The Little Mermaid

Their grandmother hadn't told them enough. There was so much they had to find out. No one was as full of longing as the youngest. She stood by the open window and looked up through the dark blue water where the fish fled their fins and tails. If it seemed as though a black shadow glided slowly under them she knew it was either a whale that swam over her or else it was a ship with many mortals on board. It certainly never occurred to them that a lovely little mermaid was standing down below stretching her white hands up toward the keel. Now the eldest princess was fifteen and it was permitted to go up to the surface of the water. When she came back