TheLittleMermaid

The Little Mermaid There is a beautiful world under the sea

where mer people live.

Mer people are beautiful creatures with bodies like you and me, but they don't have legs.

They have tails like fish and they live in the deep sea kingdom.

The king of the mer people has six mermaid daughters.

Serenetta is the youngest of them.

Not only beautiful, Serenetta has the best singing voice of all the mer people.

The king doesn't allow little mermaids to go up to the surface.

He thinks it is dangerous for them to see the world of humans.

Every day, Serenetta sees her elder sister swimming to the surface and asks her father,

Can I swim to the surface with them?

Be patient, little one, her father says.

Your turn will come.

At last, it is the Little Mermaid's 15th birthday.

And towards the end of the day, her father looks at her and says,

Now it is time, little one.

Be careful at the surface.

Come back and tell us what you find.

The Little Mermaid kisses her father, says goodbye to her five sisters,

and begins the long swim to the surface.

Up and up, she swims, and at last, she sees a bright light dancing on the water.

For the first time, the Little Mermaid sees stars shining in the dark night sky.

She looks around and sees a sailing ship.

She hears some strange music coming from the ship.

She swims closer and looks through a window in the side of the ship.

There is a special birthday party on the ship, and the guest is a young prince.

He is standing in the center of the room, and everybody is smiling at him.

He is standing in the center of the room, and everybody is smiling at him.

He is very handsome.

The Little Mermaid watches the prince for hours and hours.

Suddenly, long gray, dark clouds hide the moon.

The air around the Little Mermaid start to move,

and the calm sea starts to moan like a giant waking from a deep sleep.

After a minute, the Little Mermaid hears the voices of the sailors trying to save their ship from the giant waves.

A giant wave hits the ship, and the beautiful ship begins to sink.

The Little Mermaid is not afraid of the storm.

She dives into a huge wave and swims down into the darkness among the swirling wreckage she sees the prince.

The Little Mermaid knows that humans cannot live in water.

I have to take him out of the water.

I have to take him out of the water, says the Little Mermaid.

I won't let him die.

So she swims to the prince, carries him back up to the surface, and holds his head up out of the water.

The prince is still too weak to move, but at least he is alive.

Little Mermaid swims through the night by mourning the storm passes and she sees dry land.

The Little Mermaid sees a white sandy beach and she lays the sleeping prince on the sand in front of a small church.

Then she swims to some nearby rocks to see what will happen.

The prince opens his eyes and sees a girl coming out of the church.

The girl stares at the prince for a moment, then runs back inside to get help.

People come running out of the church.

They pick up the prince and gently carry him away.

The Little Mermaid swims back to her home under the sea.

The Little Mermaid says nothing to her father and sisters.

For days, she sits sadly by herself, thinking of nothing but the handsome prince.

At last she tells her oldest sister about the night of the storm and the handsome man.

Don't be silly.

You can't fall in love with a human, says her sister.

The Little Mermaid looks sadly at her fish's tail.

I'm not a human.

He won't love me, she says.

We mermaids are much happier than humans.

Humans only have short lives, but we can live for 300 years, says her sister.

I don't care, says the Little Mermaid.

I will happily give up all my hundreds of years to have just one day as a human.

You must forget all about this prince, says the Little Mermaid's oldest sister.

You must never speak of him again.

But the Little Mermaid cannot forget about the prince.

Later that night, the Little Mermaid slips away and goes to find the old sea witch.

The sea witch lives in the darkest, coldest part of the ocean.

Madame, says the Little Mermaid, I want to, I know what you want child.

You want to lose your fish's tail and marry your prince, says the witch.

Oh yes, can you help me?

Asks the Little Mermaid.

I can help you, says the witch, but it will hurt.

The Little Mermaid doesn't think anything.

Just tell me what I have to do, she says.

You must drink this potion, says the witch, and then your tail will turn into human legs.

But every step you take on land will be like walking on sharp knives.

I'm not afraid, says the Little Mermaid.

And once you have human legs, you can never be a mermaid again, says the witch.

If your prince doesn't want you, if he marries with someone else, then the day after he marries, you will turn into nothing.

Nothing more than bubbles floating on the sea.

Give me the potion, says the Little Mermaid.

The sea witch smiles, wait my child.

First, you must pay me.

But I have nothing, says the Little Mermaid.

How can I pay?

I'll take your voice, says the witch, your beautiful singing voice.

The Little Mermaid looks at the witch and says, very well, I can give anything to reach my love, take it.

The witch gives the Little Mermaid the potion in a small bottle, and the Little Mermaid speaks no more.

The witch takes her beautiful voice.

The next day the prince's servants find a beautiful young woman lying on the beach near the palace.

They help her inside and dress her in fine clothes.

The prince asks her name, but the Little Mermaid cannot answer.

She has no voice to speak or sing again.

She only looks at him with her loving eyes.

Soon after the prince and sereneta become good friends and have wonderful time together.

Everybody agree that the Little Mermaid is the most beautiful young woman in the whole palace.

She never speaks, but she quickly becomes the prince's favorite.

One day a king from another land visits the prince.

The king brings with him his beautiful daughter, Eleanor.

Obeying the wishes of his father, the prince comes to meet the daughter of the king.

His father wants the prince to marry Eleanor.

Our kingdom will be much more bigger, the king says.

You are going to marry her.

This is an order.

On the day of the wedding, the Little Mermaid thinks her heart will break.

She remembers the witch's words.

She will turn to nothing, nothing more than bubbles on the sea water.

That night when everyone is asleep, the Little Mermaid sits by the shore waiting for dawn.

She knows that this is her last night alive and that soon the sun will rise.

Suddenly, from out of the waves, five silvery figures rise up in the moonlight.

It is the Little Mermaid's sisters.

Quick, says the oldest sister.

You can still save yourself.

Take this magic knife and kill the prince.

Your feet will grow into a tail and you will become a mermaid again.

Hurry little sister.

The sun is nearly rising.

The Little Mermaid takes the knife and runs to the prince's bedroom.

She looks at him.

One blow with the knife and then she will be free.

She looks at the sharp knife.

She looks at the prince again.

I still love you.

I can't hurt you, my love, she says.

She goes to the window and throws the knife far out into the sea.

She sits on the shore and cries silently.

Suddenly, from the sky comes a pink cloud.

It lifts her from the land into the sky.

Where am I?

Oh, my voice.

I can talk.

What is going on, as sereneta?

The beautiful fairies reply.

We are the air fairies.

You are now one of us because you have a loving heart.

Come with us.

From then on, the Little Mermaid, sereneta lives in the sky with the fairies.