Hilda told her she could not live in the water as she did, because her body was not like hers.
"Oh, I am so sorry!" replied the mermaid. "I hoped you would visit me some time; we have such good times, my sisters and I, under the sea."
"Tell me about your home," said Hilda.
"Come and sit beside me and I will," she replied.
Hilda sat upon the floor by her side. The mermaid felt of Hilda's clothes and thought it must be a bother to have so many clothes.
"How can you swim?" she asked.
Hilda told her she put on a bathing-suit, but the mermaid thought that a nuisance.
"I will tell you about our house first," she began. "Our father, Neptune, lives in a beautiful castle at the bottom of the sea. It is built of mother-of-pearl. All around the castle grow beautiful green things, and it has fine white sand around it also. All my sisters live there, and we are always glad to get home after we have been at the top of the ocean, it is so nice and cool in our home. The wind never blows there and the rain does not reach us."
"You do not mind being wet by the rain, do you?" asked Hilda.
"Oh no!" said the mermaid, "but the rain hurts us. It falls in little sharp points and feels like pebbles."