The little mermaid

"..their youngest sister would stand quite alone, looking after them, ready to cry, only that the mermaids have no tears, and therefore they suffer more."

So I read the original "Littel Mermaid" by Hans Christian Anderson, and I like it a lot better than the disney version I grew up with.

In summary, it is very similar to the Disney version, but is a little more brutal. To be a human and gain a soul that will live after their bodies die, like humans have, mermaids have to make a human fall inlove with them. The little mermaid is inlove with a prince that she saw on a ship and saved from drowning, like in the movie. When he was on the shore 3 maidens rescued him and he didnt know that the little mermaid had anything to do with helping him get there.

So the little mermaid makes a deal with the sea witch to have human legs, because humans supposedly find fish tails repulsive and the prince could never love her if she had one. But in order to be a human, the sea witch makes a deal which the little mermaid has to cut out her tongue, since she has such a beautiful voice. In exchange, the witch gives her a potion made of her own blood, that will split her tail and feel like the pain of a knife. Also when the little mermaid has feet, every time she walks on them she will feel the pain of stepping on needles and glass and her feet will bleed. Although if the prince marries somebody else, the little mermaid will die and turn into sea foam that next morning.

The little mermaid takes the potion and goes through the transformation. The prince finds her the very next morning. Eventually he adores her and they are always together, but it is more like a father-daughter love in his eyes. He tells her that he is inlove with the maiden who found him on the beach after his shipwreck (which the little mermaid saved him from), but the maiden worked in the temple and therefore wasnt able to be married. The prince told the little mermaid that she reminded him or the temple maiden, and was the next best thing.

One day, the prince's parents arrange for him to meet a princess for a possible bride, and he assures the little mermaid that he won't love her as much as the temple maiden he saw before. But upon arrival to the castle, he saw the amazingly beautiful princess and realized she was the temple maiden. They get married that same night. The little mermaid is heart broken and sad that she gave up everything to be with the prince and have an immortal soul, and now had to prepare to die in the morning by turning into sea foam.

Just as the sun was about to rise, she was getting ready to jump off of the ship when she saw her mermaid sisters. Their hair was chopped off, and they told her that they made a deal with the sea witch by giving up their hair. They handed the little mermaid a knife, and the instructions were to kill the prince and let his blood drip on her and she would turn back into a mermaid.

The little mermaid went into the princes room where he was cuddling with his bride, and she found that she just couldnt do it. So she went and threw the knife into the water and jumped in as the sun was coming up and prepared to turn into sea foam. But instead, she rose into the air and turned into a different creature, and joined the daughters of the air. They are creatures who do good deeds and work their way up to heaven basically, to have an immortal soul.

I thought this story was interesting and pretty random. I probably wrote way too much for a summary.. but i just really liked it :]