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