The Little Mermaid (Andersen)
Short Summary
Far beneath the ocean, in the Sea King's underwater kingdom, lived his six daughters.
When she turned fifteen, the Little Mermaid was allowed to swim to the surface. There, she saw a handsome prince on a ship and fell in love with him.
During a storm, she saved the prince from drowning. To be with him, she visited a sea witch who gave her legs in exchange for her voice. The transformation was painful, and every step felt like walking on knives. The prince found her on the beach and took her to his palace, where she danced for him despite her pain. Though he cared for her, he fell in love with a princess from a temple, believing she had saved his life. The prince married the princess, condemning the Little Mermaid to death, as mermaids who failed to win true love turned to sea foam at sunrise.
Then she cast one more lingering, half-fainting glance at the prince, and threw herself from the ship into the sea, and thought her body was dissolving into foam.
Instead of dying, she transformed into a daughter of the air. These spirits told her that through good deeds, she could earn an immortal soul after three hundred years. Her time could be shortened by finding good children, but lengthened by discovering wicked ones.
Detailed Summary
Division of the summary into chapters is conditional.
Life Under the Sea
Deep beneath the ocean's surface, in a magnificent castle of coral and amber, lived the Sea King with his six mermaid daughters. The castle was surrounded by beautiful gardens where the most extraordinary flowers grew, and fishes swam through the branches like birds in the air.
The youngest princess was the most beautiful of all, with skin as clear as rose petals and eyes as blue as the deepest sea. Like all mermaids, she had a fish's tail instead of legs. The old grandmother, who kept house for the widowed Sea King, took special care of the princesses.
The Sisters' Journeys to the Surface
Each mermaid princess was allowed to swim to the surface on her fifteenth birthday. As the youngest of six, the little mermaid had to wait the longest, listening eagerly to her sisters' stories of the world above.
She had no tears, and therefore she suffered more... Oh, were I but fifteen years old, said she: I know that I shall love the world up there, and all the people who live in it.
The Little Mermaid's First Journey and Rescue of the Prince
When the little mermaid finally turned fifteen, she rose to the surface during a celebration on a grand ship. There she saw a handsome young prince celebrating his birthday. She watched him through the cabin windows, enchanted by his beauty and grace.
A violent storm arose, wrecking the ship. The little mermaid saved the unconscious prince from drowning, bringing him to shore near a temple. She waited until a young woman from the temple found him, then reluctantly returned to the sea.
The Bargain with the Sea Witch
Unable to forget the prince, the little mermaid sought out the sea witch. She learned from her grandmother that humans possessed immortal souls, while mermaids simply turned to foam upon death. The only way to gain an immortal soul was through the true love of a human.
A mermaid has not an immortal soul, nor can she obtain one unless she wins the love of a human being. On the power of another hangs her eternal destiny.
The sea witch lived in a dangerous part of the ocean, where polypi threatened any who approached. Despite her fear, the little mermaid made her way through this treacherous territory to seek the witch's help.
The witch offered to transform the mermaid's tail into legs, but at a terrible price: she would have to give up her voice, and every step would feel like walking on sharp knives. Moreover, if the prince married another, the little mermaid would die and become foam on the waves the morning after his wedding.
Her beautiful form, her graceful walk, and her expressive eyes; surely with these you can enchain a man's heart... but if you take away my voice, what is left for me?
Life on Land and Silent Love
Despite the painful transformation, the little mermaid danced more beautifully than any human. The prince was enchanted by her grace, though each step caused her terrible pain.
Every step she took was as the witch had said it would be, she felt as if treading upon sharp knives... but she bore it willingly, and stepped as lightly by the prince's side as a soap-bubble.
The prince grew fond of her but only as a child or sister, for his heart belonged to the temple maiden who he believed had saved his life. Unknown to him, it was actually the little mermaid who had rescued him from the shipwreck.
The Prince's Marriage and the Mermaid's Choice
The prince's parents arranged his marriage to a neighboring princess, who turned out to be the temple maiden he loved. As the wedding approached, the little mermaid's heart grew heavier, knowing her death was near.
On the wedding night, the mermaid's sisters appeared with a knife from the sea witch. They had traded their beautiful hair for it. If the little mermaid killed the prince before dawn and let his blood drip on her feet, she would become a mermaid again and live out her full life span.
Transformation and Hope
But the little mermaid could not bring herself to kill the sleeping prince. Instead, she threw herself into the sea at dawn, expecting to dissolve into foam. However, she found herself transformed into a daughter of the air.
The daughters of the air explained that through her selfless love and sacrifice, she had earned the chance to gain an immortal soul. By doing good deeds for humanity for three hundred years, she could earn what she had sought. Her time could be shortened by finding good children who brought joy to their parents, or lengthened by discovering wicked ones who made their parents grieve.
I would give gladly all the hundreds of years that I have to live, to be a human being only for one day, and to have the hope of knowing the happiness of that glorious world above.
Thus, through her sacrifice and continued good works, the little mermaid found a path to the immortal soul she had so desperately sought, though not in the way she had originally imagined. Her story became a testament to the power of selfless love and the possibility of redemption through good deeds.