“Cleanliness is a good thing,”said she,scouring the vessel with snakes,which she had tied together in a large knot;then she pricked herself in the breast,and let the black blood drop into it.The steam that rose formed itself into such horrible shapes that no one could look at them without fear.Every moment the witch threw something else into the vessel,and when it began to boil,the sound was like the weeping of a crocodile.When at last the magic draught was ready,it looked like the clearest water.“There it is for you,”said the witch.Then she cut off the mermaid's tongue,so that she became dumb,and would never again speak or sing.“If the polypi should seize hold of you as you return through the wood,”said the witch,“throw over them a few drops of the potion,and their fingers will be torn into a thousand pieces.”But the little mermaid had no occasion to do this,for the polypi sprang back in terror when they caught sight of the glittering draught,which shone in her hand like a twinkling star.
So she passed quickly through the wood and the marsh,and between the rushing whirlpools.She saw that in her father's palace the torches in the ballroom were extinguished,and all within asleep;but she did not venture to go in to them,for now she was dumb and going to leave them forever,she felt as if her heart would break.She stole into the garden,took a flower from the flower-beds of each of her sisters,kissed her hand a thousand times towards the palace,and then rose up through the dark blue waters.The sun had not risen when she came in sight of the prince's palace,and approached the beautiful marble steps,but the moon shone clear and bright.Then the little mermaid drank the magic draught,and it seemed as if a two-edged sword went through her delicate body:she fell into a swoon,and lay like one dead.When the sun arose and shone over the sea,she recovered,and felt a sharp pain;but just before her stood the handsome young prince.He fixed his coal-black eyes upon her so earnestly that she cast down her own,and then became aware that her fish's tail was gone,and that she had as pretty a pair of white legs and tiny feet as any little maiden could have;but she had no clothes,so she wrapped herself in her long,thick hair.The prince asked her who she was,and where she came from,and she looked at him mildly and sorrowfully with her deep blue eyes;but she could not speak.Every step she took was as the witch had said it would be,she felt as if treading upon the points of needles or sharp knives;but she bore it willingly,and stepped as lightly by the prince's side as a soap-bubble,so that he and all who saw her wondered at her graceful-swaying movements.She was very soon arrayed in costly robes of silk and muslin,and was the most beautiful creature in the palace;but she was dumb,and could neither speak nor sing.