The young prince did not look for the sea princess. He did not know that she saved him. People came and took the prince into the house. The princess became very sad. She jumped into the water and went back to her father's house down in the sea.
He sisters asked her, " What did you see?" But the little sea princess did not answer.
She went back many times to the big white house where she put the young prince. The snow went from the hills and flowers grew up in the woods. But she never saw the prince. So she always went back sadly to her home in the sea. She did not even like her own garden any more.
At last she told the story to the other princesses, and they told it to their friends. One of these friends remembered the prince. She know the country where the prince lived.
"Come, little sister!" said the princesses. And they all went to the top of the water. They came out of the sea, arm in arm, just in front of the prince's house.
The house was made of white stone. The princesses looked into the large rooms through the windows. The rooms were so beautiful that the six sea princesses were very happy just to look at them. The little sea princess knew that this was the house of her young prince. So she went there every night. She went nearer and nearer to the land. She often stayed just stayed just outside one of the rooms and looked in at the young prince.
Sometimes she saw him in a little ship on the river. She then hid in the long grass near the side of the river. On one night she heared the fishermen talking about the prince. "He is so brave, "they said. She was very happy, for she remembered how she saved his life.
She grew to like the people on the land more and more each day. She wanted to be one of them.They could go to so many places and they could do so many things. They could go over the sea in their ships; they could go to the top of the hills; and their woods and houses and gardens were so big.
There were many things that she wanted to know about, but her sisters could not tell her. Again she went to ask her grandmother.
"Do men live for ever?" she asked.
"They must die like us; but their life is not so long as ours, " answered the old grandmother. "We live for three hundred years. When we die, our bodies become water in the sea. We have no souls and we can never live again. People who live on the land have souls: their bodies die and become dust: but their souls do not die. They go to a beautiful place in the sky."
"Why have we no souls?" asked the little sea princess. "I would not want to live for three hundred years if I had a soul. When my body died, I should be able to live for ever in that beautiful place in the sky."
"You must not think of that," her grandmother answered. "We live longer and we are far happier than people on land."
But the little sea princess said, "If I die, I can never go to the top of the sea again. I can never hear the lovely noise of the sea, never again see the beautiful flowers and the sun! Tell me, grandmother, is there any way by which I can get a soul?"
The grandmother answered, "If a person on the land loves you more than his father or mother. If he says that he will love you for ever. Then his soul will go into your body. You can get a soul from a person on the land who loves you. But that can never be! The people on the land are not like us. They think that feet are beautiful!"
"I will go to the old woman who knows all about magic, " said the sea princess. "I have always been afraid of her, but she can help me."