What do you suppose she wanted? She had happened to sit up one night later than a little young mermaid should, and she had seen the diamond stars twinkling in the sky. She wanted them for a necklace! She declared that she _must_ have them for a necklace. She was tired of her beautiful rope of pearls, and vowed that she would not wear it any more unless she could have the starry one to wear with it. This made poor Triton very unhappy, for he had taken great pride in his beautiful gift to his little daughter, but now she cared nothing at all for it, and demanded something which he could not give her. The naughty little mermaid teased and wept and refused to be good. “I shall cry always, always, until I have those lovely stars. Boo-hoo!” she sobbed. Her father was at his wit’s end. He worried and worried because it would be dreadful to have Wavilocks always crying for something which he could not give her. He worried until his green hair began to turn white, and his poor old eyes looked as wild as those of a cuttle-fish. Then he said to himself: “I will go to King Neptune and see whether he can help me or no. Perhaps he will tell me how I can get the stars from the sky for Wavilocks, for I am sure I do not know.” That very night Triton went to the King’s beautiful palace in the deepest, greenest part of the sea, and told him how his little daughter needed a starry necklace which he could not get for her. And he begged the Sea King to tell him what must be done. But Neptune looked very stern. “Tell your child,” he said, pulling his sea-green beard, which waved to and fro in the water, “tell her that she is an ungrateful daughter, and that I forbid her to think any longer of the far-off jewels. Already she has the most beautiful necklace in the sea,--such a one as not even my Queen can match. A starry necklace is fit only for the Sky Queen to wear. No other may possess those wonderful jewels. There are fair enough gems in the sea for any mermaid’s use. If she cannot be content with them she shall be punished.” Old Triton was alarmed at these words, for he could not bear to think of his dear daughter being punished. Very sadly he went home, and very sadly he told Wavilocks what the King had said. “He does not wish me to have the starry necklace, because the Queen has none,” pouted the naughty little mermaid. “But I must have it, I _will_ have it, or I shall cry always and always.” Instead of spanking her, as he should have done, Triton only shook his head and said sadly,-- “I would gladly give it to you if I might, dear daughter. But the King has spoken. The stars are not for you; you must not even think of them again. Never go out when they are shining in the sky. Be a good girl, and to-morrow I will bring you a beautiful new coral belt, such as no mermaid ever before wore.”