？”

“why have not we an immortal soul?”

小美人魚悲傷地問道；

asked the little mermaid mournfully;

“我願意欣然放棄我能活的數百年時光，只為做一天的人類，並且有希望瞭解星空之上那個榮耀世界的幸福。”

“I would give gladly all the hundreds of years that I have to live, to be a human being only for one day, and to have the hope of knowing the happiness of that glorious world above the stars.”

“你可不能那樣想，” 老婦人說；

“You must not think of that,” said the old woman;

“我們覺得自己比人類幸福得多，也富裕得多。”

“we feel ourselves to be much happier and much better off than human beings.”

“那麼我將會死去，” 小美人魚說，“並且我將作為海的泡沫四處飄蕩，再也聽不到海浪的音樂，看不到美麗的花朵，也看不到紅日了。有沒有什麼辦法能讓我獲得一個不朽的靈魂呢？”

“So I shall die,” said the little mermaid, “and as the foam of the sea I shall be driven about never again to hear the music of the waves, or to see the pretty flowers nor the red sun. Is there anything I can do to win an immortal soul?”

“沒有，” 老婦人說，“除非一個男人如此愛你，以至於你對他來說比他的父親或母親還重要；

“No,” said the old woman, “unless a man were to love you so much that you were more to him than his father or mother;

並且如果他所有的思想和全部的愛都集中在你身上，牧師將他的右手放在你的手裡，而且他承諾今生來世都對你忠誠，那麼他的靈魂就會溜進你的身體，你就會獲得一份人類未來的幸福。

and if all his thoughts and all his love were fixed upon you, and the priest placed his right hand in yours, and he promised to be true to you here and hereafter, then his soul would glide into your body and you would obtain a share in the future happiness of mankind.

他會給你一個靈魂，同時自己也保留靈魂；

he would give a soul to you