"There it is!' said the witch. And cut off the tongue of the little mermaid

... who now was mute and could neither sing nor talk.

'If the polyps should pounce on you when you walk back through my wood', the witch said, 'just spill a drop of this potion upon them and their tentacles will break in a thousand pieces.'

But there was no need of that, for the polyps curled up in terror as soon as they saw the gleaming drink. It glittered in the little mermaid's hand as if it were a shining star. So she soon traversed the forest, the peat moss, and the place of raging whirlpools."