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Free Bedtime Stories & Short Stories for Kids

This is the Thumbelina Story for kids. Once upon a time, a woman lived by herself in a faraway village. She was very lonely after her husband had died. She always wanted to have a child but alas, she didn’t have any. One day, she

by Shreya Sharma

This is The Little Match Girl Story. That night was New Year’s Eve and it was terribly cold and snowy. There was a little girl who was bareheaded and with nothing on her feet, walking alone along the dark street. As she left home, she

by Shreya Sharma

This is a short story with moral for kids. Once upon a time, in a farmland lived a happy family. A couple and their daughter ran the farm and took care of the animals. You may also like to read, The Ice Cream Cart And The Poor

by Basab Ghosh

This is one of the great bedtime stories for girls. Long, long ago, there was a little girl named Luna. Luna lived in an attic far from the village. She liked sitting on the rooftop and watching the beautiful night sky. One day, Luna wanted

by Shreya Sharma

This is one of the classic bedtime stories online for kids. Once upon a time, in a small house lived a little girl. She loved ice creams. Every day in her neighborhood, an ice cream cart came in the evenings. It was full of many

by Basab Ghosh

This is the most amazing tooth fairy story for kids to read. One day, not too long ago, a little girl experienced the pain of milk teeth falling out for the very first time. As it was her first time, the little girl became scared at

by Basab Ghosh

This is the wise little girl story for kids. Once upon a time, two brothers are riding their horses and are off to the market. The rich brother has a big, strong stallion. The poor brother has a young mare. The poor brother also brings

by Shreya Sharma

This is one of the most amazing inspirational short stories for children. Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Emily. She was born from a family of musicians. Her father was an exemplary pianist during his youth and then became a music professor

by Shreya Sharma

This is the goose girl story for kids. Once upon a time in a faraway kingdom, the Queen told her beautiful daughter, “Your hand has been promised to the Prince of Shazaam. You must leave for your betrothed’s home at once. Take your maid and

by Shreya Sharma

This is the Sleeping Beauty Short Story. Once upon a time in a faraway land, a beautiful girl was born to the king and queen. Fairies from all over were invited to the celebrations. They brought with them special gifts and blessed the little princess so

by Shreya Sharma

Age 0-3 | Bedtime Stories

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Read the best free bedtime stories for babies, baby books, fairy tales, stories for toddlers and toddler books online!

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The Little Mermaid - Hans Christian Andersen, read online

In the open sea, the water is as blue as cornflowers and clear as clear glass - but it is deep there! So deep that not a single anchor will reach the bottom, and in order to measure this depth, one would have to pile up God knows how many bell towers on the bottom of the sea, and that's where the mermaids live.

Do not think that there, at the bottom, there is only bare white sand; no, there grow unprecedented trees and flowers with such flexible stems and leaves that they move as if alive at the slightest movement of water. Small and large fish dart between the branches, just like the birds we have here. In the deepest place stands the coral palace of the sea king, with high pointed windows of the purest amber and a roof of shells, which now open and close, according to the ebb or flow of the tide; it comes out very beautifully, as in the middle of each shell lies a pearl of such beauty that each of them would adorn the crown of any queen.

The sea king was a widow a long time ago, and his old mother, a smart woman, but very proud of her family, ran the household; she carried a whole dozen oysters on her tail, while the nobles were entitled to carry only six. In general, she was a worthy person, especially because she loved her little granddaughters very much. All six princesses were pretty little mermaids, but the best of all was the youngest, tender and transparent, like a rose petal, with deep blue eyes like the sea. But she, like other mermaids, had no legs, but only a fish tail.

The little mermaid liked most of all to listen to stories about people living above, on the ground. The old grandmother had to tell her everything she knew about ships and cities, about people and animals.

“When you are fifteen years old,” grandmother said, “you will also be allowed to float to the surface of the sea, sit on the rocks in the light of the moon and look at huge ships sailing past, at forests and cities!”

— Oh, when will I be fifteen? she said. “I know that I will love both that world and the people who live there!

Finally she turned fifteen!

— Well, they raised you too! said Grandmother, the Queen Dowager. “Come here, we need to dress you up like the other sisters!”

And she put a crown of white pearl lilies on the little mermaid's head - each petal was a half of a pearl, then, to indicate the high dignity of the princess, she ordered eight oysters to cling to her tail.

- Yes, it hurts! the little mermaid said.

— For the sake of beauty, you have to endure a little! said the old woman.

Ah, with what pleasure the little mermaid would throw off all these dresses and a heavy crown: the little red flowers from her garden suited her much more, but there was nothing to do!

- Farewell! - she said, and easily and smoothly, like a transparent water bubble, rose to the surface.

The sun had just set, but the clouds were still shining with purple and gold, while in the reddish sky the clear evening stars were already shining; the air was soft and fresh, and the sea, like a mirror. Not far from the place where the little mermaid surfaced stood a three-masted ship, with only one sail raised: there was not the slightest breeze; the sounds of music and songs rushed from the deck; when it got completely dark, the ship was illuminated by hundreds of multi-colored lanterns. The little mermaid swam up to the very windows of the cabin, and when the waves lifted her slightly, she could look into the cabin. There were a lot of people dressed up, but the best of all was the young prince with big black eyes. He must have been no more than sixteen; on that day his birth was celebrated, which is why there was such fun on the ship. Oh, how good was the young prince! He shook people's hands, smiled and laughed, and the music went on and on in the stillness of the clear night.

It was getting late, but the little mermaid couldn't take her eyes off the ship and the handsome prince. The multi-colored lights went out, the rockets no longer took off into the air, there was no more cannon shots, but the sea itself hummed and groaned. The Little Mermaid rocked on the waves next to the ship and kept looking into the cabin, and the ship rushed faster and faster, the sails unfolded one after another, the wind grew stronger, the waves came in, the clouds thickened, and lightning flashed. A storm has begun! The sailors began to tuck in the sails; the huge ship shook terribly, and the wind raced it along the raging waves; high water mountains rose around the ship, threatening to close over the masts of the ship, but it dived between the water walls like a swan, and again flew up to the crest of the waves. The storm only amused the little mermaid, but the sailors had a bad time: the ship cracked, thick logs flew into chips, waves rolled over the deck, the masts broke like reeds, the ship turned over on its side, and water gushed into the hold. Then the little mermaid realized the danger - she herself had to beware of logs and debris that were rushing along the waves. For a moment it suddenly became so dark that you could gouge out your eye; but then lightning flashed again, and the little mermaid again saw all the people who were on the ship; each escaped as best he could. The little mermaid looked for the prince and saw how he plunged into the water when the ship broke into pieces. At first, the little mermaid was very happy that he would now fall to the bottom of them, but then she remembered that people cannot live in water and that he can only sail to her father's palace dead. No, no, he must not die! And she swam between the logs and boards, completely forgetting that they could crush her at any moment. I had to dive into the very depths, then fly up along with the waves; but at last she overtook the prince, who was already almost completely exhausted and could no longer sail on a stormy sea; his arms and legs refused to serve him, and his lovely eyes were closed; he would have died if the little mermaid had not come to his aid. She lifted his head above the water and let the waves carry them both wherever they wanted.

By morning the bad weather had subsided; not a single chip was left of the ship; the sun shone again over the water, and its bright rays seemed to restore the prince's cheeks to their lively color, but his eyes still did not open.

The little mermaid pushed her hair back from the prince's forehead and kissed him on his high handsome forehead; she thought he looked like the marble boy that stood in her garden; she kissed him again and wished with all her heart that he would live.

At last she saw solid ground and high mountains stretching into the sky, on the tops of which, like flocks of swans, snow was white. A wonderful grove grew green near the shore, and some building stood higher up, like a church or a monastery. There were orange and lemon trees in the grove, and tall palm trees at the gates of the building. The sea cut into the white sandy shore in a small bay where the water was very still but deep; here the little mermaid swam and laid the prince on the sand, making sure that his head lay higher and in the sun itself.

At that time, bells rang in the tall white building and a whole crowd of young girls poured into the garden. The little mermaid swam away behind the high stones that stuck out of the water, covered her hair and chest with sea foam - now no one would distinguish her little white face in this foam - and began to wait if someone would come to the aid of the poor prince.

It was not long to wait: one of the young girls approached the prince and at first she was very frightened, but soon she gathered her courage and called people for help. Then the little mermaid saw that the prince came to life and smiled at everyone who was near him. But he did not smile at her and did not even know that she had saved his life! The little mermaid became sad, and when the prince was taken to a large white building, she sadly dived into the water and swam home.

Before she was quiet and thoughtful, but now she has become even quieter, even more thoughtful. The sisters asked her what she saw for the first time on the surface of the sea, but she did not tell them anything.

Often in the evening and in the morning she sailed to the place where she left the prince, saw how the fruits ripened and were plucked in the gardens, how the snow melted on the high mountains, but she did not see the prince again and returned home every time more and more sadly. Her only consolation was to sit in her garden with her arms wrapped around a beautiful marble statue resembling a prince, but she no longer looked after the flowers; they grew as they liked, along the paths and paths, their stems and leaves intertwined with the branches of the tree, and it became completely dark in the garden.

Finally she could not stand it, she told one of her sisters about everything; all the other sisters recognized her, but no one else, except maybe two or three more mermaids and their closest friends. One of the mermaids also knew the prince, saw the feast on the ship, and even knew where the prince's kingdom lay.

— Come with us sister! - said the sisters to the mermaid, and hand in hand they all rose to the surface of the sea near the place where the prince's palace lay.

The palace was of light yellow lustrous stone, with large marble staircases; one of them descended directly into the sea. Magnificent gilded domes rose above the roof, and in niches, between the columns that surrounded the entire building, stood marble statues, just like living ones. Luxurious chambers could be seen through the high mirrored windows; expensive silk curtains hung everywhere, carpets were spread out, and the walls were decorated with large paintings. A glance, and only! In the middle of the largest hall a great fountain gurgled; jets of water beat high, high under the most glass domed ceiling, through which the rays of the sun poured onto the water and onto the wonderful plants growing in the wide pool.

Now the little mermaid knew where the prince lived, and began to sail to the palace almost every evening or every night. None of the sisters dared to swim as close to land as she did; she also swam into a narrow channel, which ran just under a magnificent marble balcony, casting a long shadow over the water. Here she stopped and looked at the young prince for a long time, and he thought that he was walking alone in the light of the moon.

Many times she saw how he rode with musicians in his beautiful boat, decorated with flying flags: the little mermaid looked out from the green reeds, and if people sometimes noticed her long silver-white veil fluttering in the wind, they thought it was a swan waved his wing.

Many times she also heard the fishermen who were fishing at night talking about the prince; they told many good things about him, and the little mermaid was glad that she had saved his life when he was half-dead rushing along the waves; she remembered those moments when his head rested on her chest and when she kissed his beautiful white forehead so tenderly. But he didn’t know anything about her, he didn’t even dream of her!

More and more the little mermaid began to love people, more and more she was drawn to them; their earthly world seemed to her much larger than her underwater one: after all, they could cross the sea on their ships, climb high mountains to the very clouds, and the expanses of land with forests and fields that were in their possession stretched far, far away, and their eyes were not throw! She so wanted to know more about people and their lives, but the sisters could not answer all her questions, and she turned to her old grandmother; this one knew well the “higher world,” as she rightly called the land that lay above the sea.

“If people don’t drown,” the little mermaid asked, “then they live forever, don’t die like us?”

- How! answered the old woman. “They, too, are dying, and their age is even shorter than ours. We live for three hundred years, but when the end comes, only sea foam remains from us, we don’t even have graves close to us. We have not been given an immortal soul, and we will never rise to a new life; we are like this green reed: uprooted, it will not turn green again! Humans, on the other hand, have an immortal soul that lives forever, even after the body turns to dust; then she flies away into the blue sky, there, to the clear stars! As we can rise from the bottom of the sea and see the land where people live, so they can rise after death to unknown blissful countries that we will never see!

— Why don't we have an immortal soul! the little mermaid said sadly. — I would give all my hundreds of years for one day of human life in order to take part later in the heavenly bliss of people.

- Don't even think about it! said the old woman. We live here much better than people on earth!

- So I will die, I will become sea foam, I will no longer hear the music of the waves, I will not see wonderful flowers and the red sun! Is there really no way for me to acquire an immortal soul?

“You can,” said the grandmother, “let only one of the people love you so that you become dearer to him than his father and mother, let him give himself to you with all his heart and all thoughts and tell the priest to join your hands as a sign of eternal fidelity friend friend; then a particle of his soul will be communicated to you, and you will participate in the eternal bliss of man. He will give you a soul and keep his own. But this will never happen! After all, what we consider beautiful here, your fish tail, people find ugly: they understand little about beauty; in their opinion, to be beautiful, one must certainly have two clumsy props - legs, as they call them.

The little mermaid took a deep breath and looked sadly at her fish tail.

- We will live - do not grieve! said the old woman. “Let's have fun our three hundred years - this is a decent amount of time, the sweeter will be the rest after death!” Tonight we have a ball at the court!

That was a splendor that you will not see on earth! The walls and ceiling of the dance hall were of thick but transparent glass; hundreds of huge purple and grassy-green shells with blue lights in the middle lay in rows along the walls: these lights brightly illuminated the entire hall, and through the glass walls - the sea itself; one could see how schools of large and small fish swam up to the walls, sparkling with purple-gold and silver scales.

A wide stream ran in the middle of the hall, and mermaids and mermaids danced along it to their wondrous singing. Such wonderful voices do not exist in people. The little mermaid sang the best, and everyone clapped her hands. For a moment she felt merry at the thought that no one and nowhere, neither in the sea nor on land, had such a wonderful voice as hers; but then she again began to think about the above-water world, about the beautiful prince and grieve that she did not have an immortal soul. She quietly slipped out of the palace and, while they were singing and having fun, sat sadly in her garden; through the water the sounds of French horns reached her, and she thought: “Here he is again riding in a boat! How I love him! More than father and mother! I belong to him with all my heart, with all my thoughts, I would willingly hand over the happiness of my whole life to him! I would do anything for him and an immortal soul! While the sisters are dancing in my father's palace, I will swim to the sea witch; I was always afraid of her, but maybe she will advise something or help me somehow!

And the little mermaid swam from her garden to the stormy whirlpools behind which the witch lived. She had never sailed this way before; no flowers grew here, not even grass - only bare gray sand; the water in the whirlpools seethed and rustled, as if under mill wheels, and carried with it into the depths everything that it met on the way. The Little Mermaid had to swim between just such seething whirlpools; then on the path to the witch's dwelling lay a large expanse covered with hot bubbling mud; this place the witch called her peat bog. Behind him, the very dwelling of the witch, surrounded by some kind of outlandish forest, already appeared: the trees and bushes were polyps, half animals, half plants, similar to hundred-headed snakes growing right out of the sand; their branches were long slimy hands with fingers wriggling like worms; the polyps did not stop moving all their joints for a minute, from the root to the very top, they grabbed with flexible fingers everything that came across to them, and they never let go back. The little mermaid paused in fright, her heart began to beat with fear, she was ready to return, but she remembered the prince, her immortal soul, and gathered her courage: she tied her long hair tightly around her head so that polyps would not grab it, crossed her arms over her chest, and, as fish swam between the ugly polyps, stretching their writhing arms towards her. She saw how firmly, as if with iron tongs, they held with their fingers everything that they managed to grab: the white skeletons of drowned people, ship rudders, boxes, animal skeletons, even one little mermaid. The polyps caught and strangled her. It was the worst!

But then she found herself in a slippery forest clearing, where big fat water snakes were tumbling and showing their ugly light yellow bellies. A house of white human bones was built in the middle of the clearing; the sea witch herself sat there, feeding a toad from her mouth, as people feed sugar to little canaries. She called the ugly fat snakes her chickens and let them wallow on her large spongy breasts.

— I know, I know why you came! said the sea witch to the little mermaid. "You're up to no good, but I'll help you anyway, you're in trouble, my beauty!" You want to get two props instead of your fish tail so that you can walk like people; you want the young prince to love you, and you would get an immortal soul!

And the witch laughed so loudly and nastily that both the toad and the snakes fell from her and stretched out on the ground.

- Okay, you're on time! the witch continued. “If you had come tomorrow morning, it would have been late, and I could not have helped you before next year. I will prepare a drink for you, you will take it, swim with it to the shore before sunrise, sit there and drink it to the last drop; then your tail will split in two and turn into a pair of wonderful, as people will say, legs. But you will be in so much pain, as if you were being pierced through with a sharp sword. But everyone who sees you will say that they have never seen such a lovely girl! You will keep your airy gliding gait - no dancer can compare with you; but remember that you will step on sharp knives so that your feet will bleed. Do you agree? Do you want my help?

- Yes! said the little mermaid in a trembling voice, and thought of the prince and the immortal soul.

— Remember, — said the witch, — that once you take on a human form, you will never become a mermaid again! You will no longer see the seabed, or your father's house, or your sisters. And if the prince does not love you so much that he forgets both father and mother for you, does not give himself to you with all his heart and does not order the priest to join your hands so that you become husband and wife, you will not receive an immortal soul. With the first dawn, after his marriage to another, your heart will break into pieces, and you will become the foam of the sea!

- Let it be! - said the little mermaid and turned pale as death.

— You still have to pay me for helping you! the witch said. - And I'll take it cheap! You have a wonderful voice, and with it you think to charm the prince, but you must give your voice to me. I will take for my precious drink the best that you have: I must mix my own blood in the drink in order to make it sharp as a sword blade!

— If you take my vote, what will be left for me? the little mermaid asked.

— Your pretty face, your sliding gait and your talking eyes are enough to conquer the human heart! Well, that's enough, don't be afraid, stick out your tongue, and I'll cut it off in payment for a magic drink!

- Good! - said the little mermaid, and the witch put a cauldron on the fire to make a drink.

— Cleanliness is the best beauty! - she said, wiped the cauldron with a bunch of live snakes and then scratched her chest; black blood dripped into the cauldron, from which clouds of steam soon began to rise, taking on such bizarre shapes that one simply took fear, looking at them. The witch continually added more and more drugs to the cauldron, and when the drink boiled, the cry of a crocodile was heard. Finally, the drink was ready and looked like the most transparent spring water!

— Here's to you! - said the witch, giving the little mermaid a drink; then she cut off her tongue, and the little mermaid became dumb, could no longer sing or speak!

“If the polyps want to grab you when you swim back,” said the witch, “sprinkle a drop of this drink on them, and their hands and fingers will shatter into a thousand pieces!”

But the little mermaid did not have to do this: the polyps turned away in horror at the very sight of the drink, sparkling in her hands like a bright star. She quickly swam through the forest, passed the swamp and seething whirlpools.

Here is the father's palace; the lights in the dance hall are out, everyone is asleep; she did not dare to enter there anymore - she was mute and was about to leave her father's house forever. Her heart was ready to burst from anguish and sadness. She slipped into the garden, took a flower from each sister's garden, sent a thousand kisses to her family with her hand, and rose to the dark blue surface of the sea.

The sun had not yet risen when she saw the prince's palace in front of her and sat down on the magnificent marble staircase. The moon illuminated her with its wonderful blue radiance. The little mermaid drank the sparkling spicy drink, and it seemed to her that she was pierced through with a double-edged sword; she lost consciousness and fell down as if dead.

When she woke up, the sun was already shining over the sea; she felt a burning pain all over her body, but a handsome prince stood in front of her and looked at her with his eyes as black as night; she looked down and saw that instead of a fish tail she had two most wonderful white little legs like a child's. But she was completely naked and therefore wrapped herself in her long thick hair. The prince asked who she was and how she got here, but she only meekly and sadly looked at him with her dark blue eyes: she could not speak. Then he took her by the hand and led her to the palace.

The witch told the truth: with every step the little mermaid seemed to be stepping on sharp knives and needles, but she patiently endured pain and walked hand in hand with the prince, light, airy, like a water bladder; the prince and all those around him only marveled at her wonderful sliding gait.

The little mermaid was dressed in silk and muslin, and she became the first beauty at court, but she remained mute as before - she could neither sing nor speak. Beautiful slave girls, all in silk and gold, appeared before the prince and his royal parents and began to sing. One of them sang especially well, and the prince clapped his hands and smiled at her; the little mermaid became very sad: once upon a time she could sing, and incomparably better! “Ah, if he knew that I forever parted with my voice, just to be near him!”

Then the slave girls began to dance to the sounds of wonderful music; here the little mermaid raised her pretty white hands, stood on tiptoe and rushed off in a light airy dance - no one had ever danced like that! Every movement only increased her beauty; her eyes alone spoke to her heart more than the singing of all the slaves.

Everyone was in admiration, especially the prince, who called the little mermaid his little foundling, and the little mermaid danced and danced, although every time her feet touched the ground, she was in so much pain, as if she were stepping on sharp knives. The prince said that she should always be near him, and she was allowed to sleep on a velvet pillow in front of the doors of his room.

He had a man's suit made for her so that she could accompany him on horseback rides. They rode through fragrant forests, where birds sang in the fresh leaves, and green branches beat her on the shoulders; they climbed high mountains, and although blood oozed from her legs, so that everyone saw it, she laughed and continued to follow the prince to the very peaks; there they admired the clouds that floated at their feet, like flocks of birds flying to foreign lands.

When they stayed at home, the little mermaid went to the seashore at night, descended the marble stairs, put her feet, burning like fire, into the cold water and thought about her home and about the bottom of the sea.

One night her sisters came up out of the water hand in hand and sang a sad song; she nodded to them, they recognized her and told her how she had upset them all. Since then, they visited her every night, and once in the distance she even saw her old grandmother, who had not risen from the water for many, many years, and the sea king himself with a crown on his head; they stretched out their hands to her, but did not dare to swim to the ground as close as the sisters.

Day by day the prince became more and more attached to the little mermaid, but he loved her only as a sweet, kind child, it never crossed his mind to make her his wife and queen, but meanwhile she had to become his wife, otherwise she could not acquire an immortal soul and had to, in the event of his marriage to another, turn into sea foam.

"Do you love me more than anyone in the world"? the little mermaid's eyes seemed to ask as the prince hugged her and kissed her on the forehead.

— Yes, I love you! the prince said. “You have a good heart, you are devoted to me more than anyone and you look like a young girl whom I saw once and, surely, I will not see again!” I was sailing on a ship, the ship crashed, the waves threw me ashore near a wonderful temple where young girls serve God; the youngest of them found me on the shore and saved my life; I've only seen her twice, but she's the only one in the whole world I could love! But you look like her and almost ousted her image from my heart. It belongs to the holy temple, and now my lucky star has sent you to me; I will never part with you!

“Alas, he does not know that it was I who saved his life! thought the little mermaid. - I carried him out of the waves of the sea to the shore and laid him in the grove where the temple was, and I myself hid in the sea foam and looked to see if anyone would come to his aid. I saw this beautiful girl whom he loves more than me! - And the little mermaid sighed deeply, deeply, she could not cry. “But that girl belongs to the temple, will never appear in the world, and they will never meet!” I am near him, I see him every day, I can look after him, love him, give my life for him!

But now they began to say that the prince marries the lovely daughter of the neighboring king and therefore equips his magnificent ship for sailing. The prince will go to the neighboring king, as if to acquaint himself with his country, but in fact to see the princess; with him goes a large retinue. The little mermaid only shook her head and laughed at all these speeches: after all, she knew the thoughts of the prince better than anyone.

— I have to go! he told her. “I need to see the beautiful princess: my parents demand this, but they will not force me to marry her, but I will never love her!” She doesn't look like the beauty you look like. If I finally have to choose a bride for myself, then I will most likely choose you, my mute foundling with talking eyes!

And he kissed her pink lips, played with her long hair, and laid his head on her chest, where her heart beat, longing for human bliss and an immortal human soul.

— You're not afraid of the sea, are you, my mute baby? - he said, when they were already standing on the magnificent ship that was supposed to take them to the land of the neighboring king.

And the prince told her about storms and calm, about different fish that live in the depths of the sea, and about the miracles that divers saw there, and she only smiled, listening to his stories: she knew better than anyone what is on bottom of the sea.

On a clear moonlit night, when everyone but one helmsman was asleep, she sat down at the very edge and began to look into the transparent waves; and now it seemed to her that she saw her father's palace; the old grandmother stood on the tower and looked through the surging jets of water at the keel of the ship. Then her sisters surfaced on the surface of the sea; they looked at her sadly and wringed their white hands, and she nodded her head to them, smiled and wanted to tell how good she was here, but at that time a ship's cabin boy approached her, and the sisters dived into the water, the cabin boy thought that it flashed in the waves of white sea foam.

In the morning, the ship entered the harbor of the magnificent capital of the neighboring kingdom. And then the bells rang in the city, the sounds of horns began to be heard from the high towers, and regiments of soldiers with shining bayonets and fluttering banners began to gather in the squares. Festivities began, balls followed balls, but the princess was not yet there: she was brought up somewhere far away in a monastery, where she was sent to study all the royal virtues. Finally she arrived.

The little mermaid looked greedily at her and had to confess that she had never seen a sweeter and more beautiful face. The skin on the face of the princess was so delicate, transparent, and because of the long dark eyelashes, a pair of dark blue gentle eyes smiled.

- It's you! the prince said. “You saved my life when I lay half dead on the seashore!”

And he tightly pressed his blushing bride to his heart.

- Oh, I'm too happy! he said to the little mermaid. “What I didn’t even dare to dream about has come true!” You will rejoice at my happiness, you love me so much!

The Little Mermaid kissed his hand, and it seemed to her that her heart was about to burst from pain: his wedding should kill her, turn her into sea foam!

Church bells rang, heralds rode through the streets announcing the princess's engagement to the people. Fragrant incense flowed from the censers of the priests, the bride and groom shook hands and received the blessing of the bishop. The little mermaid, dressed in silk and gold, held the bride's train, but her ears did not hear the festive music, her eyes did not see the brilliant ceremony: she thought about her hour of death and what she was losing with her life.

The same evening the bride and groom were to sail to the prince's homeland; cannons fired, flags fluttered, and on the deck of the ship was a luxurious tent of gold and purple; in the tent stood a wonderful bed for the newlyweds.

The sails puffed out from the wind, the ship glided easily and without the slightest shaking on the waves and rushed forward.

When it got dark, hundreds of colorful lanterns were lit on the ship, and the sailors began to dance merrily on the deck. The little mermaid remembered the celebration she had seen on the ship on the day she first surfaced, and now she flew off in a quick airy dance, like a swallow pursued by a kite. Everyone was delighted: she had never danced so wonderfully! Her tender legs were cut like knives, but she did not feel this pain - her heart was even more painful. Only one evening remained for her to stay with the one for whom she left her relatives and her father's house, gave her wonderful voice and daily endured endless torment, while he did not notice them. Only one night remained for her to breathe the same air with him, to see the blue sea and the starry sky, and there an eternal night would come for her, without thoughts, without dreams. She was not given an immortal soul! Long after midnight, dancing and music continued on the ship, and the little mermaid laughed and danced with deathly anguish in her heart; the prince kissed the beautiful bride, and she played with his black hair; Finally, hand in hand, they retired to their magnificent tent.

Everything was quiet on the ship, one navigator remained at the helm. The little mermaid leaned her white hands on the side and, turning her face to the east, waited for the first ray of the sun, which, as she knew, was to kill her. And suddenly she saw her sisters in the sea; they were pale, like her, but their long luxurious hair no longer fluttered in the wind: they were cut off.

— We gave our hair to a witch to help us save you from death! She gave us this knife; see how sharp it is? Before the sun rises, you must plunge it into the heart of the prince, and when his warm blood splashes on your feet, they will grow back into a fish tail, you will again become a mermaid, come down to us in the sea and live your three hundred years before you become salty sea foam. But hurry! Either he or you - one of you must die before sunrise! Our old grandmother is so sad that she lost all her gray hair from grief, and we gave ours to the witch! Kill the prince and return to us! Hurry up - do you see a red stripe appeared in the sky? Soon the sun will rise and you will die! With these words, they took a deep, deep breath and plunged into the sea.

The little mermaid lifted the purple curtain of the tent and saw that the head of the lovely bride was resting on the chest of the prince. The little mermaid leaned over and kissed him on his beautiful forehead, looked at the sky, where the morning dawn flared up, then looked at the sharp knife and again fixed her eyes on the prince, who at that time uttered the name of his bride in a dream - she was the only one in his thoughts! - and the knife trembled in the hands of the little mermaid. But another minute - and she threw him into the waves, which turned red, as if stained with blood, in the place where he fell. Once again she looked at the prince with a half-faded look, rushed from the ship into the sea and felt her body melt into foam.

The sun rose over the sea; its rays lovingly warmed the deadly cold sea foam, and the little mermaid did not feel death; she saw a clear sun and some transparent, wondrous creatures hovering over her in hundreds. She could see through them the white sails of the ship and the red clouds in the sky; their voice sounded like music, but so airy that no human ear could hear it, just as no human eye could see them. They did not have wings, and they flew through the air due to their own lightness and airiness. The little mermaid saw that she had the same body as theirs, and that she was more and more separated from the sea foam.

— Who am I going to? she asked, rising into the air, and her voice sounded with the same wondrous airy music that no earthly sounds can convey.

— To the daughters of the air! the air creatures answered her. “The mermaid does not have an immortal soul, and she cannot acquire it except through the love of a person for her. Its eternal existence depends on someone else's will. The daughters of the air also do not have an immortal soul, but they themselves can acquire it for themselves by good deeds. We fly to hot countries where people die from sultry, plague-stricken air, and bring coolness. We spread the fragrance of flowers in the air and bring healing and joy to people. After three hundred years, during which we do what we can, we receive an immortal soul as a reward and can take part in the eternal bliss of man. You, poor little mermaid, with all your heart aspired to the same thing as us, you loved and suffered, rise with us to the transcendental world; Now you yourself can acquire an immortal soul!

And the little mermaid stretched out her transparent hands to the sun and for the first time felt tears in her eyes. During this time, everything on the ship began to move again, and the little mermaid saw how the prince and his bride were looking for her. They looked sadly at the surging sea foam, they knew for sure that the little mermaid had thrown herself into the waves. Invisible, the little mermaid kissed the beautiful bride on the forehead, smiled at the prince and rose with other children of the air to the pink clouds ...

Tale Thumbelina - Hans Christian Andersen, read online

Once upon a time there was a woman; she really wanted to have a child, but where to get him? And so she went to an old witch and said to her:

— I really want to have a baby; can you tell me where i can get it?

- Why! said the witch. “Here is a barley grain for you; this is not a simple grain, not one of those that peasants sow in the field or throw to chickens; put him in a flower pot - you'll see what happens!

— Thank you! - said the woman and gave the witch twelve skillings; then she went home, planted a grain of barley in a flower pot, and suddenly a large wonderful flower like a tulip grew out of it, but its petals were still tightly compressed, like those of an unopened bud.

— What a lovely flower! - said the woman and kissed the beautiful colorful petals.

Something clicked and the flower blossomed. It was exactly the same as a tulip, but in the cup itself a tiny girl was sitting on a green chair. She was so delicate, small, only an inch tall, and they called her Thumbelina.

A shiny lacquered walnut shell was her cradle, blue violets her mattress, and a rose petal her blanket; in this cradle she was laid at night, and during the day she played on the table. The woman placed a plate of water on the table, and placed a wreath of flowers on the edge of the plate; long stalks of flowers bathed in the water, and at the very edge floated a large tulip petal. On it, Thumbelina could cross from one side of the plate to the other; instead of oars she had two white horsehairs. It was all lovely, how lovely! Thumbelina could also sing, and no one had ever heard such a gentle, beautiful voice!

One night, when she was lying in her cradle, a huge toad crawled through the broken window glass, wet, ugly! She jumped straight onto the table, where she was sleeping under Thumbelina's rose petal.

— Here is my son's wife! - said the toad, took the nutshell with the girl and jumped out of the window into the garden.

There was a large, wide river; near the shore it was boggy and viscous; here, in the mud, the toad lived with his son. Wu! What he was, too, nasty, nasty! Exactly mommy.

— Coax, coax, brekke-ke-cake! was all he could say when he saw the lovely crumb in the nutshell.

- Hush you! She will wake up, perhaps, and run away from us, ”said the old toad. - It's lighter than swan down! Let's drop her in the middle of the river on a wide leaf of a water lily - after all, this is a whole island for such a crumb, she will not escape from there, but for now we will clean up our nest down there. After all, you live in it and live.

Many water lilies grew in the river; their broad green leaves floated on the surface of the water. The largest leaf was the farthest from the shore; a toad swam up to this leaf and put a nutshell with a girl there.

The poor baby woke up early in the morning, saw where she was, and wept bitterly: there was water on all sides, and she could not get over to land!

And the old toad sat below, in the mud, and cleaned her dwelling with reeds and yellow water lilies - it was necessary to embellish everything for the young daughter-in-law! Then she swam with her ugly son to the leaf where Thumbelina was sitting, in order to take, first of all, her pretty bed and put it in the bride's bedroom. The old toad crouched very low in the water in front of the girl and said:

— Here is my son, your future husband! You will live nicely with him in our mud.

— Coax, coax, brekke-ke-cake! was all the son could say.

They took a pretty crib and sailed away with it, and the girl was left alone on a green leaf and wept bitterly, - she did not at all want to live with an ugly toad and marry his nasty son. The little fish that swam under the water must have seen the toad with her son and heard what she was saying, because everyone stuck their heads out of the water to look at the little bride. And when they saw her, they felt terribly sorry that such a pretty girl had to go live with an old toad in the mire. Do not happen to this! The fish crowded below, at the stalk on which the leaf was held, and quickly gnawed it with their teeth; the leaf with the girl swam downstream, further, further ... Now the toad would never catch up with the baby!

Thumbelina swam past various pretty places, and the little birds that were sitting in the bushes, when they saw her, sang:

— What a pretty girl!

And the leaf floated and floated, and now Thumbelina got abroad.

A beautiful white moth fluttered around her all the time and finally settled on a leaf - he really liked Thumbelina! And she was terribly happy: the ugly toad could not catch up with her now, and everything around was so beautiful! The sun burned like gold on the water! Thumbelina took off her belt, tied a moth around one end, and tied the other to her leaf, and the leaf floated even faster.

A cockchafer flew by, saw a girl, grabbed her by the thin waist with his paw and carried her to a tree, and a green leaf floated on, and with it a moth — it was tied and could not free itself.

Oh, how frightened the poor thing was when the beetle grabbed her and flew with her up the tree! She was especially sorry for the pretty butterfly, which she tied to a leaf: he would now have to starve to death if he could not free himself. But grief was not enough for the Maybug.

He sat down with the baby on the biggest green leaf, fed her sweet flower juice and said that she was so pretty, though she didn't look like a cockchafer at all.

Then they were visited by other Maybugs that lived in the same tree. They looked at the girl from head to toe, and the young bugs moved their antennae and said:

- She has only two legs! It's a pity to watch!

- What a thin waist she has! Fi! She's just like a person! How ugly! said all the female beetles with one voice.

Thumbelina was pretty! The Maybug, who brought her, also liked her very much at first, but then suddenly he found that she was ugly, and did not want to keep her anymore - let her go where she wants. He flew down with her from the tree and planted her on a chamomile. Then the girl began to cry that she was so ugly: even the May bugs did not want to keep her! But in fact, she was the most charming creature: tender, clear, like a rose petal.

Thumbelina spent the whole summer alone in the forest. She wove a cradle for herself and hung it under a large burdock leaf - where the rain could not reach her. The baby ate sweet flower pollen, and drank the dew that she found on the leaves every morning. Thus passed summer and autumn; but now it was winter, long and cold. All the songbirds scattered, the bushes and flowers withered, the large burdock leaf under which Thumbelina lived turned yellow, dried up and curled up into a tube. The baby herself was freezing from the cold: her dress was all torn, and she was so small, tender - freeze, and that's it! It began to snow, and each snowflake was for her the same as a whole shovel of snow for us; we are big, and she was only an inch! She wrapped herself in a dry leaf, but it did not warm at all, and the poor thing herself was trembling like a leaf.

There was a big field near the forest where she got; the bread had long been harvested, only bare, dry stalks sticking out of the frozen ground; for Thumbelina it was a whole forest. Wow! How she shivered from the cold! And then the poor thing came to the door of the field mouse; the door was a small hole, covered with dry stalks and blades of grass. The field mouse lived in warmth and contentment: all the barns were chock-full of grains of bread; the kitchen and pantry were bursting with supplies! Thumbelina stood at the door like a beggar woman and asked for a piece of barley grain - she hadn't eaten anything for two days!

- Oh, you poor thing! - said the field mouse: she was, in essence, a kind old woman. “Come here, get warm and eat with me!”

The girl liked the mouse, and the mouse said:

- You can live with me all winter, just clean my rooms well and tell me stories - I'm a great hunter of them.

And Thumbelina began to do everything that the mouse ordered her to do, and she healed perfectly.

— Soon, perhaps, we will have guests, — a field mouse once said. My neighbor usually visits me once a week. He lives even much better than me: he has huge halls, and he walks in a wonderful velvet coat. If only you could marry him! You would have lived on glory! The only trouble is that he is blind and cannot see you; but you tell him the best stories you know.

But the girl did not care much about all this: she did not want to marry her neighbor at all - after all, it was a mole. He really soon came to visit the field mouse.

True, he wore a black velvet coat, was very rich and learned; according to the field mouse, his room was twenty times larger than hers, but he did not like the sun or the beautiful flowers at all and spoke very badly of them - he had never seen them. The girl had to sing, and she sang two songs: "Maybeetle, fly, fly" and "A monk wanders through the meadows", so sweet that the mole fell in love with her. But he did not say a word - he was such a sedate and respectable gentleman.

The mole recently dug a long gallery underground from his dwelling to the door of the field mouse, and allowed the mouse and the girl to walk around this gallery as long as they liked. The mole asked only not to be afraid of the dead bird that lay there. It was a real bird, with feathers, with a beak; she must have died recently, at the beginning of winter, and was buried in the ground just where the mole had dug its gallery.

The mole took a piece of rottenness into his mouth - after all, in the dark it's like a candle - and went forward, illuminating the long dark gallery. When they reached the place where the dead bird lay, the mole poked a hole in the earthen ceiling with its broad nose, and daylight filtered through the gallery. In the very middle of the gallery lay a dead swallow; pretty wings were tightly pressed to the body, legs and head were hidden in feathers; the poor bird must have died of the cold. The girl felt terribly sorry for her, she was very fond of these cute birds, who sang songs to her so wonderfully all summer, but the mole pushed the bird with his short paw and said:0003

- Probably not whistling anymore! What a bitter fate to be born a bird! Thank God that my children have nothing to fear from this! Such a bird only knows how to chirp - you will inevitably freeze in winter!

— Yes, yes, it's true, it's nice to hear clever words, — said the field mouse. “What good is that chirping?” What does it bring to the bird? Cold and hunger in winter? A lot, nothing to say!

Thumbelina didn't say anything, but when the mole and mouse turned their backs on the bird, she bent down to it, parted her feathers and kissed her right on her closed eyes. “Perhaps this is the one who sang so wonderfully in the summer! the girl thought. “How much joy you brought me, dear, good bird!”

The mole plugged the hole in the ceiling again and escorted the ladies back. But the girl could not sleep at night. She got up from her bed, wove a large, glorious carpet out of dry blades of grass, carried it into the gallery, and wrapped the dead bird in it; then she found fluff from a field mouse and covered the whole swallow with it, so that it would be warmer to lie on the cold ground.

“Goodbye, pretty little bird,” said Thumbelina. - Goodbye! Thank you for singing so wonderfully to me in the summer, when all the trees were so green, and the sun warmed so nicely!

And she leaned her head on the bird's chest, but suddenly got frightened - something pounded inside. It was the bird's heart beating: it did not die, but only stiffened from the cold, but now it warmed up and came to life.

In autumn the swallows fly away to warm lands, and if one of them is late, she will freeze from the cold, fall dead to the ground, and it will be covered with cold snow.

The girl was trembling all over with fright — the bird was, after all, just a giant compared to the baby — but nevertheless she gathered her courage, wrapped the swallow even more tightly, then ran away and brought a mint leaf, with which she covered herself instead of a blanket, and covered the bird's head with it.

The next night Thumbelina again slowly made her way to the swallow. The bird had already completely come to life, only it was still very weak and barely opened its eyes to look at the girl who stood in front of her with a piece of rot in her hands - she had no other lantern.

- Thank you, dear baby! said the sick swallow. “I warmed up so nicely. Soon I will recover completely and will be cured in the sun again.

— Oh, — said the girl, — now it's so cold, it's snowing! Stay in your warm bed, I'll take care of you.

And Thumbelina brought water to the bird in a flower petal. The swallow drank and told the girl how she hurt her wing on a thorn bush and therefore could not fly away with other swallows to warm lands. How she fell to the ground and ... yes, she didn’t remember anything else, and how she got here - she didn’t know.

A swallow lived here all winter, and Thumbelina looked after her. Neither the mole nor the field mouse knew anything about this - they did not like birds at all.

When spring came and the sun warmed, the swallow said goodbye to the girl, and Thumbelina pushed back the hole that the mole had made.

The sun was warming so nicely, and the swallow asked if the girl would like to go with her - let him sit on her back, and they will fly into the green forest! But Thumbelina did not want to leave the field mouse - she knew that the old woman would be very upset.

— No, you can't! the girl said to the swallow.

- Goodbye, goodbye, dear kind baby! - said the swallow and flew out into the sun.

Thumbelina looked after her, and even tears welled up in her eyes - she really fell in love with the poor bird.

- Qui-vit, qui-vit! - the bird chirped and disappeared into the green forest.

The girl was very sad. She was not allowed to go out into the sun at all, and the grain field was so overgrown with tall thick ears that it became a dense forest for the poor baby.

— You will have to prepare your dowry in the summer! said the field mouse to her. It turned out that a boring neighbor in a velvet coat wooed a girl.

— It is necessary that you have plenty of everything, and then you will marry a mole and you will certainly not need anything!

And the girl had to spin all day, and the old mouse hired four spiders to weave, and they worked day and night.

Every evening the mole came to visit the field mouse and all he did was chatter about how soon the summer would end, the sun would stop scorching the earth like that - otherwise it had become completely like a stone - and then they would play a wedding. But the girl was not at all happy: she did not like the boring mole. Every morning at sunrise, and every evening at sunset, Thumbelina went to the threshold of the mouse-hole; sometimes the wind parted the tops of the ears, and she managed to see a piece of the blue sky. “How light, how good it is there, in the wild!” thought the girl and remembered the swallow; she would very much like to see the bird, but the swallow was nowhere to be seen: she must have been flying there, far, far away, in the green forest!

By autumn, Thumbelina has prepared all her dowry.

- Your wedding is in a month! said the field mouse to the girl.

But the little one cried and said she didn't want to marry a boring mole.

- Nothing! said the old mouse. “Just don’t be capricious, otherwise I’ll bite you - see what a white tooth I have? You will have a wonderful husband. The queen herself does not have such a velvet coat as his! Yes, and in the kitchen and in the cellar he is not empty! Thank God for such a husband!

The wedding day has come. The mole came for the girl. Now she had to follow him into his hole, to live there, deep, deep underground, and never go out into the sun, because the mole could not stand him! And it was so hard for the poor baby to say goodbye to the red sun forever! With a field mouse, she could still admire him at least occasionally.

And Thumbelina went out to look at the sun for the last time. The bread had already been taken from the field, and again only bare, withered stalks were sticking out of the ground. The girl moved away from the door and held out her hands to the sun:

— Farewell, bright sun, farewell!

Then she embraced with her arms a little red flower that grew here, and said to him:

— Bow from me to the dear swallow, if you see her!

- Qui-vit, qui-vit! suddenly sounded over her head.

Thumbelina looked up and saw a swallow flying by. The swallow also saw the girl and was very happy, and the girl cried and told the swallow how she did not want to marry a nasty mole and live with him deep underground, where the sun would never look.

— The cold winter will come soon, — said the swallow, — and I will fly far, far away, to warm lands. Do you want to fly with me? You can sit on my back - just tie yourself tightly with a belt - and we will fly away with you far from the ugly mole, far beyond the blue seas, to warm lands where the sun shines brighter, where it is always summer and wonderful flowers bloom! Fly with me, sweet baby! You saved my life when I was freezing in a dark, cold hole.

— Yes, yes, I will fly with you! - said Thumbelina, sat on the bird's back, rested her legs on its outstretched wings and tied herself tightly with a belt to the largest feather.

The swallow shot up like an arrow and flew over dark forests, over blue seas and high mountains covered with snow. There was passion, how cold; Thumbelina buried herself completely in the warm feathers of the swallow and only stuck her head out to admire all the charms that she met on the way.

But here come the warm climes! Here the sun shone much brighter, and green and black grapes grew near the ditches and hedges. Lemons and oranges ripened in the forests, there was a smell of myrtle and fragrant mint, and lovely children ran along the paths and caught large colorful butterflies. But the swallow flew farther and farther, and the farther, the better it got. On the shore of a beautiful blue lake, among green curly trees, stood an ancient white marble palace. Grape vines twined around its high columns, and upstairs, under the roof, nests of swallows were molded. In one of them lived a swallow that brought Thumbelina.

- This is my house! said the swallow. - And you choose some beautiful flower for yourself below, I will plant you in it, and you will heal wonderfully!

— That would be nice! said the little girl, and clapped her hands.

Large pieces of marble lay below - it was the top of one column that fell off and broke into three pieces, large white flowers grew between them. The swallow descended and sat the girl on one of the wide petals. But what a wonder! In the very cup of the flower sat a little man, white and transparent, as if made of crystal. He wore a lovely golden crown on his head, shining wings fluttered behind his shoulders, and he himself was no bigger than Thumbelina.

It was an elf. In each flower lives an elf, a boy or a girl, and the one who sat next to Thumbelina was the king of the elves himself.

— Oh, how good he is! Thumbelina whispered to the swallow.

The little king was completely frightened at the sight of the swallow. He was so tiny, gentle, and she seemed to him just a monster. But he was very glad to see our baby - he had never seen such a pretty girl! And he took off his golden crown, put it on Thumbelina's head and asked her name and if she wanted to be his wife, queen of elves and queen of flowers? This is so husband! Not like the son of a toad or a mole in a velvet coat! And the girl agreed. Then elves flew out of each flower - boys and girls - so pretty that it's just lovely! They all brought Thumbelina gifts. The best was a pair of transparent dragonfly wings. They were attached to the back of the girl, and she, too, could now fly from flower to flower! That was some joy! And the swallow sat upstairs in her nest, and sang to them as best she could.

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