A lot of people don't know the the real story of the Little Mermaid.
The Disney Version:
A young beautiful mermaid princess saves a young prince from drowning and falls in love with him. Since there love is forbidden Ariel goes to the sea-witch, Ursula to become a human. In doing this Ariel gives up her voice and must marry the the prince within 3 days or she will belong to Ursula. Ariel makes headway in getting the prince to fall in love with her, but Ursala tricks the prince in to marring her instead. Ariel turns back into a mermaid. King Triton takes pity on his daughter and gives himself and his kingdom to the sea-witch in place for Ariel freedom. Ursula creates a storm in which Prince Eric is able to steer a sunken ship into Ursula's heart, killing her and restoring King Triton to his throne. King Triton then realizes that Ariel truly loves the princes and changes his daughter into a human and they all live happily ever after.
The Original Hans Christian Anderson Version:
A young beautiful mermaid princess saves a young prince from drowning and falls in love with him. Since there love is forbidden the Princess goes to the sea-witch to become a human. As payment for this spell the sea-witch cuts out the mermaid's tongue. As part of the deal, if the mermaid princess does not marry the prince, she will then die and turn into sea-foam as the day sets on the prince's wedding. Now as a human, every step that the mermaid princess takes will feel as if she is stabbed with 1,000 daggers. After some time the prince vows to marry the maiden who saved him from a ship-wreck. The prince assumes that this maiden is a young girl who found him on the beach after the mermaid princess had saved him. He then marries her. The mermaid princess is invited to partake in the prince's wedding. As the day is setting the mermaid princess's sisters swim up towards the wedding ship. They have traded their hair to the sea witch for a magic dagger. The mermaid princess must stab the prince to death and rub his blood on her legs and then they will transform back into a tail. The mermaid princess cannot do this because she loves the prince so much. In her distress she stabs herself with the dagger and jumps off the wedding ship to her death. She then turns into foam among the waves. But, since the mermaid did a bivalent act, she is granted a soul and goes to heaven.
I love both versions of the story. But, the original version is much more powerful because it showcases the concept of sacrifice for true love.
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