He seemed to her like the marble statue who graced her aquatic garden and she wished that he might live. Presently, they came into sight of land. Beneath verdant hills stood a well-built convent. She swam with the prince to the beach, which was covered with fine white sand, where she lay him in the warm, vital sunshine, taking care to raise his head higher than his body, which was limp. When bells pealed in the large, white building, several young girls were led into the garden. The Little Mermaid swam out farther from the shore and hid between two high rocks shrouding herself with sea foam.
Timidly, a young girl approached the spot where the prince lay and then fetched the others to help. When the prince came to life again, he smiled upon those who stood confounded around him.
To the Little Mermaid he sent no smile since he knew not that she had saved him. Dispirited, she dove into the water and sorrowfully retreated to her father’s castle.
Initially, the younger mermaid divulged nothing about what she had experienced during her first visit to the surface of the water. On frequent occasions, she rose to the place where she left the prince. She beheld the fruits in the garden ripen and the snow on the tops of the mountains melt away, but she never caught a glimpse of the prince. Therefore, she returned home always more despondent than before.
At length, when she could bear it no longer, she told her sisters everything. A confidante of one who happened to know who the prince was, told them where he came from and where his luxuriant palace stood.
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