The
fairy tale, the Little Mermaid (Den lille havfrue), was written in 1836. It was written by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. It is about a young mermaid who is prepared to give up all she has to have an immortal soul and love from a prince. This story was translated into English by H. P. Paull [1872].
The Little Mermaid lives with her father the Sea King, her grandmother, and her 5 elder sisters, at the bottom of the sea. According to the story, when a mermaid turns 15, she is permitted to swim to the surface and watch the world above. As the young mermaid's sisters turn old enough, they each visit the surface. Each time, on of the elder sisters returns, the Little Mermaid listens eagerly to what they have seen, particularly their descriptions of human beings.
When the Little Mermaid turns 15, she goes to the surface. She sights a ship with a good-looking prince. She falls in love with him just by looking at him from afar. Next, a great storm arrives, and the prince almost drowns. However, the Little Mermaid rescues him. She waits until he is found by someone else, and the prince never gets to know who rescued him.
The prince and princess get married, and the Little Mermaid's is disappointed. All that she thought about will not come to pass for her now. Also, she had sacrificed her beautiful voice, her home, and her family. The Little Mermaid's sisters give her a knife. The Sea Witch gave them this knife in return for their hair. If the Little Mermaid kills the prince with the knife, she will turn into a mermaid again and gain everything back that she had given up earlier.
The Little Mermaid cannot kill the sleeping prince who is lying with his bride. When dawn breaks, she plunges into the sea. Her body becomes one with the sea foam. However, she does not cease to exist, and feels sun's warmth. She becomes a daughter of the air, and will gain an eternal soul.
However, gaining this soul was dependent on the prince. When 300 years go by, the Little Mermaid will have earned her soul and will ascend into the kingdom of God. This period can be cut short too.
The Little Mermaid Adaptations: A French composer Germaine Tailleferre (of Les Six) wrote an opera version of The Little Mermaid in 3 acts [1957].
The Little Mermaid was telecast on French National Radio in 1959. The Soviet animated version of the Little Mermaid [Rusalochka] was released in 1968. The 1975 feature-length film called Anderusen Dowa Ningyo Hime (Andersen's Story: The Mermaid Princess) was directed by Tomoharu Katsumata. In this version, the mermaid is depicted as a blonde named Marina. However, the plot was the same as the original. The dubbed English version was released in the United States in 1979.
The Little Mermaid statue: The statue of the Little Mermaid in Copenhagen is placed in the Copenhagen harbor. It is a well-known symbol and a tourist attraction too. The rather small size of the statue is a surprise to first time tourists of this area.
So as you can see, I found out that The Little Mermaid is just a fairy tale from way back when. I guess we'll have to keep looking.
