fire; the fruit glittered like gold, and the leaves and stems waved to and fro
continually. The earth itself was the finest sand, but blue as the flame of
burning sulphur. Over everything lay a peculiar blue radiance, as if it were
surrounded by the air from above, through which the blue sky shone,
instead of the dark depths of the sea. In calm weather the sun could be seen,
looking like a purple flower, with the light streaming from the calyx. Each
of the young princesses had a little plot of ground in the garden, where she
might dig and plant as she pleased. One arranged her flower-bed into the
form of a whale; another thought it better to make hers like the figure of a
little mermaid; but that of the youngest was round like the sun, and
contained flowers as red as his rays at sunset. She was a strange child, quiet
and thoughtful; and while her sisters would be delighted with the wonderful
things which they obtained from the wrecks of vessels, she cared for
nothing but her pretty red flowers, like the sun, excepting a beautiful marble
statue. It was the representation of a handsome boy, carved out of pure
white stone, which had fallen to the bottom of the sea from a wreck. She
planted by the statue a rose-colored weeping willow. It grew splendidly, and
very soon hung its fresh branches over the statue, almost down to the blue
sands. The shadow had a violet tint, and waved to and fro like the branches;
it seemed as if the crown of the tree and the root were at play, and trying to
kiss each other. Nothing gave her so much pleasure as to hear about the
world above the sea. She made her old grandmother tell her all she knew of
the ships and of the towns, the people and the animals. To her it seemed
most wonderful and beautiful to hear that the flowers of the land should
have fragrance, and not those below the sea; that the trees of the forest
should be green; and that the fishes among the trees could sing so sweetly,
that it was quite a pleasure to hear them. Her grandmother called the little
birds fishes, or she would not have understood her; for she had never seen
birds.
“When you have reached your fifteenth year,” said the grand-mother,
“you will have permission to rise up out of the sea, to sit on the rocks in the
