Where are my princesses?

Oh, they are all doing their work.

You have brought my daughters up well, mother.

Yes, they are growing up to be beautiful and wise mermaids.

The six beautiful mermaid princesses come gliding into the queen's chamber.

Grandma, look at the beautiful things we have collected.

The queen looks at her youngest granddaughter.

My child, you do not seem to have brought back anything.

Grandma, the beautiful red flowers outside the castle give me more pleasure, and I am happiest when you tell me tales of the wonderful world above the sea.

You shall see everything once you turn fifteen.

Oh, grandma, that is so long, long away.

Till then, your sisters will tell you what they see.

When the eldest princess turned fifteen, she rose above the sea to see the world beyond.

Hello, grandma.

Oh, dear sisters, I laid on a sandbank under the shining moonlight.

I saw glimpses of a town and heard the sounds of music, and I even saw carriages go by.

Soon, it was time for the second princess to see the world.

When I rose up, the sun was setting and looked like a ball of orange fire.

Soft clouds floated about lazily, and a flock of graceful white swans flew past.

It was like a dreamland.

It was now time for the third princess to rise to the surface.

Oh, dear sisters, I swam up a white river.

You cannot imagine the sights I saw.

Green hills, magnificent trees and plants, and I even saw little human children.

But then a weird creature came running towards me, making awful noises, and I had to quickly swim away.

The children were asking why the dog was barking so much, so I guessed that horrible thing was a dog.

Soon came time for the fourth princess to venture forth to see the world.

But she was very shy and just stayed in the ocean.

Uh, well, I stayed in the middle of the ocean, but I did see some naughty dolphins splashing.

There were also some huge whales, but I was scared to go near them.

What?

You really did not go near the land?

How can you be so boring?

You can see the sea any time, you silly thing.

Finally, the youngest princess turned fifteen.

Well, my precious, your dream is now going to be fulfilled.

Go.

The princess rose above the sea.

Ah, the colour of the sea is like emeralds.

The icebergs look like beautiful pearls.

The stars above are glittering like the diamonds on grandma's tiara.

Soon, the princess's curiosity was aroused by a ship afloat nearby.

She swam close to it, and every time the waves lifted her up, she could see the people on the ship.

They were singing and dancing, as though celebrating.

What beautiful clothes they are wearing!

Suddenly, the princess saw the most handsome young man with beautiful brown eyes.

As she was gazing at him, everyone on the ship started clapping.

The princess realized that this grand celebration was for his sixteenth birthday.

Oh, he is so good-looking!

And such a sweet sixteen to my fifteenth!

Suddenly, the calm of the sea soon turned into a restless grumble, and the lashing waves and heavy clouds and lightning indicated a massive storm brewing up.

Huge waves tossed the ship about, and the ship tilted over.

To her dismay, the princess saw the prince sink into the deep waters.

Oh, my darling prince is going down into the ocean!

Maybe I can now live with him.

What am I thinking of?

Humans cannot live under water.

I have to save him!

The princess looked frantically all around, and finally spotted the prince.

She held him in her slender but strong arms, swam with him to the surface of the water.

Then, keeping his head adrift, she led him to a beach.

The next morning, the sun rose on a once again calm sea.

The prince's eyes remained closed, but the sun's rays brought some color to his ashen cheeks.

The princess kissed his high and smooth forehead, and stroked back his wet hair.

Suddenly, she heard the chattering of some young girls, and quickly swam away and hid herself among some high rocks.

She watched as one girl approached the prince, and then went to call the others for help.

My darling prince is coming to life!

How happy I am!

Will he remember how I saved him?

The princess slowly made her way to her father's castle.

She became very quiet, and did not tell her sisters what had happened.

Often, she would visit the place where she had left the handsome prince, but she never saw him, and became more sad.

Finally, she shared her misery with her sister.

Oh, my dear!

Why did you not share this with anyone?

Don't worry.

We will see what we can do to help you.

Thank you, dear sister.

I was afraid you would make fun of me for falling in love with a human prince.

Well, it is very foolish.

But you are our sister, and we have to help you.

Sisters, my friends know where the prince's palace is.

What are we waiting for?

Let's go!

The princesses rose to the surface near the prince's palace.

The palace sure is very beautiful.

Oh, those beautiful marble statues!

I wish one of them would kiss me.

Stop acting silly!

Oh, I was just kidding.

I think I better take you all back home before you create any trouble.

The princesses reluctantly made their way back to the castle.

Now I know where my darling prince lives.

I can come any time to see him.

I wonder if he remembers I saved his life.

The princess now wanted to know more about humans, so she went to her grandma.

Tell me, grandma, do humans never die?

Silly child, of course humans die.

They live shorter lives than us.

When we die, we become the foam on the water's surface.

But humans have immortal souls, and only their body dies.

Grandma, how can I get an immortal soul?

Well, if you find a man who loved you so much that he would be willing to marry you, that could happen.

But child, the fishtail that you have which is considered so beautiful in our world is considered ugly in the human world.

I will not give up my love so easily.

Let me see if the sea witch can help me.

Ah, who do we have here?

Come, come, I have been expecting you.

So the princess wishes to become a human to win over the heart of her charming prince.

Mwahaha!

Oh, madam, please help me.

I will give you a magic potion.

Swim with it to land tomorrow before sunrise and drink it on the shore and you will be transformed into a beautiful and graceful young lady.

Really?

Will you do that for me?

Hold your horses, princess.

When your fishtail changes to two human legs, you will feel a searing pain and every step you take will feel like you are treading on sharp knives.

Once you become a human being, you can never become a mermaid again.

Never be able to go down to the depths of the sea to see your family.

Oh, I will do anything for my love.

My price for granting you this wish would be your sweet voice.

What?

Oh, how can you be so cruel?

Well, I am a witch, you know.

How will I tell my prince of my love?

You can show your love for him with your expressive eyes.

Thus, the princess changed to a human.

She had severe pain when it happened, but her pain seemed to vanish when she saw the prince and the prince also could not take his eyes off the beautiful maiden.

Where have you come from, pretty lady?

The princess could not reply and just stared at him.

You cannot speak?

The princess shook her head and seeing her pained expression, the prince took her hand.

Hey, it's okay.

I can see in your eyes what you are thinking.

Come with me to the palace.

The mermaid was dressed in beautiful clothes and precious jewels.

The king and queen were enthralled with her beauty and grace.

Everyone enjoyed the graceful dance movements of the princess which she performed with severe pain.

Very often, the princess would catch a puzzled look on the prince's face and one day he asked her, I don't know why, but you seem very familiar.

However, the prince did not show any signs of recognizing her and the princess's hopes began to fade.

Soon, she heard the prince was going to marry the princess of a neighboring kingdom.

Oh no!

If the prince marries someone else, that will be the end of my life as a human.

The prince's wedding was to be held on a ship.

The mermaid princess gazed mournfully at the ocean and suddenly spotted her sisters, all of them with their heads shorn of their beautiful tresses, waving wildly at her.

What are you all doing here and what have you all done with your beautiful hair?

We could not see your misery anymore, so we begged the witch to give you back your voice in exchange for our hair.

Thank you so much, dear sisters, but the prince is marrying someone else.

You silly girl, go and tell him you can speak now.

No, I cannot do it, even if it breaks my heart.

The princess dove into the ocean, knowing she would drown as she was no longer a mermaid.

Someone saw her jumping and ran to inform the prince.

The prince dove down after her and brought her up.

Now I remember why I thought I knew you.

You're the one who saved me in the shipwreck.

I love you, my darling, and it does not matter to me if you cannot speak.

The prince took the mermaid princess to the ship.

Father, forgive me, but I cannot marry anyone else.

This is my beloved.

The prince placed the wedding band on his beloved's finger.

As soon as he did so, the princess's melodious voice returned.

My darling, you can speak?

Oh, this is the happiest day of my life.

Ah, I can now look forward to a wonderful life with my beloved prince and see my sisters when they come up from the sea.