“I will prepare a potent drink, which you must carry to land and drink before sunrise,” explained the Sea Witch. “Your tail will disappear and shrink into human legs. This will cause you immense pain. All who observe you will declare you the prettiest human and the lithest dancer ever seen. However, every step you take will feel as if you were treading upon sharp knives. If you bear all this, I will help you.”
Trembling with longing for both the prince and an immortal soul, the sea princess replied, “Yes. I will.”
“Reconsider,” exhorted the Sea Witch, “for you will never again return to your sisters or to your father’s palace. Unless you win the unadulterated love of the prince, you will never have an immortal soul. The first morning after he marries another, your heart will break, and you will become foam on the crest of the waves.”
“I will do it,” uttered the Little Mermaid, pale as death.
“Wait!” exclaimed the Sea Witch. “I must also be paid a trifle that I exact. You have the sweetest voice of any who dwell in the depths of the sea. You believe that you will be able to charm the prince with your voice, but it is this very voice that You must abnegate to me,” insisted the Sea Witch. “I will gain your most cherished gift, as the price of my remedy.”
“If you take away my voice,” implored the mermaid. “What is left for me?”
“You still have your beautiful form, your floating gracefulness, and your expressive eyes. Surely with these, you can enfetter a man’s heart.”
“It shall be,” spoke the Little Mermaid unflinchingly.
When at last, the magic potion was prepared, the Sea Witch snarled. “here is what you crave.”
With that, she cut off the mermaid’s tongue so that she became dumb and would never again speak or sing.
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