The Little Mermaid is fairy tale written by the Danish poet and writer, Hans Christian Andersen. (He didn't give names to any of the characters.)
Fairy Tale[]
Beneath the sea, there lived a sea king and his six mermaid daughters. The youngest was the most beautiful of all but like all mermaids, she had a fish-like tail instead of legs. She was known as the Little Mermaid. The Little Mermaid was fascinated by the world above and loved her grandmother's stories of the land folk. Mermaids could only go to the surface when they became fifteen. Each sister turned fifteen and returned with tales of the sights they had seen. On her fifteenth birthday, the Little Mermaid rose to the surface and spotted a ship. On board, the humans were celebrating the birthday of their prince. The festivities were disturbed by a storm that sank the ship. The Little Mermaid spotted the prince floundering among the waves and rescued him. She brought him to a beach where she sang to him and protected him. The next morning, the prince was tended to by girls from the temple by the sea.
Over the next two years, the Little Mermaid swan closer to the human world, seeing the people and admiring the world above. As she watched them, her desire to see and experience that world grew. The Little Mermaid visited the Sea Witch. The witch offered her a potion that would make her human but every step on land would feel like walking on broken glass and if the one she loved married someone else, the very next sunrise, the mermaid would turn into sea foam. The price for the potion was the mermaid's beautiful voice (via cutting off her toung). She agreed.
The next day, the prince found the her lying on the beach, now human. He took her in and they quickly became friends. The mermaid soon learned to ignore the pain and she ventured into the human world. She and the prince would spend everyday together but he remained oblivious to the love she felt for him as his heart belonged to the mysterious singer who rescued him. The prince was to marry a princess from a neighboring kingdom as a truce. While against it at first, the prince changed his mind when he saw the princess who was the maiden who found him on the beach. Believing she had saved his life and sang to him, he fell in love and they married.
While the newlyweds slept, a heartbroken mermaid was visited by her sisters. They had cut their long, beautiful hair in exchange for a dagger. If she killed the prince with the enchanted dagger (and let her crush' blood fall on her legs), she would become a mermaid again. The Little Mermaid couldn't bring herself to kill him and dove into the water. However, instead of becoming foam, she became a daughter of the air, a benevolent fairy of the sky who helps people. The others welcomed her. They said that she could gain a soul by doing good deeds for three hundred years. For every child that does good, a year is taken off their wait but when a child is wicked, the fairies cry and every tear adds another day to the wait.
Ever After High's Version[]
- The Little Mermaid wasn't interested in an immortal soul. There was no mention of it. She became human because she loved the surface world.
- The Little Mermaid didn't die and she lived happily ever after with her prince. However, she became human forever and lost her voice.
- Meeshell's mother, Pearl did fall in love but her prince agreed to go with her into the sea. Their love broke the witch's spell. Pearl regained her voice and tail and the prince lived with her below the waves.
- Because she regained her voice, the Sea Witch must wait for Pearl's daughter to become human permanently so the witch can gain a mermaid's beautiful voice.
Legacy[]
There is a Little Mermaid Festival in Ever After. Students spend the day on the beach in celebration of the Little Mermaid. The students usually set up beach volleyball games and clam dig evenings.
Successors[]
The Little Mermaid: Meeshell Mermaid
The Prince: Unknown
The Sea King: Unknown