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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."
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这座宫殿是由白色的石块建筑的，公主们透过
窗户往大房间里张望。房间富丽堂皇，只要看看这
些房间，这六个海公主就非常高兴了。小海公主知
道，这是她那年轻王子的宫殿，所以她每晚都到那
儿去。她越游越靠近陆地，常常待在一间房子外面
，瞧着那位年轻的王子。
有时候，她看到王子坐着小船在河上游玩，她
就躲藏在河边的高高的草丛里。有一天晚上，她听
到渔夫们谈到王子，他们说：“他真勇敢。”海公
主很高兴，因为她回忆起她怎样救了他的命。
她渐渐越来越爱陆地上的人了。她想成为他们
中的一个。他们可以到那么多的地方去，他们能做
那么多的事情。他们能够乘自己的船在海上行驶，
能爬高山顶端。他们的树林、房屋和花园又是那么
宏大。
她想知道的事情很多，可是她的姐姐们都不能
告诉她。她又去问她的祖母了。
“人会永远活下去吗？”她问。
“他们和我们一样，也是要死的，但她们的寿
命比我们还要短呢。”老祖母回答道，“我们能活
到三百岁。等我们死了，我们的身体变成海里的水
。我们没有灵魂，不能再活了。生活在陆地上的人
有灵魂，他们的身体死后化成尘土，而他们的灵魂
还活着，升到天上一个美丽的地方去。
“为什么我们没有灵魂？”小海公主问，“如
果我有灵魂的话，我愿意放弃我能活三百岁的生命
，等我的身体死去，我可以在天上美丽的世界得到
永生。”
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