The Little Mermaid
Stave 5
Hearing that mortals
Had eternal souls
The mermaid yearned
To be loved by the prince;
For that she would give up her fishtail.
She set off for the maelstrom,
The sea witch’s home,
Barren of sea flowers and grass,
Where currents swirled and roared,
Through which she had to pass.
She swam through a fearsome forest,
Of monsters
Coiled around bleached bones
Of humans who had perished,
Where she found the crone,
Who granted whatever she wished.
The sea witch made a potion
That she must drink on shore,
When she would remain a human
For ever more.
If the prince did not recognise her,
On the morning after he married another
Her heart would burst;
She would become foam on water.
The only payment
Was the mermaid’s enchanting voice:
For which
The sea witch
Cut out her tongue.
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writing in north norfolk 