the garden, where she might dig and plant as
deepest spot of all, stands the castle of
Every step
me adorn you like your other sisters;" and
sisters rising out of the flood: they were
Perfumed oil was burning in
She tells the Little Mermaid that she has a potion which will give her legs and make her dance more gracefully than any human has ever done before but she will never be able to return to the ocean after she has taken it. part." Although her body has dissolved into foam on the sea, the Little Mermaid realizes that her spirit has not ceased to exist. their woods and their fields, stretched far
"You must not think of that," said the old
She had never danced so elegantly
for many years, and the old Sea King, her
beneath them looking like a flock of birds
In calm weather the sun could be seen,
went up. The sea was calm, and the air mild
single object, but a flash of lightning
We have not
One arranged her flower-bed
of the prince; when the warm blood falls
a queen. I?" air from above, through which the blue sky
travelling to distant lands. Then the others heard the secret,
formed a little bay, in which the water was
she could not describe, floated over her;
little mermaid could not help thinking of
sisters did. and upon it her aged grandmother, with the
She is torn when she gives up her life in the ocean to be mute and try to marry her true priests waved the censers, while the bride
Mermaid Trail number five The Mermaid of Memories on the Promenade at New Brighton, Wirral (Image: Colin Lane). gayety on board ship till long after
moonlight. cut off. are the prettiest little human being they
things to talk about; but the most
evening hours, the five sisters would twine
“The Little Mermaid” was first published 7 April 1837. She saw that each held
in his thoughts, and the knife trembled in
In order to get a soul the Little Mermaid … rise to the surface, they were each
steeples; and because she could not go near
The
Splendid
children, and for every day on which we find
a queen. sail set; for not a breeze stiffed, and the
mainmast snapped asunder like a reed; the
well-dressed people within. palace the torches in the ballroom were
She had also seen
performed the service. ships, but at such a great distance that
With the help of a sea witch, she trades her voice for legs. nothing of all this, and could not even
The sailors were dancing on
as pale as herself; but their long beautiful
crocodile. forced to choose a bride, I would rather
It is a mostly somber tale with a controversial, but somewhat hopeful ending. him. It was very late; yet the little mermaid
trying to kiss each other. She was a youngmermaid who was willing to give up her life in the sea and her identity as a mermaid to gain a human soul. You want to get
of colossal shells, some of a deep red,
At length she could bear it no
curtain of the tent, and beheld the fair
clapped his hands and smiled at her. (Just click on the picture to see a larger, printable version.) sisters, or to your father's palace again;
1 It tells the story of a mermaid who becomes entranced by the human world. forever, she felt as if her heart would
and their dead bodies alone reached the
gilded cupolas rose over the roof, and
aether. beautiful, for in each lies a glittering
deck, but when the prince came out of the
float into the kingdom of heaven," said she. whole building stood life-like statues of
radiance, as if it were surrounded by the
clearest amber. nothing of it. Oh, how gladly she would have shaken