390 THE LITTLE SEA MAID.

“T will do it,” said the little sea maid; but she became as pale
as death.

“ But you must pay me, too,” said the witch; “and it is not a
trifle that I ask. You have the finest voice of all here at the
bottom of the water; with that you think to enchant him; but
this voice you must give tome. The best thing you possess I
will have for my costly draught! I must give you my own blood
in it, so that the draught may be sharp as a two-edged sword.”

“But if you take away my voice,” said the little sea maid,
“what will remain to me ?”

“Your beautiful form,” replied the witch, “ your graceful walk, |
and your speaking eyes: with those you can take captive a human
heart. Well, have you lost your courage? Put out your little
tongue, and then I will cut it off for my payment, and then you
shall have the strong draught.”

“Tt shall be so,” said the little sea maid.

And the witch put on her pot to brew the draught.

“ Cleanliness is a good thing,” said she; and she cleaned out
the pot with the snakes, which she tied up in a big knot; then she
scratched herself, and let her black blood drop into it. The
steam rose up in the strangest forms, enough to frighten the
beholder. Every moment the witch threw something else into
the pot; and when it boiled thoroughly, there was a sound like
the weeping of a crocodile. At last the draught was ready. It
looked like the purest water.

“There you have it,” said the witch.

And she cut off the little sea maid’s tongue, so that now the
Princess was dumb, and could neither sing nor speak,

She could see her father’s palace. The torches inthe great hall
were extinguished, and they were certainly sleeping within, but
she did not dare to go to them, now that she was dumb and was
about to quit them for ever. She felt as if her heart would burst
with sorrow. She crept into the garden, took a flower from each
bed of her sisters, blew a thousand kisses towards the palace, and
rose up through the dark blue sea.

The sun had not yet risen when she beheld the Prince’s castle
and mounted the splendid marble staircase. The moon shone
beautifully clear. The little sea maid drank the burning sharp
draught, and it seemed as if a two-edged sword went through her
delicate body. She fell down in a swoon, and lay as if she were
dead. When the sun shone out over the sea she awoke, and felt
a sharp pain; but just before her stood the handsome young
Prince. He fixed his coal-black eyes upon her, so that she cast
down her own, and then she perceived that her fish-tail was gone,
and that she had the prettiest pair of white feet a little girl could
have, But she had no clothes, so she shrouded herself in her long
hair. The Prince asked how she came there; and she looked
at him mildly, but very mournfully, with her dark blue eyes, for