有声英语儿童童话故事 海的女儿 第5章

None of them longed so much forher turn to come as the youngest—she who had the longest time to wait and whowas so quiet and thoughtful. Many nights she stood by the open window, lookingup through the dark blue water and watching the fish as they splashed aboutwith their fins and tails. She could see the moon and stars shining faintly,but through the water they looked larger than they do to our eyes. Whensomething like a black cloud passed between her and them, she knew that it waseither a whale swimming over her head, or a ship full of human beings who neverimagined that a pretty little mermaid was standing beneath them, holding outher white hands towards the keel of their ship.

At length the eldest was fifteenand was allowed to rise to the surface of the ocean.

When she returned she hadhundreds of things to talk about. But the finest thing, she said, was to lie ona sand bank in the quiet moonlit sea, near the shore, gazing at the lights ofthe near-by town, that twinkled like hundreds of stars, and listening to thesounds of music, the noise of carriages, the voices of human beings, and themerry pealing of the bells in the church steeples. Because she could not gonear all these wonderful things, she longed for them all the more.