HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN

Mała syrenka

Far from the shores, in the middle of the sea, where nothing is visible except the blue above the waves, where the water is as clear as the purest crystal and dark sapphire like a cornflower, there is an immeasurable depth, an abyss so deep that no ship can anchor here, as the anchor cannot reach the bottom. In this unfathomable abyss lived beautiful mermaids.

Słownictwo:

  • błękit – blue (sky or sea)
  • przezroczysta – transparent, clear
  • niezmierzona – immeasurable, vast
  • otchłań – abyss
  • kotwica – anchor

The sandy and even bottom was covered with forests of strange trees and plants, slender and flexible, trembling at the slightest movement of the water like living beings. Among the trees darted playful fish, both large and small, sometimes stopping on branches as if they were birds on trees. And in the deepest place stood the royal palace.

Słownictwo:

  • dno – bottom (of the sea)
  • piaszczyste – sandy
  • giętkie – flexible, bendable
  • figlarne – playful, mischievous
  • przemykać się – to dart, to sneak

It was a magnificent palace of the sea ruler: walls made of coral, amber windows, and a roof of pearl shells that would open and close to let water in or out. In each shell shone precious pearls, so large that no monarch on land possessed such treasures in their vault.

Słownictwo:

  • władca – ruler
  • mury – walls
  • bursztyn – amber
  • muszla perłowa – pearl shell
  • skarbiec – treasure vault, treasury

In this palace lived the king of the sea with his family. Many years ago, he became a widower, and since then, his mother had raised his daughters. She was a very serious and wise lady, but so proud of her lineage that she wore twelve oysters on her tail, whereas even the most distinguished persons in the kingdom were only allowed to wear six of such ornaments. Nevertheless, she deserved great recognition, especially for the care with which she took upon raising her granddaughters.

Słownictwo:

  • owdowiał – became a widower
  • dumny – proud
  • ród – lineage, ancestry
  • ostryga – oyster
  • troskliwość – care, attentiveness

There were six princesses, all beautiful, but the youngest was the most beautiful of all. Her wonderful golden hair framed a delicate face like a rose petal, her eyes were blue like the deepest water, and instead of legs, she had a tail covered in shimmering silver and gold scales.

Słownictwo:

  • księżniczka – princess
  • przecudne – wonderfully beautiful
  • twarzyczka – little face
  • mieniący się – shimmering, glistening
  • łuska – scale (on fish or mermaid’s tail)

Throughout the day, the mermaids played joyfully in the coral halls of their father’s castle, whose walls were covered with living flowers. The amber windows would then be opened, and little fish, like swallows, would swim inside, eating from the princesses’ hands and playfully cuddling with them.

Słownictwo:

  • igrać – to frolic, to play
  • wesoło – cheerfully, joyfully
  • koralowy – coral (adj.)
  • jaskółka – swallow (bird).
  • pieścić się – to cuddle, to caress

Around the castle was a magnificent garden, full of fiery and blue flowers; the leaves on the trees looked like flames, the fruits shimmered like gold, ever-changing, constantly moving, as if they were alive. The ground was made of very fine sand, bluish like the flame of sulfur: the depths of the waters were filled with a soft, lightly blue glow, so transparent that one might think it was the depth of the sky, not the abyss of the sea.

Słownictwo:

  • ognisty – fiery
  • błyszczący – shining, shimmering
  • zmienny – changeable, ever-changing
  • przejrzysty – transparent, clear.
  • otchłań morska – sea abyss

On clear days, the sun could be seen above, like a purple flower, from whose calyx beams of light flowed.

Słownictwo:

  • pogodny dzień – clear day
  • kielich kwiatu – flower calyx

promienie światła – beams of light

Each of the princesses had her own flower beds in this garden, which she cultivated herself according to her own taste. So, one shaped her flower arrangements like a whale, another like a mermaid, and the youngest like the sun, planting purple flowers that spread out radiantly from the center.

Słownictwo:

  • grządka – flower bed
  • uprawiać – to cultivate, to grow
  • klomb – flower arrangement
  • promieniście – radiantly, in a spreading manner
  • rozstrzelać się – to spread out

This little princess was a strange child—always quiet, always thoughtful. While her sisters greedily divided the treasures from a shipwrecked vessel, she chose only a beautiful marble statue of a boy. She then placed it in the garden on her flower bed, beneath a weeping willow with purple leaves and golden branches.

Słownictwo:

  • dziwne dziecko – strange child
  • zamyślony – thoughtful, pensive
  • chciwy – greedy
  • posąg – statue

płacząca wierzba – weeping willow

Over time, the willow grew wonderfully, so that its delicate and flexible braids cascaded down to the ground, onto the blue sand, and as they moved, they created shifting patches of dark violet; it looked as if the branches were playing with the tree’s motionless roots, wanting to kiss them.

Słownictwo:

  • rozrosnąć się – to grow, to spread
  • warkocz – braid
  • spływać – to cascade, to flow down
  • ruchome plamy – shifting patches

całować się – to kiss