Hello there and welcome to this episode of Down to Sleep. This is the podcast of softly spoken

stories to help you get a good night's rest. I read a new book to you every week. Sometimes

we continue books that we've started previously. If you would like to hear complete readings

and get access to every episode so far, support this podcast on Patreon at patreon.com slash down to sleep. It's just a few

dollars a month and it supports me and the podcast immensely, as well as connects you with me and

lets you vote on what we read next. You get two episodes every week compared to the one on the free

episode, and I get to read books that I can't put here.

If you'd like a preview of some of those books, then head to YouTube.com slash down to sleep,

where I have been putting a selection of them for you to hear, as well as some versions with rain

sounds if you're into that kind of thing.

Now, without any further ado, let's get back to The Little Mermaid.

This is the final part of the book.

Many evenings and many mornings, she revisited the spot where she had left the prince.

She saw the fruit in the garden ripened and harvested, and she saw the snow on the high mountain melted away.

But she did not see the prince, so each time she came home sadder than she had left.

It was her one consolation to sit in her little garden, throw her arms about the beautiful marble statue that looked so much like the prince.

But she took no care of her flowers now. They overgrew the paths until the place was a wilderness, and their long storks and leaves became so entangled in the branches of the tree that it cast a gloomy shade.

Finally, she couldn't bear it any longer.

She told her secret to one of her sisters.

Immediately, all the other sisters heard about it.

No one else knew, except a few more mermaids who told no one except their most intimate friends one of these friends knew who the prince was she too had seen the birthday celebration on the ship.

She knew where he came from and where his kingdom was.

...