The prince sees her and takes her in, enthralled by her beautiful face. But because she can't talk, he doesn't believe she is the girl who saved him. He himself is in love with the maiden with red hair and a beautiful voice who saved him a while ago, but doesn't believe the mermaid is the one because she is mute. He one day meets another red-head with a gorgeous voice, believes her to be the one, and marries her. The mermaid is so distraught she decides to commit suicide. However, he seven sisters come up from the water with short hair and a knife. They tell her that they visited the witch who cut their hair with the knife and if the little mermaid killed the prince, she would get her fins back and be able to join her sisters. Unable to do so, the mermaid tosses the knife into the ocean.She throws herself into the sea. HER BODY DISSOLVES INTO FOAM, but instead of ceasing to exist, she feels the warmth of the sun; she has turned into a spirit, a daughter of the air. The other daughters of the air tell her she has become like them because she strove with all her heart to gain an eternal soul. She will earn her own soul by doing good deeds for 300 years; for each good child she found, she would obtain one year less while, for each bad child, she would cry, and each tear would mean one month more and she will eventually rise up into the kingdom of God."