` Take me up higher , where the sounds can reach me . ' So the mermaid took him on her shoulders and bore him up midway to the surface . ` Can you hear now ? ' she asked . ` No , ' answered the prince , ' I hear nothing but the water rushing ; I must go higher still . ' Then the mermaid carried him to the very top . ` You must surely be able to hear now ? ' said she . ` Nothing but the water , ' repeated the youth . So she took him right to the land . ` At any rate you can hear now ? ' she said again . ` The water is still rushing in my ears , ' answered he ; ` but wait a little , that will soon pass off . ' And as he spoke he put his hand into his breast , and seizing the hair wished himself a bee , and flew straight into the pocket of the princess . The mermaid looked in vain for him , and coated all night upon the sea ; but he never came back , and never more did he gladden her eyes . But the princess felt that something strange was about her , though she knew not what , and returned quickly to the palace , where the young man at once resumed his own shape . Oh , what joy filled her heart at the sight of him ! But there was no time to be lost , and she led him right into the hall , where the king and his nobles were still sitting at the feast . ` Here is a man who boasts that he can do wonderful tricks , ' said she , ` better even than the Red Knight 's ! That can not be true , of course , but it might be well to give this impostor a lesson .
He pretends , for instance , that he can turn himself into a lion ; but XXXXX I do not believe .
At So as for into of than that though upon