"Who are you?" she said. "Where are you taking me?"
"We are the children of the sky," was the answer. "We do not have souls like the land people. But we do not die like sea people. We can get souls by doing good to others. We bring rain and flowers to dusty lands.We bring sleep to those who are ill and in pain, and happiness to those who are sad. If we do good things for three hundred years, we get a soul, and we can live for ever. You, poor sea princess, are now one of us. You have gone away from the sea because of your love for someone. You have had great pain and sadness. Now you can bring happiness to others, and you can get a soul."
The little sea princess put out her arms up to the sun. Then she looked down at the ship.
All were awake on the ship. She saw the prince with his pretty young wife. They were looking for her. They looked sadly down at the sea. Did they know that she had jumped into it? No one could see her now. She went down and kissed the prince, but he could not see her. Then she went up and up into the sky.
"After three hundred years, we shall get our souls. Then we shall live for ever in the beautiful place far, far up in the sky!" said the children of the sky.
"We may do this sooner," said one of her sky sisters, " We go into many houses where there are children. No one can ever see us, but we are there. When we find a good child, a year is taken from our three hundred years. But when we see a bad child, we are sad because this adds a year to our time here."