有声英语儿童童话故事 海的女儿 第26章

 “But think again,” said the witch, “for when once your shape hasbecome like a human being, you can no more be a mermaid. You will never returnthrough the water to your sisters or to your father’s palace again. And if youdo not win the love of the prince, so that he is willing to forget his fatherand mother for your sake and to love you with his whole soul and allow thepriest to join your hands that you may be man and wife, then you will neverhave an immortal soul. The first morning after he marries another, your heartwill break and you will become foam on the crest of the waves.”

“I will do it,” said the littlemermaid, and she became pale as death.

“But I must be paid, also,” saidthe witch, “and it is not a trifle that I ask. You have the sweetest voice ofany who dwell here in the depths of the sea, and you believe that you will beable to charm the prince with it. But this voice you must give to me. The bestthing you possess will I have as the price of my costly draft, which must bemixed with my own blood so that it may be as sharp as a two-edged sword.”