The fourth sister was more timid; she remained in the midst of the sea,
but she said it was quite as beautiful there as nearer the land. She could see
for so many miles around her, and the sky above looked like a bell of glass.
She had seen the ships, but at such a great distance that they looked like
sea-gulls. The dolphins sported in the waves, and the great whales spouted
water from their nostrils till it seemed as if a hundred fountains were
playing in every direction.
The fifth sister’s birthday occurred in the winter; so when her turn came,
she saw what the others had not seen the first time they went up. The sea
looked quite green, and large icebergs were floating about, each like a pearl,
she said, but larger and loftier than the churches built by men. They were of
the most singular shapes, and glittered like diamonds. She had seated
herself upon one of the largest, and let the wind play with her long hair, and
she remarked that all the ships sailed by rapidly, and steered as far away as
they could from the iceberg, as if they were afraid of it. Towards evening, as
the sun went down, dark clouds covered the sky, the thunder rolled and the
lightning flashed, and the red light glowed on the icebergs as they rocked
and tossed on the heaving sea. On all the ships the sails were reefed with
fear and trembling, while she sat calmly on the floating iceberg, watching
the blue lightning, as it darted its forked flashes into the sea.
When first the sisters had permission to rise to the surface, they were
each delighted with the new and beautiful sights they saw; but now, as
grown-up girls, they could go when they pleased, and they had become
indifferent about it. They wished themselves back again in the water, and
after a month had passed they said it was much more beautiful down below,
and pleasanter to be at home. Yet often, in the evening hours, the five sisters
would twine their arms round each other, and rise to the surface, in a row.
They had more beautiful voices than any human being could have; and
before the approach of a storm, and when they expected a ship would be
lost, they swam before the vessel, and sang sweetly of the delights to be
found in the depths of the sea, and begging the sailors not to fear if they
sank to the bottom. But the sailors could not understand the song, they took
