Fairy Tales

The Little Mermaid.

Many of the generation X or generation Y would remember The Little Mermaid as portrayed by Disney, where little Ariel falls in love, traded her voice and left everything behind for a man she fell in love with. Apparently just from first sight. Well, Eric is good looking enough for us to accept that without too much grumbling.

You would also probably remember the happy ending with the rainbow

shinning across the blue blue sky as Ariel and Prince Eric's wedding ship sailed off. And oh, what a beautiful beautiful show it is. Made you teared. Made you laughed. Made you smiled warmly while it drew a temporary conclusion to the chapter in the characters' lives.

But wait! Amidst the cheery songs and beautiful graphics...Does anyone remember the Hans Christian Andersen version? Its the original version of the adapted Disney's version. You can wiki it for the full story, but let me just run you through the gist of it.

The little mermaid in this story, met a human prince where she fell in love with, at first sight as well. And she saved him from drowning. As well. Then she started asking her grandma about humans. That's when she realized that mermaids live for over 300 years, 200 years more than humans, but they will die and perish as sea foam and cease to exist. However, humans have an eternal soul, a beautiful form that lives on in Heaven after their demise. She did her maths, and felt that the soul's a much better deal in the long run. So the little mermaid yearned for the prince and the eternal soul and sought the help from a local sea witch, who actually ain't as evil as plump, scheming but oh-so-charismatic Ursula. Apparently being a witch is like an occupation. Somebody got to do it. But there are side effects of the spell. Beautiful legs that can dance wonderfully, looking light as feather. Excruciating pain piercing the soles of said feet and terribly terribly bleeding. And oh yeah. She had to trade her prized possession, her intoxicating voice for the spell to work. And no, the prince do not just have to kiss her, but he'll have to love her and marry her. Then she will gain a soul and live together with him. Else she'll die and disintegrate into sea foam. "She'll also be Heartbroken" need not be mentioned. I think that is pretty obvious.

So off the little mermaid went. But... the prince didn't know she's the savior. And no, there's no singing crabs, no beautiful lights, no romantic boating excursions, and no meddling seagulls to help save the little mermaid. And here's the part that takes the cake: as part of the spell, she can dance very well, thus the prince loved to see her dance. And dances she did, out of love, but every step is like a sword piercing her feet. AND SHE CAN'T MAKE A SOUND.

You ever felt a pin pricking your foot? Remember screaming and yelling? Now imagine the pin is now 10 times the current size. And imagine it going all the way into your sole.

So the prince started to fall for the little mermaid, but he still felt a little something something for the "savior" that saved him from drowning. And here's the other part that takes the cake: the little mermaid saved him from drowning, and left him on the beach. A temple girl came along, by sheer luck and coincidence, the prince regained conscious at that moment, and like a little chick gaining vision for the first time, assumed that the first person he saw was his "savior". Like, how much bad luck the little mermaid needed already. But this cuts so close to home to real life. Everything is all about timing. Which many can relate to not having.

Third part of the story. Prince had to get married to another princess for political reasons, but being hot-blooded and selfish, he refused! Saying he would rather marry the little mermaid for he had, by that time, developed feelings for her. As a reader, you felt joy, ELATION. She got her man. And its not easy dang it. Dancing to entertain him when even walking hurted. Does it end like this? Happily ever after?

NO IT DIDN'T.

King's mad that prince didn't want to marry the princess due to some mute little dancer, even if she is a hottie. But he still made the princess pay a visit to the kingdom, probably in hope of conning or coaxing the prince to marry a hottie, but princess material instead. Technically, the little mermaid is a princess, and her father's a SEA king. King of a small land would had had a better deal with the little mermaid, but who could blame him? He didn't know. And she couldn't explain. And then Hans Christian Andersen shoves another fist into your warm warm chest. The princess turned out to be the temple girl. Yes you heard me right. Princess was there to for education. Prince immediately was all over her, and vice versa. And the wedding was arranged. Of course, the little mermaid despaired. More of the lost love, and later, the loss of her family for naught, and even later, of all the pain she suffered and the imminent death. But family is always there for you. And her sisters were actually monitoring her from the sea. Seeing that their beloved sister was doomed, they cut their hair, their collective prized possession, in exchange for a magical dagger. All the little mermaid had to do was to stab the prince with the dagger and let his blood drip upon her legs to turn back into a mermaid, full health included. But she couldn't do it. Because she had a heart. And she plunged herself into the ocean, accepting her death, much to the despair of her sisters.

Lo and behold, she found herself floating above the ocean after darkness closed over her. Turned out that due to her drive to get a soul, she became a daughter of the air, a spirit who could ascent to Heavens after 300 years of good deeds to children. Here's the f-up part. If the said children behaved badly, the daughters of the air had to cry, and each tear is one additional day to their service timing. As if each of them had not already suffered so much to become a spirit. The only highlight is that if the child behaved well, a year is taken off. But tell me, just looking around you, how many well behaved children are there? Oh the poor poor daughters of the air.

That's a tale to make you cry your empathy out.

As for the Disney's version, I don't hate it. It's actually my favorite animated film of all times. But this I must declare. I cried at the ending. Not of joy but of despair and empathy. Look at King Triton. He lost his daughter, he found her but gave up everything else to save her. Only to have to give her away to another man.

Look at him. Stand in his shoes. Would you have been able to do the same?

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sometimes to make someone else happy, you have to sacrifice your own happiness.