loud hideous laugh that the toad and the snakes fell to the ground and
wriggled about there.

'You are just in the nick of time,' said the witch; 'after sunrise
to-morrow I should not be able to help you until another year had run
its course. I will make you a potion, and before sunrise you must swim
ashore with it, seat yourself on the beach and drink it; then your tail
will divide and shrivel up to what men call beautiful legs. But it
hurts; it is as if a sharp sword were running through you. All who see
you will say that you are the most beautiful child of man they have ever
seen. You will keep your gliding gait, no dancer will rival you, but
every step you take will be as if you were treading upon sharp knives,
so sharp as to draw blood. If you are willing to suffer all this I am
ready to help you!'

'Yes!' said the little princess with a trembling voice, thinking of the
prince and of winning an undying soul.

'But remember,' said the witch, 'when once you have received a human
form, you can never be a mermaid again; you will never again be able to
dive down through the water to your sisters and to your father's palace.
And if you do not succeed in winning the prince's love, so that for your
sake he will forget father and mother, cleave to you with his whole
heart, let the priest join your hands and make you man and wife, you
will gain no immortal soul! The first morning after his marriage with
another your heart will break, and you will turn into foam of the sea.'

'I will do it,' said the little mermaid as pale as death.

'But you will have to pay me, too,' said the witch, 'and it is no trifle