“Ask what you will,” said the mother; “I am willing to do anything possible.”
“You must weave me a cloak of your own hair,” said the mermaid. “Here is a pot of ointment which will make your hair grow again.”
The mother immediately set to work; she continued without a pause day and night.
Every morning the mermaid looked in at the window of her room to see what progress she had made. She could only make half a cloak, as she had used all her hair. She begged the mermaid to be satisfied with this, but in vain; she was immovable and demanded that the work should be completed.
At length, after sad years of waiting, the wonderful cloak was finished. The mermaid was delighted with it, and the little girl, now a young maiden, was restored to her mother.
The mermaid ordered a beautiful rounded barque, inlaid with shells, and with a brazen pelican as figure-head. Four mermaids were harnessed to it, and took the mother and her child across the mighty deep, back to their own home, where they lived happily ever after.
THE MERMAID, THE MOTHER, AND HER DAUGHTER