At dusk lanterns of many colours were lighted and the sailors danced merrily on deck.  The little mermaid could not help thinking of the first time she came up from the sea and saw the same splendour and gaiety; and she now threw herself among the dancers, whirling, as a swallow skims through the air when pursued.  The onlookers cheered her in amazement, never had she danced so divinely; her delicate feet pained her as if they were cut with knives, but she did not feel it, for the pain at her heart was much sharper.  She knew that it was the last night that she would breathe the same air as he, and would look upon the mighty deep, and the blue starry heavens; an endless night without thought and without dreams awaited her, who neither had a soul, nor could win one.  The joy and revelry on board lasted till long past midnight; she went on laughing and dancing with the thought of death all the time in her heart.  The prince caressed his lovely bride and she played with his raven locks, and with their arms entwined they retired to the gorgeous tent.  All became hushed and still on board the ship, only the steersman stood at the helm; the little mermaid laid her white arms on the gunwale and looked eastwards for the pink-tinted dawn; the first sunbeam, she knew, would be her death.  Then she saw her sisters rise from the water; they were as pale as she was; their beautiful long hair no longer floated on the breeze, for it had been cut off.

[Illustration:  Once more she looked at the prince, with her eyes already dimmed by death, then dashed overboard and fell, her body dissolving into foam.]

’We have given it to the witch to obtain her help, so that you may not die to-night!  She has given us a knife; here it is, look how sharp it is!  Before the sun rises, you must plunge it into the prince’s heart, and when his warm blood sprinkles your feet they will join together and grow into a tail, and you will once more be a mermaid; you will be able to come down into the water to us, and to live out your three hundred years before you are turned into dead, salt sea-foam.  Make haste! you or he must die before sunrise!  Our old grandmother is so full of grief that her white hair has fallen off as ours fell under the witch’s scissors.  Slay the prince and come back to us!  Quick!  Quick! do you not see the rosy streak in the sky?  In a few minutes the sun will rise and then you must die!’ saying this they heaved a wondrous deep sigh and sank among the waves.

The little mermaid drew aside the purple curtain from the tent and looked at the beautiful bride asleep with her head on the prince’s breast.  She bent over him and kissed his fair brow, looked at the sky where the dawn was spreading fast, looked at the sharp knife, and again fixed her eyes on the prince, who, in his dream called his bride by name.  Yes! she alone was in his thoughts!  For a moment the knife quivered in her grasp, then she threw it far out among the waves, now rosy in the morning light, and where it fell the water bubbled up like drops of blood.