Soon, the Little Mermaid becomes the prince's favorite companion and accompanies him on many of his outings but he does not fall in love with her at all. Most of all, he likes to see her dance, and she dances for him despite suffering excruciating pain with every step. She is found by the prince, who is mesmerized by her beauty and grace, even though she is mute. The liquid felt like a sword piercing through her body and she passes out on the shore, naked. Otherwise, at dawn on the first day after he marries someone else, the Little Mermaid will die with a broken heart and dissolve into sea foam upon the waves.Īfter she agrees to the arrangement, the Little Mermaid swims up to the surface near the prince's castle and drinks the potion. In addition, she will obtain a soul only if she wins the love of the prince and marries him, for then a part of his soul will flow into her. However, she will constantly feel as if she is walking on sharp knives. Consuming the potion will make her feel as if a sword is being passed through her body, yet when she recovers, she will have two human legs and will be able to dance like no human has ever danced before.
The witch warns the Little Mermaid that once she becomes a human, she will never be able to return to the sea. The witch willingly helps her by selling her a potion that gives her legs in exchange for her beautiful voice, as the Little Mermaid has the most enchanting voice in the entire world. The Little Mermaid, longing for the prince and an eternal soul, visits the Sea Witch who lives in a dangerous part of the ocean. The grandmother explains that humans have a much shorter lifespan than a mermaid's 300 years but that they have an eternal soul that lives on in heaven, while mermaids turn to sea foam at death and cease to exist. The Little Mermaid becomes melancholy and asks her grandmother if humans can live forever. To her dismay, the prince never sees the Little Mermaid or even realizes that it was she who had originally saved his life. Here, the Little Mermaid waits until a young woman from the temple and her ladies in waiting find him. She delivers him unconscious to the shore near a temple. Then a violent storm hits, sinking the ship, and the Little Mermaid saves the prince from drowning. When the Little Mermaid's turn comes, she rises up to the surface, watches a birthday celebration being held on a ship in honor of a handsome prince, and falls in love with him from a safe distance. As each returns, the Little Mermaid listens longingly to their various descriptions of the world inhabited by human beings. When a mermaid turns fifteen, she is permitted to swim to the surface for the first time to catch a glimpse of the world above, and when the sisters become old enough, each of them visits the upper world one at a time every 365 days. The Little Mermaid lives in an underwater kingdom with her widowed father ( Mer-King), her dowager grandmother, and her five older sisters, each of whom had been born one year apart. The Little Mermaid finds a human statue under the sea and treasures it. There is also a statue portraying the mermaid in Copenhagen, Denmark, where the story was written and first published. It has been adapted to various media, including musical theatre, anime, ballet, opera, and film. These analyses cover various aspects of the story from interpreting the themes to discussing why Andersen chose to write a tragic story with a happy ending. The original story has been a subject of multiple analyses by scholars such as Jacob Bøggild and Pernille Heegaard as well as the folklorist Maria Tatar. The tale was first published in 1837 as part of a collection of fairy tales for children.
The story follows the journey of a young mermaid who is willing to give up her life in the sea as a mermaid to gain a human soul. " The Little Mermaid" ( Danish: Den lille havfrue) is a Danish literary fairy tale written by the Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. The Little Mermaid - Illustration by Elena Ringo
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