Blog post 6: "The Little Mermaid": Original Story

Since our topic is about mermaids, let's move on to something quite related to our generation. Let's talk about the film, which is one of my favorite films of Disney, "The Little Mermaid". Now that we're leading to this movie, let me ask you something.. Do you know the original story of this? That's what will I'll be talking about in this blog.

The Untold Story.
      I was quite shocked when I figured out that "The Little Mermaid" movie is just a revised version. In fact it has its original story. This film is based from the story of Hans Christian Andersen. In the article entitled "The Little Mermaid" from the site andersen.sdu.dk, Jean Hersholt tells the original story of "The Little Mermaid".  The story goes like this, the little mermaid lives underwater kingdom with her grandmother, father and her five sisters. When a mermaid turns 15, she is permitted to swim to the surface to watch the world above, and when the sisters become old enough, each of them visits the upper world every year. As each of them returns. When the little mermaid's turn come, she rises up unto the surface and sees a handsome prince and falls in love with him from a distance.Then the little mermaid ask her grandmother, if human can live forever and if they can breathe underwater. The grandmother explains that humans have a much shorter lifespan than merfolks' 300 years, but that when mermaids die they turn to sea foam and cease to exist, while humans have an eternal soul that lives on in Heaven.

    The little mermaid went to the witch to drink a potion that will turn her into human, but in exchange for her tongue. She cannot speak. She will feel terrible while walking, as if she is walking on a sharp knives that her feet will bleed terribly. The prince must marry and love her in return to maintain her beautiful feet. If the prince cannot do it, she will die brokenhearted and disintegrate to sea foam. In the end, the prince didn't marry her.  She despairs, thinking of the death that awaits her, but before dawn, her sisters bring her a knife that the Sea Witch has given them in exchange for their long hair. If the Little Mermaid slays the prince with the knife and lets his blood drip on her feet, she will become a mermaid again, all her suffering will end, and she will live out her full life. But she didn't kill the prince, instead, she jumped into the sea and her body dissolved into sea foam.