. The boy who knew what the birds said . tter winds and hot beams of the sun. Withus there were songs and tales, but the songs wereabout love or about the beautiful things we hadseen. Here the tales and songs were about battlesand forays and slaying with the sword. What theytold of their loves was terrible, so much violenceand unfaithfulness was in them. The soft green tints were going out of my hairand the sun was putting brownness in my my hair would be wheaten-colored like thehair of the women of the islands and my cheekswould be brown like theirs. And then the daywould come whe
. The boy who knew what the birds said . tter winds and hot beams of the sun. Withus there were songs and tales, but the songs wereabout love or about the beautiful things we hadseen. Here the tales and songs were about battlesand forays and slaying with the sword. What theytold of their loves was terrible, so much violenceand unfaithfulness was in them. The soft green tints were going out of my hairand the sun was putting brownness in my my hair would be wheaten-colored like thehair of the women of the islands and my cheekswould be brown like theirs. And then the daywould come when I should have to be with theman whom I looked upon as my enemy. I used to stay by the shore and speak with the birds that came in from the sea, for I knew their language. Never again could I go back to the Kingdom-Under-Wave. Green shade after green shade left my hair, brown tint after brown tint came into my cheeks, and what could I do but envy the birds that could make their flight from the islands of men. And when the green had 140. \ put it to my lips, I drank it when he took a step towards me THE SEA-MAIDEN WHO BECAME A SWAN nearly gone altogether from my hair I thought of adesperate thing I might do. I sent a message to my sisters, and I sent it bymany birds, so that if they did not get it by onethey might get it by another. And I asked in mymessage that they send me a draft from the Wellunder the Sea, and that they send it in the cup thatthe Seven Spinning Women guarded. It wouldbe terrible for any of my sisters to come to Bran-duvs island with the draft and the cup, but Ibegged that they would do it for me. The days went by and the green color was nowonly a shade in my hair, and brownness was onmy cheeks, and the women said Before this oldmoon is gone our King will come here to wed you. Then one day I found on the shore the cup that my sisters had brought and the draft from the Secret Well was in it. I took the cup in my hands and I brought it where I lived. Come to u
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