Now this witch wished to get possession of the merman’s belt, and so gain the fairy’s power. Telling her scheme to the dwarf, she said to him:
“Now you must trap the merman when he is sitting on the rocks watching the fishing fleet. But I must change you into a bee, when you must suck of the juice in this magic basin, then fly off and alight on the merman’s head, when he will fall asleep.”
So the dwarf agreed, and it happened as she had said; and the merman fell asleep, and the dwarf stole the belt and brought it to the witch.
“Now you must wear the belt,” said the witch to the dwarf, “and you will have the power and the fairy will lose her power.”
They then translated the sleeping merman to the forest and laid him before the hut, when the witch got a copper vessel, saying:
“We must bury him in this.”
Then she got the magic pot, and told the dwarf to take a ladleful of the fluid in the pot, and pour it over the merman, which he did, and immediately the merman turned into smoke, that settled in the copper vessel. Then they sealed the copper vessel tightly.
“Now take this vessel, and heave it into the sea fifty miles from the land,” said the witch, and the dwarf did as he was bid.
“Now we’ll starve those old fishermen out this winter,” said the witch; and it happened as she had said—they could catch nothing.
In the spring the queen fairy came to one of the young fishermen who was courting one of the chief’s daughters, and said: