H. C. Andersen best fairy tales / Лучшие сказки Г.Х. Андерсена. Уровень 1

The sea was green, and round about there floated large icebergs. Every iceberg was like a pearl, she said, and yet they were bigger than the church towers that men built. They were like diamonds. She was sitting on one of the largest, and all the ships made a wide circle in fear. In the evening the sky was covered with clouds, it lightened and thundered.

Many times the five sisters linked arms together and rose in a row above the water. They had lovely voices, more beautiful than any human being’s. When a storm was coming on, they were swimming before the ships and singing beautifully.

But the people could not understand their words; they thought it was the storm. And the people did not see any beautiful things either. When the ship sank they were drowned, and only dead corpses reached the sea King’s palace.

When the sisters rose up through the sea, arm in arm, their little sister stayed quite alone.

“Oh! When I am fifteen,” she said, “I shall become really fond of that world up there and of the people who have their homes there!”

At last she was fifteen years old.

“There now!” said the grandmother, the old widow Queen. “Come here, and let me dress you”.

She put a wreath of white lilies on her hair, only every petal in the flower was a half-pearl. And eight large oysters held tight the Princess’s tail, to indicate her high rank.

“But it hurts so,” said the little mermaid.

“Yes, you must suffer a little for smartness’ sake[12 - for smartness’ sake – ради красоты],” said the old lady.

Oh dear! The little mermaid wanted to shake off all this finery and put away the heavy wreath. But she dare not change it.

“Good-bye”, she said, and rose as a bubble, up through the water.

She lifted her head above the sea, but all the clouds were still glowing like gold and roses. In the midst of the pale red heaven the evening star shone clear and beautiful. The air was soft and cool, and the sea calm. There lay a great ship with three masts.

Only a single sail was set. On the rigging and on the yard[13 - on the rigging and on the yard – на вантах и реях], sailors were sitting. She heard music and songs.

The little mermaid swam straight up to the cabin window. She saw through the windows many gaily dressed people. The handsomest of them all was the young Prince with the big black eyes. He was certainly not much over sixteen, and this was his birthday.