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