood into the drink so that it becomes as sharp as the blade of a sword.

“Your lovely face, your smooth gait, and your talking eyes are enough to conquer the human heart!” Well, do not be afraid: you put out the tongue, and I will cut it off to pay for the magic drink!

- Good! Said the little mermaid, and the witch put a cauldron on the fire to make a drink.

- Clean is the best beauty! She said, and wiped the cauldron with a bunch of live snakes.

Then she scratched her breasts; black blood dripped into the cauldron, and soon the steam of couples began to rise, taking such fanciful forms that it simply took fear. The witch was constantly adding new and new potions to the cauldron, and when the drink boiled, it began to gurgle like a crocodile crying. Finally, the drink was ready, in appearance it seemed to be clear spring water.

- Take it! - Said the witch, giving the mermaid a drink.

Then she cut off her tongue, and the little mermaid became dumb - she could no longer sing or speak.

“Polyps will grab you when you swim back,” the witch admonished,

- sprinkle a drop of drink on them, and their hands and fingers will fly apart into a thousand pieces.

But the mermaid did not have to do this - with horror the polyps turned away at the same kind of drink, sparkling in her hands, like a bright star. She swam quickly through the forest, past the swamp and the swirling whirlpools.

Here is the father's palace; the lights in the ballroom are extinguished, everyone is asleep. The little mermaid did not dare to enter there anymore - she was mute and was going to leave her father’s house forever. Her heart was ready to break from the longing. She slipped into the garden, took a flower from the garden from each sister, sent thousands of air kisses to her family and climbed onto the dark blue surface of the sea.

The sun did not rise yet when she saw the palace of the prince in front of her and sat down on a wide marble staircase. Month lit her with his wonderful blue radiance. The little mermaid drank a burning drink, and it seemed to her that she had been pierced with a double-edged sword; she fainted and fell dead. When she woke up, the sun was already shining above the sea: in her whole body she felt a burning pain. Before her stood a beautiful prince and looked at her with surprise. She looked down and saw that the fish tail had disappeared, and instead of her, she had two little white legs. But she was completely naked and therefore she wrapped herself in her long, thick hair. The prince asked who she was and how she got here, but she only looked at him mildly and sadly with her deep blue eyes: she could not speak. Then he took her hand and led her to the palace. The witch told the truth: each step caused the mermaid such pain as if she were stepping on sharp knives and needles; but she patiently endured the pain and walked hand in hand with the prince lightly, as if by air. The prince and his entourage only marveled at her wonderful, smooth gait.

The little mermaid was dressed up in silk and muslin, and she became the first beauty at the court, but she remained still dumb, she could neither sing nor speak. Once, a slave girl dressed in silk and gold was called to the prince and his royal parents. They began to sing, one of them sang especially well, and the prince clapped his hands and smiled at her. It became a sad mermaid: once she could sing, and much better! “Ah, if he knew that I would part with my voice forever, only to be near him!”

Then the girls began to dance to the sounds of the most wonderful music, and here the mermaid raised her white beautiful hands, stood on tiptoes and rushed in a light, airy dance; so no one has ever danced! Each movement emphasized her beauty, and her eyes spoke to the heart more than the singing of slaves.

All were admired, especially the prince; he called the little mermaid his little foundling, and the little mermaid danced and danced, although every time her feet touched the ground, she felt so much pain that she was stepping on sharp knives. The prince said that she should always be near him, and she was allowed to sleep on a velvet cushion in front of the doors of his room.

He ordered to sew her men's suit so that she could accompany him on horseback rides. They rode through fragrant forests, where birds sang in fresh leaves, and green branches touched her shoulders. They climbed high mountains, and although blood was seeping from her legs and everyone saw it, she laughed and continued to follow the prince to the very top; there they admired the clouds floating at their feet, like flocks of birds flying away to foreign countries.

And at night in the palace of the prince, when everyone was asleep, the little mermaid descended the marble staircase, set her flaming feet in cold water and thought about her own home and the bottom of the sea.

Once at night, her sister’s hand floated out of the water and sang a sad song; she nodded to them, they recognized her and told her how she upset them all. Since then, they visited her every night, and once she even saw in the distance her old grandmother, who hadn’t been rising for years, and the king of the sea with a crown on her head; they stretched out their arms to her, but did not dare to swim to the ground as close as the sisters.

Day after day, the prince became attached to the mermaid more and more, but he loved her only as a sweet, kind child, and he didn’t even think of him as his wife and princess, but in the meantime she had to become his wife. if he gave his heart and his hand to the other, she would become the foam of the sea.

“Do you love me more than anyone else in the world?” The mermaid’s eyes seemed to ask when the prince hugged her and kissed her forehead.

- Yes I love you! Said the prince. “You have a kind heart, you are devoted to me more than anyone, and look like a young girl I once saw and surely I’ll never see again!” I sailed on a ship, the ship sank, the waves threw me ashore near some temple where young girls serve God; the youngest of them found me on the shore and saved my life; I only saw her twice, but I could only love her alone in the whole world! You look like her and you’ve almost extruded her image from my heart. She belongs to the holy temple, and now my lucky star sent me to you; I will never part with you!

"Alas! He does not know that I saved his life! - thought the little mermaid. - I took it out of the waves of the sea to the shore and put it in a grove near the temple, while I hid myself in the sea foam and looked to see if anyone would come to his aid. I saw this beautiful girlhe loves more than me! - And the little mermaid sighed deeply, she could not cry. “But that girl belongs to the temple, she will never return to the world, and they will never meet!” I am near him, I see him every day, I can take care of him, love him, give my life for him! ”

But they began to say that the prince marries the charming daughter of the neighboring king and therefore equips his magnificent ship to sail. The prince will go to the next king as if to familiarize himself with his country, and in fact to see the princess; with him goes a large retinue. The little mermaid on all these speeches only shook her head and laughed - she knew the thoughts of the prince best of all.

- I have to go! - he told her. - I need to see a beautiful princess; This is demanded by my parents, but they will not force me to marry her, and I will never love her! She's not like the beauty that you look like. If I have to finally choose a bride for myself, then I'd rather choose you, my dumb foundling with talking eyes!

And he kissed her pink lips, played with her long hair, and laid his head on her chest, where her heart throbbed, longing for human happiness and love.

- You're not afraid of the sea, my dumb baby? - He said when they were already on the ship that was supposed to take them to the country of the neighboring king.

And the prince began to tell her about the storms and calmness, about strange fish that live in the depths, and about what the divers saw there, and she only smiled while listening to his stories - she knew better than anyone what was at the bottom sea.

On a clear moonlit night, when everyone except the helmsman was asleep, she sat on the very side and began to look at the transparent waves, and it seemed to her that she saw her father's palace; an old grandmother in a silver crown stood on a tower and looked through the agitating streams of water at the ship's keel. Then her sisters floated to the surface of the sea: they looked at her sadly and stretched out their white hands to her, and she nodded with her head, smiled and wanted to tell her how good she was here, but then the ship came up to her and the sisters dived into the water, and the young man thought that this flashed in the waves of white sea foam.

The next morning the ship entered the harbor of the smart capital of the neighboring kingdom. The bells rang in the city, the sounds of horns sounded from the high towers; on the squares stood the regiments of soldiers with shiny bayonets and flowing flags. The festivities began, the balls followed the balls, but the princess was not there yet - she was brought up somewhere far away in the monastery, where she was given to learn all the royal virtues. Finally she came too.

The little mermaid was eagerly looking at her and could not help but admit that she had never seen any nicer and more beautiful faces. The skin on the face of the princess was so tender and transparent, and because of her long dark eyelashes, her blue, gentle eyes were smiling.

- It's you! Said the prince. “You saved my life when I lay half dead by the sea!”

And he firmly pressed to his heart his blistered bride.

- Oh, I'm so happy! He said to the little mermaid. - What I didn’t dare even dream about has come true! You will rejoice in my happiness, you love me so much.

The little mermaid kissed his hand, and her heart seemed to be broken in pain: his wedding should kill her, turn her into sea foam.

That evening the prince and his young wife were to sail to the prince’s homeland; guns were firing, flags were fluttering, a gold and purple tent was spread out on the deck, covered with soft pillows; in the tent they were to spend this quiet, cool night.

Sails puffed up by the wind, the ship glided lightly and smoothly over the waves and flew into the open sea.

As soon as it got dark, colorful lanterns were lit on the ship, and the sailors began to dance merrily on the deck. Little Mermaid remembered how she first rose to the surface of the sea and saw the same fun on the ship. And so she rushed in a quick air dance, like a swallow, pursued by a kite. Everyone was delighted: she had never danced so wonderful! Her tender legs cut like knives, but she did not feel this pain - her heart was even more painful. She knew that only one evening remained for her to stay with for whom she left her family and father’s house, gave her wonderful voice and endured intolerable torment, which the prince did not know. Only one night she had to breathe the same air with him, to see the blue sea and the starry sky, and then there would be for her the eternal night, without thoughts, without dreams. Long after midnight dances and music continued on the ship, and the little mermaid laughed and danced with deadly agony of heart; the prince kissed his beautiful wife, and she played him with black curls; at last they went hand in hand to their magnificent tent.

On the ship, everything was quiet, only the helmsman remained at the helm. The little mermaid leaned on the railing and, turning her face to the east, began to wait for the first ray of the sun, which, she knew, should have killed her. And suddenly she saw her sisters rise from the sea; they were as pale as she was, but their long, luxurious hair was no longer flowing in the wind — they were cut off.

“We gave our hair to the witch so that she would help us save you from death!” And she gave us this knife - can you see how sharp it is? Before the sun rises, you must sink it into the prince's heart, and when the warm blood spurts it onto your feet, they will again grow together into a fish tail and you will again become a mermaid, come down to us into the sea and live your three hundred years before you turn into salty foam sea. But hurry! Either he or you - one of you must die before the sun rises. Kill the prince and return to us! Hurry up. Do you see a red stripe in the sky? The sun will rise soon and you will die!

With these words, they took a deep breath and plunged into the sea.

The little mermaid lifted the purple curtain of the tent and saw that the head of the young wife was resting on the prince’s bosom. The little mermaid leaned over and kissed his beautiful forehead, looked at the sky where the morning dawn was inflaming, then looked at the sharp knife and again fixed her gaze on the prince, who in a dream uttered the name of his wife - she was alone in his thoughts!

- and the knife faltered in the hands of the little mermaid. Another minute - and she threw him into the waves, and they turned red, as if in the place where he fell, drops of blood came out of the sea.

The last time she glanced at the prince with a half-dazed gaze, she rushed from the ship into the sea and felt how her body was spreading with foam.

The sun rose above the sea; His rays lovingly warmed the deadly cold sea foam, and the little mermaid did not feel death; she saw a clear sun and some transparent, wonderful creatures that flew in hundreds over her. She saw through them the white sails of a ship and red clouds in the sky; their voice sounded like music, but so sublime that the human ear would not have heard it, just as human eyes did not see them. They had no wings, but they were worn in the air, light and transparent. The little mermaid noticed that she became the same, having broken away from the sea foam.

- To whom am I going? She asked, rising in the air, and her voice sounded with the same wondrous music.

- To the daughters of the air! - answered her air creatures. We fly everywhere and try to bring joy to everyone. In hot countries, where people are dying from the sultry, blighted air, we bring coolness. We spread the fragrance of flowers in the air and bring healing and joy to people ... Fly with us to the transcendental world! There you will find love and happiness that you have not found on earth.

And the little mermaid stretched out her transparent hands to the sun and for the first time felt tears in her eyes.

On the ship during this time, everything again began to move, and the little mermaid saw how the prince and his young wife were looking for her. They looked sadly at the agitated sea foam, they knew for sure that the little mermaid rushed into the waves. Invisible, the little mermaid kissed the beauty on the forehead, smiled at the prince, and ascended the air with other children to the pink clouds floating in the sky.