The Star Jewels by Abbie Farwell Brown — Read

Once upon a time there was a little mermaid who lived down at the bottom of the sea in a cave of pink coral. Her cheeks were as pink as the coral itself; her teeth were like a row of the pearls which hung around her neck; and her hair -- which was very long and wavy -- was as green as the greenest seaweed you ever saw. And though green hair sounds strange to us, it was accounted a mermaid's greatest beauty. Her name was Wavilocks. Also she had instead of two rosy feet a funny little scaly tail with which she steered herself through the water. She was a famous swimmer.

Wavilocks was a pretty little mermaid, and old Triton, her father, doted upon her and spoiled her, as foolish papas sometimes do. He gave his little daughter everything that she wanted, -- everything in the wide ocean which a sea-child could wish. She had her own little coral playroom, with its toys of shell and sponge; and her pets among the fishes and curious ocean creatures. She had a living flower-garden of beautiful sea anemones, pink and purple, yellow and red. She had a little chariot all her own, in which to ride about the sea, like the grown-up ocean folk. It was of pinky, pearl-lined shell, most beautiful, and it was drawn by a span of sea-horses, the sweetest little fellows in the whole kingdom of Neptune.