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The Little Mermaid — cover illustration
Bedtime story

The Little Mermaid

by H C Andersen

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The little mermaid lives in a beautiful underwater kingdom with her family, but she longs for the world above the sea. She dreams of an immortal soul and falls deeply in love with a human prince she once saved. Desperate to join his world, she seeks help from the feared sea witch. The witch offers her legs in exchange for her voice and warns her that she will turn to foam if the prince marries another. After gaining her legs, the little mermaid struggles to walk on land while hiding her pain and silence from everyone around her. She watches sadly as the prince falls in love with a princess he believes is his savior. The witch's sisters arrive with a knife, offering a way out if she kills the prince before sunrise. Torn between her love for him and her fear of death, the little mermaid refuses to harm him. Instead, she throws the knife away and jumps into the sea as dawn breaks. She does not die but transforms into a spirit of the air among the daughters of the air. Given a chance to earn an immortal soul through good deeds over three hundred years, she finds peace in her selfless choice.

How it begins

THE LITTLE MERMAID Far out in the ocean, where the water is as blue as the prettiest cornflower, and as clear as crystal, it is very, very deep; so deep, indeed, that no cable could fathom it: many church steeples, piled one upon another, would not reach from the ground beneath to the surface of the water above. There dwell the Sea King and his subjects. We must not imagine that there is nothing at the bottom of the sea but bare yellow sand. No, indeed; the most singular flowers and plants grow there; the leaves and stems of which are so pliant, that the slightest agitation of the water causes them to stir as if they had life. Fishes…

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