The next morning the ship came to the city where the beautiful princess lived. Bells were ringing and soldiers were walking through the city. Everyone was happy. The princess, however, was not in the city when they came. At last she came.
The little sea princess wanted to see the beautiful princess. When the princess came, she saw how beautiful she was. She had never before seen so beautiful a person.
"She is the girl who saved me!" the prince cried out when he saw her. And he took her hand in his and kissed her.
"Oh,I am so happy!" he said to the little sea princess. "I never thought that the princess was the same girl who came to me near the large white house. You must be happy, too, for you love me more than all the others."
And the little sea princess kissed his hand sadly. She knew that she would soon die.
The bells rang. The prince and the beautiful princess were married. The little sea princess, dressed with clothes of gold, stood near the beautiful princess. But she saw and heard nothing: she remembered that she would soon die. She would have no soul.
The same night the prince and the princess went on the ship. Lamps were put everywhere on the ship, and everyone was very happy. But the poor little sea princess was very sad.
"I have gone away from my home. I cannot speak and sing any more. And I am full of pain," she thought. "I have done all this for the prince whom I love. Now he has married another princess, and I shall soon die."
It was the last night on which she could look at the blue sea and the sky.
When at last everyone fell asleep, she saw her sisters coming out of the sea. Their faces were white.
"We have asked the old woman to help you," they told her. "You must kill the prince before the sun comes up in the sky tomorrow. Then you will not die. You will lose your feet and get back your fish's body. But be quick! Kill the prince and come down to us!"
Then the five sisters went away.
She went into the room where the prince was sleeping. She looked down at him. "No!" she said. "I love him too much. I can not kill him. Let me die!" She kissed him. Then she went up and looked over the side of the ship into the sea.
She jumped into the sea. She knew that her body was changing into water. The sun came up into the sky. She could still see the ship and the sky over her. She could hear the People of the Sky singing. She could see them in the sky above her. Then she saw that she had a body like theirs! She found herself going up and up out of the water and up into the sky.