L2-7-1-1

The young fisherman went out in his boat every evening and threw his nets into the water.

When the wind blew away from the land, he caught nothing, or very little,

and rough waves met him as he came back.

But when the wind blew to the land, the fish came in from the deep sea and went into his nets.

And he took them and sold them in the town.

One evening the net was so heavy that he could hardly pull it up into the boat.

He laughed and said, perhaps I have caught all the fish in the sea,

or perhaps I have caught some strange and fearful thing which men will want to see and pay money to see.

He pulled and pulled. The nets came nearer and nearer to the boat.

At last it came to the top of the water.

There were no fish in it, there was no strange or fearful thing, but only a mermaid lying asleep.

Her hair was like gold.

Each hair was like a thread of gold.

Her body was silver and pearl.

She was so beautiful that the young fisherman was filled with wonder.

He took her up in his arms.

When he touched her, she gave a cry of fear.

She opened her eyes, which were of the deepest, deepest blue, and tried to escape.

But he held her and would not let her go.

When she saw that she could not escape, she began to weep.

Please, please let me go.

She said, I am the daughter of the King of the Sea. I am his only daughter.

He has only me and he is very old and alone.

The young fisherman answered, I'll let you go only if you make a promise.

Promise me that, whenever I call you, you will come and sing to me.

The fish love to listen to the song of the people of the sea, so they will come into my nets and my nets will be full.

Will you really let me go if I promise that?

cried the mermaid.

Yes, I will let you go, said the young fisherman.

So she made the promise.

He opened his arms and she went down into the water.

The young fisherman went out in his boat every evening.

He called to the mermaid and she came up out of the water and sang to him.

She sang to him about the people of the sea as they moved from cave to cave carrying the young ones with them.

She sang about the palace of the King with its roof of clear blue jewels and its floor of pearl.

She sang about the gardens of the sea where the sea plants wave in the water and bright sea flowers grow on the rocks

and the fishes are like birds moving among them.

And as she sang, the big fish came in from the deep sea to listen to her

and the young fisherman threw his nets round them and caught them.

When his boat was full, the mermaid went down into the sea.