The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-06-20

there one must have two clumsy supports called legs to be considered beautiful" The little mermaid sighed and swam away. She was willing to risk everything just to make the handsome Prince love her and cling to her with all his heart and soul. At last she became so brave that she ventured to ask the old sea l witch who lived in the terrible whirl-
 pools.
 She had to pass through horrible polyps
 that grasped at everything that came near
 and never let 1t go. Everywhere they held
 skeletons and ships and mermaids that they had caught and strangled Beyond them was slimy place in a weird sea wood where fat water snakes
 rolled about, whitish-yelow and ugly. In a house built of bones sat the still more ugly sea-witch.
 q know what you want" croaked she, laughing hideously. You want to get rid
 of your pretty fishtail. Here is a drink. Take 1t to the land before the sun rises and drink it. Your tail will part and change into the two stumps that human beings call pretty legs. You will feel as 1 if sharp sword went through you, but every one will say you are the most beau- tiful human child they ever have seen. You will walk more gracefully than any girl on earth, but with every step you will feel as if you stepped on a dreadful knife. Once changed, you never can be- | come mermaid again. You never will be 1 able to descend to your sisters or your father And if you do not win the Prince s | love so that he forgets his mother and l father for your sake and clings to you | with all his heart and lets the priest | marry you, then you will not receive an | immortal soul. The first morning after 1 he has married another your heart will break and you will become foam on the water"
 q will do it," said the little mermaid with trembling voice, and turned pale ! as death.
 "But you will have to pay me- said the 1 sea-witch. "You have the lovelist voice | of all down here, and mermaids can en- I chant any one with their voices; but that l voice you must give me. You must in fatuate him with your graceful walk and your beautiful form and your lovely
 eyes,"
 "So be it." said the little mermaid; and l the witch gave her the draught, and l the mermaid passed safely through whirl- pools and the polyps drew back in fright when they beheld the magic potion that shone life glitterng star.
 | She saw her fathers palace, but she did | not venture into it, now that she was dumb and going away forever. It seemed l as if her little heart would break from | ssrrow. She swan sadly into the garden I and took a sea-fower from the garden 1 bed of each sister and threw kisses with her hand toward their windows Then I she swan swiftly upward through the dark blue of the waters.
 ! The sun had not risen when she reached ! the marble steps that descend to the sea from the Princes palace, but the moon was shining kind and pure. She | swan to the strand and drank the strong and fiery draught.
 Instantly she felt as If a two-edged sword sprang through her delicate frame l with lightning pain. She swooned and | lay as one who is dead.
 When the sun began to flame across | the waves she came to herself and felt
 a great burning torment, but in mo- ment she forgot it, because right in front of her stood the young Prince. He gazed at her so ardently with his | coal-black eyes that she cast down her own and then discovered that her fish's | tail had vanished and that she had the | prettiest little feet. the whitest and the l daintiest that girl could have. The Prince asked her who she was and ! how she came there and his voice trem-
 bled, for never had man seen 10 lovely