The Little Mermaid

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For the 1989 Disney animated film, see The Little Mermaid (1989 film). For other uses, see The Little Mermaid (disambiguation).

The Little Mermaid
Vilhelm Pedersen illustration
Author	Hans Christian Andersen
Original title	Danish: Den lille havfrue
Country	Denmark
Language	Danish
Genre(s)	Fairy tale
Publisher	C.A. Reitzel
Publication date	7 April 1837
Media type	Print

"The Little Mermaid" (Danish:Den lille havfrue) is a fairy tale by the Danish poet and author Hans Christian Andersen about a young mermaid willing to give up her life in the sea and her identity as a merperson to gain a human soul and the love of a human prince. The tale was first published in 1837 and has been adapted to various media including musical theater and animated film.

1 Plot
2 Publication
3 Debate over ending
4 Adaptations
5 The Young Nereid and the Prince
- 5.1 Differences from the book
- 5.2 Plot
6 The Little Mermaid statue
7 References
8 External links

[edit] Plot

The Little Mermaid lives at the sea bottom with her father the sea king; her grandmother; and her five elder sisters, born one year apart. When a mermaid turns 15, she is allowed to swim to the surface to watch the world above, and as the sisters become old enough, one of them visits the surface every year. As each of them returns, the Little Mermaid listens longingly to their descriptions of the surface and of human beings.

When the Little Mermaid's turn comes, she ventures to the surface, sees a ship with a handsome prince, and falls in love with him from a distance. A great storm hits, and the Little Mermaid saves the prince from a near-drowning. She delivers him unconscious to the shore near a temple. Here she waits until a young girl from the temple finds him. The prince never sees the Little Mermaid.

H.C. Andersen.

The Little Mermaid asks her grandmother whether humans can live forever if they do not drown. The grandmother explains that humans have a much shorter lifespan than merfolk's 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, longing for the prince and an eternal soul, eventually visits the Sea Witch, who sells her a potion that gives her legs, in exchange for her tongue; the Little Mermaid has the most intoxicating voice in the world. Drinking the potion will make her feel as if a sword is being passed through her, and walking on her feet will feel like walking on knives. In addition, she will only get a soul if the prince loves her and marries her, for then a part of his soul will flow into her. Otherwise, at dawn on the first day after he marries another woman, the Little Mermaid will die brokenhearted and turn to sea foam.

The Little Mermaid drinks the potion and meets the prince, who is attracted to her beauty and grace even though she is mute. Most of all he likes to see her dance, and she dances for him despite her excrutiating pain. When the prince's father orders his son to marry the neighboring king's daughter, the prince tells the Little Mermaid he will not, because he does not love the princess. He goes on to say he can only love the young woman from the temple, but adds that the Little Mermaid is beginning to take the temple girl's place in his heart. It turns out that the princess is the temple girl, who had been sent to the temple to be educated. The prince loves her and the wedding is announced.

The prince and princess marry, and the Little Mermaid's heart breaks. She thinks of all that she has given up and of all the pain she has suffered. She despairs, but before dawn, her sisters give her a knife that the Sea Witch has given them in exchange for their hair. If the Little Mermaid slays the prince with the knife, she will become a mermaid again and live out her full life.

The Little Mermaid cannot bring herself to kill the sleeping prince lying with his bride and, as dawn breaks, throws herself into the sea. Her body dissolves into foam, but instead of ceasing to exist, she feels the warmth of the sun; she has turned into a spirit, a daughter of the air. The other daughters of the air tell her she has become like them because she strove with all her heart to gain an eternal soul. She will earn her own soul by doing good deeds, and she will eventually rise into the kingdom of God.

[edit] Publication

"The Little Mermaid" was written in 1836, and first published by C.A. Reitzel in Copenhagen 7 April 1837 in Fairy Tales Told for Children. First Collection. Third Booklet. 1837. ( Eventyr, fortalte for Børn. Første Samling. Tredie Hefte. 1837.). The story was republished 18 December 1849 as a part of Fairy Tales. 1850. (Eventyr. 1850), and again 15 December 1862 as a part of Fairy Tales and Stories. First Volume. 1862. (Eventyr og Historier. Første Bind. 1862.).^[1]

[edit] Debate over ending

Original manuscript, last page

Some scholars consider the last episode with its happy ending to be an unnatural addition. Jacob Bøggild and Pernille Heegaard point out:

“

One of the crucial aspects which any interpretation must confront is the final sequence of the tale, in which the little mermaid, against all odds, is redeemed from immediate damnation and accepted into the spiritual sphere, where the "daughters of the air" reside. In this, she is apparently promised the "immortal soul", which it has been her main motivation to obtain — along with the prince, of course. This ending has baffled critics because the narrative that precedes it points rather to a tragic conclusion than to a happy one.^[2]

”

[edit] Adaptations

Classics Illustrated Junior comic

Antonin Dvorak's opera Rusalka was inspired in part by The Little Mermaid.
It was first translated into English by H. P. Paull in 1872.
In 1957, the French composer Germaine Tailleferre wrote a three-act opera version of The Little Mermaid (called La Petite Sirène in French) on a libretto adapted by Philippe Soupault.
Classics Illustrated Junior, a 1950s American comic book series, published a version of the tale as issue #525.
One of the earliest animated films based on the story was the Soviet Union's 29-minute Rusalochka (The Little Mermaid), released in 1968. In 1976, a live-action Rusalochka, a joint production by the USSR and Bulgaria, was released.
In 1961, Shirley Temple Theatre broadcast a television version of "The Little Mermaid", starring Shirley Temple as the Mermaid.
There are several anime adaptations of the story, including Anderusen Dowa Ningyo Hime (Andersen's Story: The Mermaid Princess), a feature film directed by Tomoharu Katsumata (1975); and the 1991 NHK TV series Saban's Adventures of the Little Mermaid.
In 1987, Shelley Duvall produced a version of the story for Faerie Tale Theatre.

One-sheet for Disney's 1989 adaptation of The Little Mermaid

In 1989, the fairy tale was adapted into an animated film by the Walt Disney Company called The Little Mermaid.
Golden Films adapted the story in 1992; the production was distributed by GoodTimes Entertainment.
In the late 1990s, the HBO series, Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child, did an episode based on The Little Mermaid.
The Broadway musical Once on This Island is a retelling of The Little Mermaid set in the French Antilles.
Japanese artist Junko Mizuno adapted The Little Mermaid as Mermaid Princess, the third and final part of her "fractured fairy tales".
In 2004, the animated TV series Hans Christian Andersen The Fairytaler had an episode telling the story of The Little Mermaid.
The Royal Danish Ballet commissioned Russian-American composer Lera Auerbach to create a modern rendition of this fairy tale. It was choreographed by John Neumeier and premiered on April 15, 2005.^[3]
On July 28, 2007, the premire of Lior Navok's version for actress, two pianos and chamber ensemble/orchestra.
On January 10, 2008, the stage version of the Disney film opened on Broadway.
On March 6, 2008, Malaysia released the fantasy comedy film called, Duyung, which means Mermaid and actor, Maya Karin portrays the Duyung(Mermaid).

[edit] The Young Nereid and the Prince

In 2008, a film was made by Lucas INC. Theatres, called The Young Nereid and the Prince, that was based on the Little Mermaid story.

[edit] Differences from the book

Instead of a mermaid the main character is a nereid

[edit] Plot

A fifteen-year-old nereid named Amathia is doing her hair, when her grandmother enters, and gives her a crown of pearls. Poseidon enters, and congratulates his daughter on her first journey to the surface world. The Nereid gazes upon the surface world, and sees a ship afloat. She looks through the cabin window to see the attractive Prince Andrew asleep on a couch. The Nereid falls in love and as she watches, he begins to awake, and starts to eat his dinner on the table, when he notices the Nereid staring at him. Prince Andrew hurries to the window, but the Nereid dives away, and he does not catch her. When he looks away, she jumps back into the sea and hurries to her older sister, Ploto. Amathia tells Ploto of the Prince, and goes back to the top to show her the Prince (in the backround, the song "You're the Storm" by the Cardigans begins to play). Suddenly, a large wave arises and hits the ship, as the sky starts to darken. Andrew, now at the foot of the ship, is hit by the crashing wave, and plummets to the sea below. Amathia rushes to his unconscious body, and drags it over the waves to the nearby shore. She tries to revive him until morning, and kisses his cheek as he awakes. Meanwhile, a young woman from a nearby castle was walking on the beach, and sees the Prince on the beach. The frightened Nereid flees, and as the Prince opens his eyes, he sees the young woman, Mary, instead of Amathia. Amathia visits Andrew's seaside castle the next day, and watches him as he admires the warm day. Amathia wishes to be with Andrew, but alas, if she leaves the water and becomes dry, she will die, and she is too shy to call him over. So Amathia goes to the Sea Witch, Hraeay. Hraeay gives Amathia a livid potion, in return for her voice.

[edit] The Little Mermaid statue

The Little Mermaid in Copenhagen

Main article: The Little Mermaid (statue)

A statue of the Little Mermaid sits on a rock in the Copenhagen harbor in Churchill Park. This small and unimposing statue is a Copenhagen icon and a major tourist attraction.

The statue was commissioned in 1909 by Carl Jacobsen, son of the founder of Carlsberg, after he had been fascinated by a ballet about the fairytale. The sculptor Edward Eriksen created the statue, which was unveiled on 23 August 1913. His wife Eline Eriksen was the model.