The Little Mermaid Fairy Tale

A Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tale

Down down down at the bottom of the sea, many fathoms down deep deep deep, farther than many church steeples piled one on top of the other is a castle made of shells and marble and crystal.

In the deep blue of the ocean each shimmer of sunshine reaching down causes it to sparkle.

The King is a widower and his mother runs the palace with an iron hand taking very good care of her grand-daughters the six little sea-princesses. The youngest of the daughters was the most beautiful of all with the whitest skin and a beautiful shimmering violet and blue tail where normally you would expect legs.

This was the kingdom of the Mer-People and the daughters were called Mermaids.

The favorite activity of all the sea-princesses or mermaids was to cultivate and create their own gardens. Each had a section of the grounds which was theirs to tend.

The youngest mermaid created her garden around a beautiful white-marble statue of a young man which had sunk to the bottom of the ocean from the wreck of a ship. She planted by the statue a rose-colored weeping willow.

It grew splendidly, and very soon hung its fresh branches over the statue, almost own to the blue sands. The shadow had a violet tint, and waved to and fro like the branches.

Nothing gave the little mermaid so much pleasure as to hear about the world above the sea. She made her old grandmother tell her all she knew of the ships and of the towns, the people and the animals. To her it seemed most wonderful and beautiful to hear that the flowers of the land should have fragrance, and not those below the sea. To hear that the trees of the forest should be green, and that the fishes among the trees could sing so sweetly.

Her grandmother called the little birds fishes, or the Little Mermaid would not have understood her, for she had never seen birds.

"When you have reached your fifteenth birthday" said the grand-mother, "you will have permission to rise up out of the sea, to sit on the rocks in the moonlight, while the great ships are sailing by, and then you will see both forests and towns."

So the Little Mermaid had to wait. As each sister was old enough the Little Mermaid had to wait and hear their stories. She had to wait for a full five years. This seemed forever to her, and it seemed unfair because none of the other sisters longed to see the world above as much as the Little Mermaid.

Finally when it was her Fifteenth birthday the Little Mermaid was allowed to rise to the surface and her first view of the world above was at dusk. The sun had just set as she raised her head above the waves, but the clouds were tinted with crimson and gold.

A large ship, with three masts lay quietly on the water, with only one sail set, for not a breeze stirred. There was music and song on board, and as darkness come a hundred colored lanterns were lighted.

The Little mermaid swam close to the cabin windows, and now and then as the waves lifted her up, she ould look in through the clear glass windows and see a lot of well-dressed people within.

A young prince was the most beautiful of all with large brown eyes, and he was celebrating his sixteenth birthday. When the prince came out of the cabin, more than a hundred fire crackers rose in the air, making it as bright as day.

The Little Mermaid was so startled that she dove under the water and when she came up it appeared as if all the stars of heaven were falling around her. She had never seen such fireworks before. The young prince was very easy to see in the bright light and she thought he was the most handsome creature she had ever seen.

She stayed watching the young prince through the window until very late, and then the wind started to pick up and the sails were set. The ship started moving forward continuing its passage.

Soon the waves rose higher, heavy clouds darkened the sky, and lightning appeared in the distance. A dreadful storm was approaching and the great ship started flying over the raging sea.

The waves rose mountains high, as if they would have over-topped the mast, but the ship dived like a swan between them, and then rose again on their lofty foaming crests.

To the Little Mermaid this was great fun, but not for the sailors as she quickly realized.

the ship groaned and creaked, the thick planks gave way under the lashing of the sea as it broke over the deck. The mainmast snapped like a stick, and the ship lay over on her side, with the water rushing in.

The Little mermaid now knew that the crew was in danger, and even she had to be careful to avoid the beams and planks of the wreck which were scattered on the water.

During all of this she had seen the Prince slip below the surface fairly far from her and at first she was happy because he would be with her. Then she remembered that human beings cannot live below the water and when he got down to her father's castle he would be dead.

He must not die! she thought to herself and she quickly swam among the beams and planks wich covered the surface of the sea and dived deeply under the dark waters. Finally she managed to reach the young prince who was fast losing the power to swim in that stormy sea. His limbs were failing him, his beautiful brown eyes were closed and he would have died had not the Little Mermaid come to his side.

She held his head above the water and did so all night until the storm was over. She saw land in the morning light and swam with the prince in her arms to a white sand beach. There was a large white building with a courtyard filled with flowers. She left the prince there on the beach hoping that someone would find him.

The Little mermaid swam out farther from the shore and placed herself between some high rocks that rose out of the water that she might watch what happened on the beach.

She saw a young girl approach the spot where he lay and some other people then joined them and rescued the prince.He woke up but did not smile towards her. He did not know who rescued him. This made the Little Mermaid very sad.

Many days passed and she would return to the spot where she last saw him, and never caught a glimpse of him. Finally, some of her older sisters heard through gossip what had happened and also found out where the Prince's Castle was.

The older sisters came to the Little Mermaid one day, and said "Come, little sister" and they entwined their arms and rose up in a long row to the surface of the water, close by the spot where the prince's palace stood.

It was built of bright yellow shining stone, with long flights of marble steps, one of which reached right down to the sea. Splendid golden towers rose over the roof and between the pillars that surrounded the whole building stood life-like statues of marble.

Through the clear crystal of the large windows could be seen noble rooms with silk curtains and hangings of tapestry.

The Little Mermaid would on a daily basis swim up the narrow channel under the marble balcony and sit and watch the young prince.

The Little Mermaid was sad and lonely and her Grandmother came to her as she was sitting alone in her garden. The Little Mermaid had all kinds of questions about Human Beings and the Grandmother answered them as best as she could.

The Little Mermaid then knew that what she needed was a pair of legs. Then the Prince might love her and she could become a human being with a soul that lived forever.

Her Grandmother had tried to take her mind off the Prince, but to no avail. The Little Mermaid was going to talk to the old witch. Maybe she could give her legs.

However, that meant taking the road to the foaming whirlpools to the Sea Witch's house which stood in the center of a strange forest. All the trees and flowers were like serpents with a hundred head growing out of the ground. The branches were long slimy arms with fingers like flexible worms.

The Little Mermaid was terrified but remembered how much she wanted a human soul and to be with her prince, then her courage returned.

When she got close to the house she could see that it was made of human bones from those who had drowned in shipwrecks. It was a terrible place and there sat the sea witch.

She had ugly sea snakes crawling all over her. She called them her little chickens.

"I know what you want" said the sea witch "it is very stupid of you, but you shall have your way, and it will bring you to sorrow, my pretty princess." She smiled wickedly and continued.

"You want to get rid of your fish's tail, and to have two supports instead of it, like human beings on earth, so that the young prince may fall in love with you, and that you may have an immortal soul."

The the witch laughed so loud and disgustingly that the snakes fell to the ground, and lay there wriggling about.

"I will prepare a potion for you, with which you must swim to land tomorrow before sunrise, and sit down on the shore and drink it. Your tail will then disappear, and shrink up into what mankind calls legs, and you will feel great pain, as if a sword were passing through you. But all who see you will say that you are the prettiest little human being they ever saw. You will still have the same floating gracefulness of movement, and no dancer will ever tread so lightly, but at every step you take it will feel as if you were treading upon sharp knives, and that the blood must flow. If you will bear all this, I will help you."

"Yes I will," said the Little Mermaid in a trembling voice.

However, the sea witch told her that she would never again be able to be a Mermaid, and if the Prince married another she would turn into foam on the sea, nothing more.

The sea witch also told her that she must be paid and would take the best thing the mermaid had, and that was her voice, for she was known to have a beautiful singing voice.

To all of this the Little Mermaid agreed and took the potion with her to the steps of the prince's palace. Then the little mermaid drank the magic potion, and it seemed as if a two-edged sword went through her delicate body. She fell into a swoon, and lay like she was dead.

When the sun arose and shone over the sea, she recoverd, and felt a sharp pain, but just before her stood the handsome young prince.

The prince asked who she was and she could not speak. She looked down at herself and realized that she no longer had a tail and now had two perfect little legs and feet.

The Prince took her to the palace and clothed her in beautiful robes of silk and muslin, and she was the most beautiful creature in the palace, but she could not speak or sing.

The Prince had said that she could stay in the palace as long as she liked, and they went riding together through the sweet-scented woods, and she saw little birds singing among the fresh leaves. As the sea-witch had said each step she took gave her great pain.

One night there was a party and many of the women at the party sang for the Prince and danced beautiful fairy-like dances.

As she could not sing she raised her lovely white arms, stood on the tips of her toes and glided over the floor, and danced as no one yet had been able to dance. At each moment her beauty became more revealed, and her expressive eyes appealed more directly to the heart than the songs of any of the others.

Everyone was enchanted, especially the prince, who called her his little foundling, and she danced again though each time her foot touched the floor it seemed as if she trod on sharp knives.

As the days passed, she loved the prince more fondly, and he loved her as he would love a little child. It never came into his head to make her his wife, yet, unless he married her, she could not receive and immortal sould, and on the morning after his marriage with another, she would dissolve into the foam of the sea.

One night while she sat on the marble steps soothing her feet in the cool ocean water her sisters, grandmother and father came up out of the water. They were far off in the bay and mournfully stretched out their hands towards her.

She was saddened that she would never become and mermaid again, but determined that she loved the Prince more and more.

"Do you not love me the best of them all?" the eyes of the Little Mermaid seemed to say, when he took her in his arms, and kissed her fair forehead.

"Yes, you are dear to me," said the prince, "for you have the best heart, and you are the most devoted to me, you are like a young maiden whom I once saw, but whom I shall never meet again. I was in a ship that was wrecked, and the waves cast me ashore near a holy temple. A beautiful maiden found me on the shore and saved my life. I saw her but once and she is the only one in the world whom I could love, but you are like her, and you have almost driven her image out of my mind. She apparently lived in the Temple on the Beach and had devoted herself to that life.

"Ah, he knows not that it was I who saved his life," thought the Little Mermaid.

(This is where the ending takes a different turn than what we have heard for most of our lives)

Well, the Prince's parents decided that he must marry and they were all to go on a journey to meet the other King and his daughter and princess that he would marry.

The Prince did not want to go and assured the Little Mermaid that if he could not marry the girl on the beach that he would marry her.

The Prince took her on the voyage in a fleet of ships to the town where the princess was waiting. The Princess had been brought up in a convent and was very pure of heart and spirit, so it was thought that she would be a perfect match for the good prince.

The Little Mermaid would relax in the evenings on the deck of the ship looking into the deep ocean depths, remembering her life there.

When they arrived in the Town the prince was about to meet the princess and the Little Mermaid wanted to see for herself if she was indeed beautiful. When she saw her she was amazed at her blonde hair, and deep blue eyes full of honesty and purity.

The Prince immediately embraced her remembering her and swore that this was the maiden who had saved him and he would marry his one true love.

The Little Mermaid was destroyed and knew that the day after the wedding she would turn to foam. That night her sisters appeared at the side of the ship and told her that they had made a deal with the sea-witch.

They had sold their long hair to the witch for this spell. The Little Mermaid was to take this dagger and plunge it into the heart of the Prince. If she did this the blood landing on her feet would turn them back into a tail and she could come home.

The Little Mermaid was tempted, but she could not do it when she looked at the Prince asleep with his princess, so she threw herself into the sea.

She could feel the cool water and floated in the waves in the darkness thinking she must be turning into foam when all of a sudden she was flying in the air with the warm rays of the bright sun and all around her floated hundreds of transparent beautiful beings. The Little Mermaid noticed that she now had a body like theirs and they continued to rise higher and higher out of the foam.

"Where am I?" asked she, and her voice sounded ethereal, as the voice of those who were with her, no earthly music could imitate it.

"Among the daughters of the air," answered one of them.

"A mermaid has not an immortal soul, nor can she obtain one unless she wins the love of a human being.

But the daughters of the air, although they do not possess an immortal soul either, can earn one through good deeds.

"Once we have given good deeds to mankind for three hundred years or so we can win an eternal soul. You, poor Little mermaid have tried with your whole heart to do as we are doing, you have suffered and endured and raised yourself to the spirit-world by your good deeds, and now by trying for three hundred years in the same way, you may get an immortal soul."

So she floated up with the other children of the air to a rosy cloud that floated through the air.

From The Little Mermaid Fairy Tale Back to Andersen Fairy Tales

From The Little Mermaid Fairy Tale Back To Classic Fairy Tales

The Little Mermaid Fairy Tale Back to Fairies - Home