listen ! said the mermaid to the prince , who was lying stretched on a bed of seaweeds at the bottom of the sea . ` Listen ! that is your old love playing , for mermaids know everything that happens upon earth . ' ' I hear nothing , ' answered the youth , who did not look happy . ` 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 XXXXX the palace , where the young man at once resumed his own shape .
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