The princess

The princess whispered to him, "I want to break her spell and get you out. Tell me what to do."

"Impossible," said the young man. "To save me I must have a girl who loves me and is willing to die for me."

"I am the girl," said the princess.

The young man and the princess were talking in the crab's shell, when the fairy came and sat on the shell. The young man moved the crab's paw as usual and swam down the water course with the fairy on his back, and the fairy sat on the crab's back, unaware that the princess was still hidden underneath. After they had put the fairy back into the sea, they swam to the fishpond again, and the prince -- the young man was a prince -- told the princess in the crab's shell how to save him: "Go to a rock by the sea, and sing and play on it. The fairy was crazy about music, and when she heard it, she would come out of the water and say, Go on playing, pretty girl, I like it very much. Then you say: if you give me the flower on your head, I can play it for you. When you have the flower, I shall be saved, for the flower is my life."

Here the crab swam back into the pond and let the princess out from under its shell.

And the tramp, seeing that the princess was gone, thought he had done some serious mischief, and swam back to the pond. But the princess came out of the water again, and thanked him and gave him a large sum of money.

Then the princess went to see her father and told him that she wanted to learn music and singing. The king granted his daughter every wish, and at once sent for some great masters of instrumental and vocal music to teach her to practice.

When she had just finished, she said to the king, "Father, I am going to play my violin on a rock near the sea."

"To play on a rock by the sea? Are you crazy?" But as always, the king satisfied her, and sent eight maidens in white veil to accompany him. To guard against danger, he sent a regiment of heavily armed soldiers to follow her closely.

The princess sat down on a rock and played the lute. Around her, eight court ladies in white gauze sat on eight other rocks. Then out of the waves came the fairy, "How well you pull!" "Said the fairy to her," Go on, I like it!"

The princess said to her, "If you will only give me the flower on your head, I will continue to play for you, for I love flowers very much."

"Well, if you can get the flower I threw, I will give it to you."

"I will go and get it," said she, and began to play again, and sing, and when she had finished singing, she said, "Now thou wilt give me flowers."

"Here you are." "Said the fairy, throwing the flower into the sea.

When the princess saw the flowers floating up and down in the sea with the waves, she jumped into the water and swam towards them. Little princess, little princess! Help, help!" "Cried the eight maids in white veils, standing on the rock. The princess swam on and on in the sea, sometimes drowning her and sometimes lifting her up, and it was difficult to reach the flower, and she was almost desperate when a wave came over her,