ed she had forgotten everything.

"'Don't you recollect how you danced with the mermaids?' he asked.

"'I don't know what you mean,' said the bride. 'I think that you must
have dreamed a strange dream last night.'

"If I show you your seal skin, you'll probably believe me!' laughed the
fisherman, promptly turning the boat toward the islet. They stepped
ashore and he brought the seal skin out from under the stone where he
had hidden it.

"But the instant the bride set eyes on the seal skin she grasped it and
drew it over her head. It snuggled close to her--as if there was life in
it--and immediately she threw herself into the stream.

"The bridegroom saw her swim away and plunged into the water after her;
but he could not catch up to her. When he saw that he couldn't stop her
in any other way, in his grief he seized his spear and hurled it. He
aimed better than he had intended, for the poor mermaid gave a piercing
shriek and disappeared in the depths.

"The fisherman stood on the strand waiting for her to appear again. He
observed that the water around him began to take on a soft sheen, a
beauty that he had never seen before. It shimmered in pink and white,
like the colour-play on the inside of sea shells.

"As the glittering water lapped the shores, the fisherman thought that
they too were transformed. They began to blossom and waft their
perfumes. A soft sheen spread over them and they also took on a beauty
which they had never possessed before.

"He understood how all this had come to pass. For it is thus with
mermaids: one who beholds them must needs find them more beautiful than
any one else, and the mermaid's blood being mixed with the water that
bathed the shores, her beauty was transferred to both. All who saw them
must love them and yearn for them. This was their legacy from the
mermaid."

When the stately old gentleman had got thus far in his narrative he
turned to Clement and looked at him. Clement nodded reverently but made
no comment, as he did not wish to cause a break in the story.

"Now you must bear this in mind, Clement," the old gentleman continued,
with a roguish glint in his eyes. "From that time on people emigrated to
the islands. At first only fishermen and peasants settled there, but
others, too, were attracted to them. One day the king and his earl
sailed up the stream. They started at once to talk of these islands,
having observed they were so situated that every vessel that sailed
t