In the deep, sea palace, there lived a mermaid¹ princess. Whenever she sang a song with her beautiful voice, everyone envied² her. However, the mermaid princess wanted to go to the outside world.

"I would like to hear the beautiful sound of birds. "The king promised her. "When you turn 15 years old, you can go and see the life above the sea." "Oh, I can't wait!

Finally, it was the mermaid princess' 15th birthday. She went up to the sea. The princess saw a great ship. And she saw a handsome prince standing³ on the ship. The princess fell in love with him at first sight.

However, as thunder and lightning struck, the ship sank on its side. The prince lost his consciousness⁴ and fell deep into the sea. "Oh, no! The prince fell into the water. Let me hurry and save him."

The princess saved the prince and laid him on the sand. The princess took care of him all night. When the prince opened his eyes, the mermaid princess hid from him. She thought he might get scared by her tail. Just then, a princess from a neighbor land came out to see the sea and she saw the prince.

The princess watched from a far the prince who always came out to the sea at night. The princess was very sad. She wanted to become a human so that she could be with the prince.

She asked the witch⁵. "Okay, I will make you into a human, but you must give me your beautiful voice. If the prince marries someone else, you will become a water bubble⁶. You must marry the prince."

On the sand, she drank the medicine that the witch had given her. With the big sudden⁷ pain, she turned into a human. Just then, the prince who came out to the sea saw the princess.

The prince took the princess who could not speak, to his palace. Although she could not speak, she was happy to be living near the prince. The prince was going to be married to a princess from a neighbor land.

"I will be marrying the princess that saved my life." 'I am the one that saved your life.' But, her voice could not be heard.

At night, the mermaid princess' older sisters came up to the sea. They gave the mermaid princess a knife and said, "If you stab⁸ the prince with this knife, you can be a mermaid again. If you don't, you will become a water bubble."

On the night of the wedding, the mermaid princess was going to stab the sleeping prince with the knife. But, she could not kill the loving prince. "It's best that I just turn into a water bubble. "When morning came, the mermaid turned into a water bubble and went up to heaven.