retched out their hands towards her, but did not venture so near
the land as her sisters had.

As the days passed she loved the prince more dearly, and he loved her as
one would love a little child. The thought never came to him to make her
his wife. Yet unless he married her, she could not receive an immortal
soul, and on the morning after his marriage with another, she would
dissolve into the foam of the sea.

"Do you not love me the best of them all?" the eyes of the little
mermaid seemed to say when he took her in his arms and kissed her fair
forehead.

"Yes, you are dear to me," said the prince, "for you have the best heart
and you are the most devoted to me. You are like a young maiden whom I
once saw, but whom I shall never meet again. I was in a ship that was
wrecked, and the waves cast me ashore near a holy temple where several
young maidens performed the service. The youngest of them found me on
the shore and saved my life. I saw her but twice, and she is the only
one in the world whom I could love. But you are like her, and you have
almost driven her image from my mind. She belongs to the holy temple,
and good fortune has sent you to me in her stead. We will never part.

"Ah, he knows not that it was I who saved his life," thought the little
mermaid. "I carried him over the sea to the wood where the temple
stands; I sat beneath the foam and watched till the human beings came to
help him. I saw the pretty maiden that he loves better than he loves
me." The mermaid sighed deeply, but she could not weep. "He says the
maiden belongs to the holy temple, therefore she will never return to
the world--they will meet no more. I am by his side and see him every
day. I will take care of him, and love him, and give up my life for his
sake."

Very soon it was said that the prince was to marry and that the
beautiful daughter of a neighboring king would be his wife, for a fine
ship was being fitted out. Although the prince gave out that he
intended merely to pay a visit to the king, it was generally supposed
that he went to court the princess. A great company were to go with him.
The little mermaid smiled and shook her head. She knew the prince's
thoughts better than any of the others.

"I must travel," he had said to her; "I must see this beautiful
princess. My parents desire it, but they will not oblige me to bring her
home as my bride. I cannot love her, because she is not like the
beautiful maiden in the temple, w