‘Alas, he doesn’t know that I have saved his life!’ the little mermaid thought, ‘I carried him...

over the sea to the forest where the temple stands, I stood behind the foam and waited to see if anyone would come. I saw the beautiful girl he loves more than me!’ and the mermaid sighed deeply – she was unable to cry. ‘The girl belongs to the sacred temple, he has told me, she will never come out into the world, they will not meet again, I am with him, I see him every day, I will take care of him, love him, I would sacrifice my life to him!’
“ ‘But now the prince is to be married and have the lovely daughter of the king of the neighbouring country!’, people said, that is why he is equipping a ship so magnificently. ‘The prince is travelling to see the lands of the neighbouring king’, is the official explanation, but it is to see the neighbouring king’s daughter. He is to have a large retinue with him; but the little mermaid shook her head and laughed; she knew the prince’s thoughts much better than all the rest. ‘I must travel!’ he had said to her...