The Little Mermaid

"The Little Mermaid"
The Little Mermaid and the Prince in an illustration by Edmund Dulac.
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

"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 mermaid 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 theatre and animated film.

1 Plot
2 Publication
3 Debate over ending
4 Adaptations
5 The Little Mermaid statue
6 References
7 External links

Plot

The Little Mermaid lives in a utopian underwater kingdom with her father the sea king; her grandmother; and her six elder sisters, each 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 various 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.

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 (as the Little Mermaid has the most intoxicating voice in the world). The Sea Witch warns, however, that once she becomes a human, she will never be able to return to the sea. Drinking the potion will make her feel as if a sword is being passed through her, yet when she recovers she will have two beautiful legs, and will be able to dance like no human has ever danced before. However, it will constantly feel like she is walking on sharp swords, and her feet will bleed most terribly. 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 disintegrate into 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 excruciating 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, who he believes rescued him, 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, 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.

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 up into the kingdom of God.

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]

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 that:

“

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]

”

Andersen originally ended the tale with the mermaid dissolving, but then later added the "daughters of air" coda and retconned it, stating that it was his original intention and, in fact, the working title of the story.^[3] The daughters of air say they can earn souls simply by doing three hundred years' worth of good deeds; but Andersen later revised it to state that all this depends upon whether children are good or bad. Good behavior takes a year off the maidens' time of service; bad behavior makes them weep, and a day is added for every tear they shed. This has come under much criticism from scholars and reviewers, stating that "this final message is more frightening than any other presented in the tale. The story descends into the Victorian moral tales written for children to scare them into good behavior. P. L. Travers, author of Mary Poppins and noted folklore commentator, says:'But — a year taken off when a child behaves; a tear shed and a day added whenever a child is naughty? Andersen, this is blackmail. And the children know it, and say nothing. There's magnanimity for you' (Travers 1979, 93)."^[3]^[4]

The tale itself is considered by some feminists to contain a message about love and self-sacrifice, and the dangers of accepting abuse or inconsiderate treatment in the name of love.^[5]^[6]

Adaptations

It was first translated into English by H. P. Paull in 1872.
Austrian composer Alexander Zemlinsky's 40-minute long symphonic poem, Die Seejungfrau ("The Mermaid"), received its premiere in 1905.
The 1914 play The Garden of Paradise written by Edward Sheldon was adapted from it.
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.
In 1961, Shirley Temple Theatre broadcast a television version of "The Little Mermaid", starring Shirley Temple as the Mermaid.
"Coralina: La Doncella del Mar" starring Dyanik Zurakowska is the first segment of the 1966 Spanish anthology film Fantasia...3.
One of the earliest animated films based on the story was the Soviet Union's 29-minute The Little Mermaid (Russian: Русалочка), released in 1968.
In 1974, Richard Chamberlain narrated a Reader's Digest animated version.
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. There have also been the magical girl adaptions Maho no Mako-chan and Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch.
In 1976, a live-action Rusalochka (Русалочка), a joint production by the USSR and Bulgaria, was released. Directed by Vladimir Bychkov, starring Vyctoriya Novikova as the mermaid and Valentin Nikulin.
Film adaptaption Czech production 1976, The little Mermaid (Malá mořská víla); Miroslava Safránková- Mermaid and Libuse Safránková.
Japanese Jazz-Fusion Band "The Square" (now known as T-Square) wrote and released a song called "Little Mermaid" in 1982, with the album called "Magic".
In 1987, Shelley Duvall produced a version of the story for Faerie Tale Theatre.
In 1989, the fairy tale was adapted into an animated film by the Walt Disney Company called The Little Mermaid. In 2000, a sequel titled The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea, concerning the adventures of the Little Mermaid's human daughter Melody, who longs to be a mermaid, was released by The Walt Disney Company. A prequel was released in 2008 entitled The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning, the story is set before the events of the original film, in which King Triton has banned music from Atlantica. The movie also explains the absence of the Little Mermaid's mother.
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 novel, My Love, My Love: Or The Peasant Girl by Rosa Guy is based on the Hans Christian Andersen tale, and inspired the musical Once on This Island, set in the French Antilles.
Japanese artist Junko Mizuno adapted The Little Mermaid as Princess Mermaid, 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 15 April 2005.^[7]
On 28 July 2007, the premiere of Lior Navok's version for actress, two pianos and chamber ensemble/orchestra.^[8]
The Russian movie Rusalka (2007) by Anna Melikyan is a modern-day adaptation, set in Russia.^[9]
On 10 January 2008, the stage version of the Disney film opened on Broadway.
The 2008 Hayao Miyazaki film, Ponyo on the Cliff, was inspired by and based loosely on The Little Mermaid.^[10]^[11]
In 2009, an upcoming movie from the upcoming series, "Tales from H.C. Anderson" will have a shortened version.
Vocaloid has made two songs based on The Little Mermaid. One is sung by Luka Megurine and is called 人魚姫/Ningyo Hime (The Little Mermaid). The other is sung by Miku Hatsune, Luka Megurine, Meiko and Kaito and is called リトマメ / Rito Mame (Little Mermaid).
In spring 2011 a large dark ride, The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Adventure, will open at the Disney's California Adventure theme park, in Anaheim, California.
On March 20, 2010, San Francisco Ballet performed the United States premier of John Neumeier's "The Little Mermaid".
an episode of the anime Devil May Cry: The Animated Series is loosely based on the story of the little mermaid, even reading a small part of the story at the beginning
In July 2010, it was announced that director Joe Wright will helm a live action adaptation of the story.