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– Witch, where are you?
And suddenly she saw an unusual picture. Among the slightly pinkish black corals, in a hammock woven from strong algae, the witch swayed lulled by the symphony of her crabs, and snored. Even her dress has changed its color slightly. Instead of greasy black, it turned into blue-violet.
From an excess of overwhelmed feelings, Silena affectionately hugged her and kissed her on the cheek. The witch woke up, out of habit, that someone disturbed her without asking, she wanted to scream, but she saw her lost student and broke into a happy smile and hugged her in response.
– You are back? An emerald tear rolled down the bridge of her nose. – I thought I’d never see you again.
– I missed you too. That’s why I returned. You have become like family to me. I was afraid that I would never see you either.
The witch grabbed her hand and dragged her towards the lotus.
– When you left, I forgot to give you the magic scepter. This is your magic tool. With him you will always be safe.
They swam together and found that there were still bright spots, windows. The sorceress, unaccustomed to seeing the light, could no longer endure the blackness to which she was accustomed, but became worried:
– Holes should be patched up.
Silena held her back and said softly:
– It’s because you decided to change and everything around began to change. Our love and affection for each other works wonders.
The witch herself began to change. Rejuvenated, facial features have changed for the better. She felt that she had become important to Silena.
And in the palace, the queen, unexpectedly for everyone and herself, began to change in character and mood. Either she will yell at the servants for no reason at all, or she will freak out that the food is undersalted or peppered and will pour soup on the head of the silver carp cook. And she doesn’t understand what’s wrong with her.
And Silena swam out of the black haze and sailed away to school, for a joke turning into different fish so that she would not be recognized. She walked in school with classmates and shot small shells at teachers, and they punished other students. The little mermaid also saw her father more furtively when she watched him in his royal affairs.
So time passed and Silena almost did not return home: some supernatural force did not allow her to leave the old woman. The witch grandmother caressed her, combing her hair, and the little mermaid fell in love with her as a mother. The sea king was no longer worried about his daughter: she had become an adult and it was definitely not necessary for them to be afraid of witches now.
It was time for school exams and Silena had to make up for lost knowledge in order to prepare and pass successfully. This was the reason that after school she stopped visiting her witch in her even brighter, once terrible, kingdom.
One morning, the queen, opening the bedroom windows, heard the latest news from the paperboy:
– Sensation! Imagine, the witch’s black kingdom is no longer black! Her haze dissipated and a palace appeared on the site. it is certainly not as luxurious as ours, but quite tall and attractive. The darkness is dissipating gradually. What’s happening? Scientists are confused.
The queen furrowed her brows: is everything returning to its place?
– I need to go there urgently and check everything myself. What if the witch can already leave her possessions?
She threw on a fiery cloak and quietly rushed headlong out of the palace and rushed to reconnoiter. She couldn’t wait to see everything with her own eyes.
Meanwhile, the witch looked at herself in the mirror, stroking her flushed cheeks, which had become smoother, and her nose no longer touched her chin. She was surprised to understand that everything in her was really changing. Almost nothing remains of the former witch: a large-eyed, green-eyed mermaid woman was already looking at her in the mirror in surprise.
And at this pleasant moment, at great speed, opening the algae curtains, a miger queen flew in, who was a real witch.
– How dare you all destroy?! – she yelled, lashing out at the witch.
– What have I destroyed? – she jumped away from her. – I don’t understand, what are you talking about?
The queen hissed and spit in anger. And the more she got angry, the more she became like a witch herself.
– Why, don’t you remember how I fell in love with your king? More than you! That my mother turned you into a witch and me into you. It’s because I really deserved the king’s love more than you! I even became the best mother for your daughter!
And then, opposite the eyes of the witch, the real queen, muddy pictures of the past began to emerge. And gradually they became clearer and clearer. She saw herself joyful with the king when they held their newborn daughter in their arms, their wedding, how they first met, fell in love, how strong their love was.
Silena, meanwhile, was returning from school. She missed her so much that she had not seen the magical teacher for a long time, that, having swum unnoticed to the door, she heard the whole conversation between her mother and the witch. Her face turned pale. She pressed her hands to her chest and could hardly restrain her tears, she almost screamed in despair, but in time she covered her mouth with her hand: “So that’s why you’ve never been nice to me! Only my father loved me. And you just put up with me. That’s why my heart was torn to the witch and grieved for her. You are my real mother.” Tears were already rolling down her pale cheeks, when the queen rushed past, almost knocking her, but not noticing her stepdaughter.
Silena’s whole life flashed before her eyes. And she recalled many times how she could not allegedly tell mother, how her classmates offended her at school – that she only blamed herself. How she once fell while running from furious coelocant, and, swimming between the corals, scratched her elbow badly, and the pseudo-mother, instead of hugging and blowing on the wound, pushed the girl away and scolded for hooliganism. She was very upset that she herself was to blame. Now everything has become clear.
Silena plucked up the courage to swim inside and consciously meet her real mother for the first time.
– Mommy, my mommy! she shouted, running towards him. The witch only clasped her hands and hugged her daughter.
– I’ll never leave you again.
– Mom, do you remember me? – Silena asked almost sobbing.
– Yes. Before, I didn’t understand why, but something native seemed to me in you from the first meeting.
– And how I suffered without my mother’s affection, without my mother’s warmth. I thought she was my mom. And I’ve always felt good with you. Even from your glance it became warm on the heart. Let’s swim quickly to the palace. Suddenly there something bad happened, if she already knows.
The witch nodded and took her daughter by the hand and swam to the borders of her domain. But some invisible, already without blackness, appeared as a wall in front of the queen and her found daughter.
– Oh, the spell has not completely gone yet… what to do now? We’ll have to wait.
– Mom, what if she does something bad with dad?
– Don’t worry, she loves him and won’t hurt him. But I’m worried about you. Better stay with me until the morning, and in the morning we will figure out how to get out of here.
They couldn’t close their eyes all night. Silena talked about her life, her childhood dreams and experiences. Her mother stroked her hair affectionately, pressed her to her breast, and could not get enough of the fact that from now on she was not alone.
Mother told how a miracle happened one day: witchcraft, like a veil from her eyes fell from her face, and she turned almost in front of the little mermaid into her mother.
– And while you were taking exams, my terrible skin fell off like a snake. I became alternately terrible, then I had a beautiful face and body.
The little mermaid exclaimed:
– Oh yeah! You have always been like my mother in your attitude towards me.
And the mother suddenly remembered and told her a story that Silena had partially overheard behind the door.
– I am a queen and gave birth to you at a time when your father had just ascended the throne.
And in the black sea kingdom, a feisty witch with her daughter ruled. The witch’s daughter wanted to take my place – she really liked my husband. Her mother agreed and made it so that I turned into her daughter and could conjure, and her daughter could no longer conjure, as soon as her heart became cold as ice, but outwardly she was my copy. And now the evil has melted like a mist, I have become myself again. And her mother had already died and all her strength had gone with her.
– I’m reluctantly changed fate with her daughter. I hope we spend the last night with you here and tomorrow I can return to the palace.
In the morning they could not stand it and fell asleep, and when they opened their eyes, they simply gasped. Mother-of-pearl shone in front of them, from black the lotus turned into soft pink. The diamond glowed, spreading its bright rays to the sides. And the former witch herself completely turned into a mermaid queen and became even more beautiful.
They again hurried to the fence, but it was gone – it dissipated during the night. And they, holding hands, swam freely towards the mermaid kingdom.
And in the meantime, when dawn came, the king, half awake, slightly rubbed his eyes and just wanted to hug his queen, as his hand fell on some rough, bumpy hairy surface. He recoiled in horror and opened his eyes wide. He jumped up and opened the shutters. Light burst into the room. He was horrified to see a disgusting monster next to him. It lay on the bed and snorted, snored and whistled in its sleep. The ugly monster turned on its side and looked for the king with its hand to hug.
The king jumped out of the bedroom and called out to the guards. They rushed in, bulging their eyes and drawing their crossbows.
– There’s something terrible… in my bed! The king pointed with his hand. – Grab and tie!
The witch leaned back and shouted:
– Are you out of your mind? Leave me! How dare you do this to me, to your queen?!
But no one listened to her. The guards silently did their work, grunting with effort as they tried to tie her up.
– Yes, leave me, in the end! – she yelled.
Meanwhile, Silena and her real mother arrived at the palace.
The king in the nightgown stood in bewilderment, and his eyes climbed onto his forehead.
And before he even had time to say a word, he ended up in the affectionate strong arms of his happy daughter and wife. He also embraced them, exclaiming:
– What’s going on here? I demand an explanation!
They vied with each other to tell him what happened and who the former queen really was. Terrified at the thought of who he had lived with all these years, the king was covered in perspiration. And he decided to imprison the witch back in her castle.
Bound, she was taken there on an electric ramp under escort and locked up. In front of their eyes, still sparkling with pink mother-of-pearl, the castle began to blacken, and the lotus immediately turned icy black.
Everyone rushed to the exit, so that, God forbid, they would not remain in an enchanted gloomy world. And, fleeing from there, for a long time they heard the piercing howl and curses that the real witch’s daughter sent them in pursuit. But no matter how frantically she screamed, she could not change anything. So she remained to live in captivity in her black cursed castle. She did not know how to conjure, like her mother, and only sent curses every day on the head of the king and all his subjects. But all these curses did not fly out of the borders of her kingdom, shattering into smithereens on the black mist.
The witch even had a nightmare, from which she turned green. She seems to be sleeping in her old bed. Morning came and her image disappeared, and the nasty appearance of the impostor returned, and the water king woke up and instead of his wife saw a terrible, ugly old woman lying next to him. Quietly he got up and forced the executioner to cut off the impostor’s head. And when the evil witch was gone, instead of a black castle, there was a beautiful palace, and in the maritime state, everything lit up from various precious stones, which stabbed in the eyes.
The witch jumped up in fear for her life, rubbing her sore eyes, but all around she saw only a black haze that did not disappear and no green outlandish plants with unprecedented flowers twined around the garden near her lonely palace.
And colorful fish were full of pebbles and flowers in another, neighboring kingdom, where everyone was preparing for a magnificent feast. Mermaids, vegetation and all living creatures were transformed into fabulous beauty.
Silena’s father, the water king of the sea, met his beloved wife after so many years of separation and spent all day with her, listening again and again to the story of the treachery of the witch and her mother.
The Little Mermaid fully returned to school, but did not forget to do magic, although she did not become harmful and evil from this. Having forgiven her peers, close girlfriends, she also taught small transformations into a jellyfish or a goldfish, the little mermaid herself could turn into anyone and even take on an invisible appearance, so she often began to appear among people floating in the sea.
The royal family was reunited and lived so happily that it is impossible to describe with a pen, or to tell in a fairy tale. There are not enough words, because in this fairy tale love conquered evil.
Silena, having finally found her beloved mother, was immensely happy. So is the king and queen, and all the courtiers. Everyone cheered up, as the real queen treated everyone with kindness and attention.
And again they feasted all over the kingdom for several days and nights.
They carried out a general cleaning, throwing out all the dresses, outfits and jewelry that the impostor wore. In the kingdom, the light even became more transparent – everyone was so overwhelmed with happiness.
Mermaid and prince
Time passed, Silena grew up and after school she entered the Maritime Pacific University at the research department “Human Impact on the Marine Environment”. She liked this topic very much, and the story of shipwrecks was told by a very interesting catfish with a big gray mustache, and this catfish was a witness to none of these wrecks. Therefore, she especially adored this subject. Som and his students visited one sunken ship. The little mermaid collected souvenirs for herself: a jug and figurines of ancient gods. These were Aphrodite, Apollo and others. Having sailed home, she began to look, admiring the figures.
– So beautiful. They have legs, but I only have a beautiful tail. Oh, I can turn into anyone, I can, probably, into a person – I’ll try. I’m going to the beach right now. My parents forbade me to swim there, they said that people were bad and would kill me.
And among the souvenirs she got, she pulled out a bronze figurine of a young prince. And she admired the statuette:
– What a face! Ah, what a figure! We don’t have such beauties underwater! That would be such a meet actually. Can this one kill? – she sighed with a smile and put the young man on her chest of drawers in front of the mirror.
Having looked at the figurines of various gods and people, she was a little envious that they could walk, and put the figurines aside, putting them on a table with decorations, and swam to the nearest shore.
She appeared from the side of the rocks and, hiding behind them, began to watch the vacationers. White hot sand burned the tail. The hot sun beat down mercilessly and it was difficult for her to breathe without a habit. But she, as if spellbound, watched people. Here they walk on two legs, here they run along the beach, swim, dangling their legs, frolic.
After sitting for a few minutes, Silena plunged into the water to catch her breath, and in the water she watched from afar. Having sailed home, she decided in her free time from the coursework and from classes to practice walking on two legs. She Decided to delve into the old magical book of spells. But she feared for the consequences, because she remembered how her distant relative, the little mermaid, died, turning into foam from her unrequited love for the prince. She was bewitched by a sorceress on condition and the princess’s legs hurt very much from walking. She lost her voice, giving it to the sorceress by the legs. The poor prince at that time did not know that it was she who saved him and did not fall in love with her, but married another. Silena thought:
– But after all, I myself can turn into a girl and no one will set any conditions for me.
And so she decided, as soon as she writes a term paper about the creation of the underwater world and explores it, she will go to an uninhabited shore and there she will learn to walk on two legs.
And at this time, On the shore, in a large but impoverished kingdom, at this time the ruler called his son and sadly asked him:
– My son, your time will soon come to take my throne, but, unfortunately, our treasury is completely empty. You will take the throne after me. But alas, what can I leave you, besides the territory? Our stock of wealth is running out and therefore there are two ways out of this situation. Either you marry a rich princess, or another option. Your great-grandfather sank in the blue sea and carried a lot of jewelry. If only you could get them and save us from poverty. I have a map of a sunken treasure ship. We will sail tomorrow and I will show you that place, your grandfather showed it to me, but I could not find the sunken ship – the equipment in those days was useless. I sent divers to the depth, but it is big, and they did not swim to the bottom. Their breath was intercepted, their head was split under the pressure of such a thickness of water and the body was squeezed as if in a vise. Nobody survived. Now science has come a long way. We even have a new bathyscaphe, good scuba gear, with which you can dive to great depths. Moreover, you are in good health and last year you became a diving champion. I hope you dive in and get the treasure. I bless you for good luck, – and kissed his son on the forehead.
– My father, don’t worry. I’ll go down to the bottom alone. I will do everything in my power, I promise you. Tomorrow I will start, – the prince answered confidently.
And early in the morning, he and his team loaded scuba gear, food and other supplies and loaded it all onto a large boat. The king wanted to go with his son on a ship on a voyage in search of a sunken ship and jewelry, but the prince dissuaded him:
– Stay, I’ll find it on the navigators without any problems.
When they arrived at the appointed place with the latest equipment, they dropped anchor. They decided to first lower the bathyscaphe with professional scuba divers to check the bottom. The prince remained to wait, but more than an hour passed, and still no news came. Two hours have passed:
– What to do, what happened to them? – the prince was worried. He’ll have to check himself.
He put on flippers, scuba gear, put on a mask with a balloon and dived. But the undercurrent slightly carried him aside and the guy, no matter how he resisted, could not cope with him. And gradually the prince began to sink to the very bottom. Underwater flashlight illuminated the space around. It illuminated through the dark water column multi-colored jellyfish, small octopuses, huge tropical fish – all the beauty of the underwater world began to appear before the prince little by little. He had never seen such beauty, even though he dived more than once. Surprised:
– Something today everything looks like a fairy tale.
And then he saw a very huge fish with thick elongated lips, as if she was looking for someone to kiss. Her bulging eyes widened even more, clearly noticing the prince: is it really him I have to kiss?! But, having changed her mind, she hastened to sail away. The guy only managed to touch her tail, which slipped out of his hands. And at that moment he stumbled on something, and his hand grabbed onto something round. After examining it carefully, the prince realized that this was the helm of the ship.
– So I’m already on deck? thought the prince. – That’s luck. So our ship has slightly shifted along the course, or this sunken one has moved. Over time, he was swept aside by the current, and he began to examine the ship.
And at the same time, the little mermaid was there. She also decided to swim to the sunken ship, where a group of students sailed with Catfish on an excursion.
In the hold of a sunken ship, last time she discovered a large beautiful vase with carved flowers and wanted to take it away:
– I’ll put my underwater mimosas in it – they’ll look nice together – and she was already dragging a vase out of the wreckage.”
And at that very moment the prince was backing away towards her from the other side, curiously examining the ship’s hull. And, having scraped off a thick layer of mud and shells, he found ancient frescoes with half-erased inscriptions. The prince thought:
– Obviously, it says who this ship belonged to. Judging by the frescoes and documents that we own, he is of our dynasty, – and then he saw the coat of arms in confirmation of this: – So I found what I was looking for! Here are our treasures! But I need to hurry up, the oxygen is running out, – he, turning around, strained, trying to remove part of the fresco, but he didn’t have enough strength – the fresco held tight. The prince tensed even more, putting his feet on the wall, grabbed it with both hands and pulled it with all his might, so much so that he was thrown back.
