Nelly spied two pretty little creatures floating to and fro on the rocking waves.—Page 175.
IX.
MERMAIDS.
"I wish I were a sea-gull or a fish or a mermaid; then I could swim as much as I like, and not have to stay on this stupid dry land all day," said Nelly, as she sat frowning and punching holes in the sand one summer morning, while the waves came murmuring up on the beach, and a fresh wind sang its pleasant song.
The little girl loved to bathe so well that she wanted to be in the water all the time, and had been forbidden to go into the sea for a day or two because she had a cold. So she was in a pet, and ran away from her playmates to sit and sulk in a lonely spot among the rocks. She had been watching the gulls fly and float, with their white wings shining as they dipped down or soared away in the sunshine. As she wished her wish a very large one swept down upon the sand before her, and startled her by saying in a hoarse tone, as she stared at its bright eyes, the red ring round its neck, and the little tuft on its head,—
"I am the King of the gulls, and I can grant any one of your wishes. Which will you be,—a fish, a bird, or a mermaid?"
"People say there are no mermaids," stammered Nelly.
"There are; only mortals cannot see them unless I give the power. Be quick! I don't like the sand. Choose, and let me be off!" commanded the Great Gull, with an impatient flutter of its wide wings.
"Then I'll be a mermaid, please. I always wanted to see one, and it must be very nice to live always in the water."
"Done!" said the gull, and was gone like a flash.