TWISTED FAIRY TALES: THE LITTLE MERMAID

Image by Leandro De Carvalho from Pixabay 

As a kid, my favorite Disney movie was The Little Mermaid. I still remember how obsessed I had become with the soundtrack especially since some of the songs were used in Music Class at school, particularly UNDER THE SEA. 

I must have watched the movie several times and then searched desperately for the soundtrack on audio cassette. Most of my weekends were spent just listening to music. 

The good ol’ days were so much simpler and as a kid, everything is just so magical. 

It was quite later on that I discovered that not only fairytales have a happy ending. In fact, The Little Mermaid has a more sinister version of the story. 

Yes, Ariel saves the prince from drowning. She does fall in love with him. She grows so desperate to see him she’s ready to make any sacrifices because she has fallen in love with a human and she knows she is a mermaid so their union is impossible. 

But the sea witch, Ursula presents her with a solution to her problem: she must make a sacrifice in order to gain something. Ariel must give up her voice for legs. And after the sacrifice is complete she has a day to get the prince to fall for her. 

Ariel gives up her voice; in some versions she lets the witch cut off her tongue. Ariel grows a pair of legs but they just aren’t that comfortable to walk on. In fact, they feel like knives stabbing her with every movement. 

But Ariel persists and goes to the prince only for him to reject her and then marry someone else right in front of her! 

The sea witch isn’t that cruel and gives Ariel a chance to get back her legs and join her family in the sea. All she has to do is stab the prince and kill him.

Ariel is too kindhearted to follow through such a wicked ritual so she lets herself die rather than hurt the man she loved. 

She turns into sea froth although in some versions she simply ascends to heaven. 

Aren’t you glad you saw the story where true love reigns and everyone has a happy ending? 

We definitely didn’t want to know the original story as a kid, now did we?