The Little Mermaid 301064 225198049 2008-07-12T12:16:35Z Garion96 397881 rm per [[wp:mosflag]] using [[Project:AutoWikiBrowser|AWB]] {{otheruses4|the fairy tale|the 1989 Disney animated film|The Little Mermaid (1989 film)|the statue in Copenhagen|The Little Mermaid (statue)}} {{Infobox Book | <!-- See [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Novels]] or [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Books]] --> | name = The Little Mermaid | title_orig = [[Danish language|Danish]]: ''Den lille havfrue'' | translator = | image = [[Image:Vilhelm Pedersen-Little mermaid.jpg|250px]] | image_caption = [[Vilhelm Pedersen]] illustration | author = [[Hans Christian Andersen]] | country = [[Denmark]] | language = [[Danish language|Danish]] | series = | genre = [[Fairy tale]] | published_in = | publication_type = | publisher = C. A. Reitzel | media_type = Print | pub_date = [[1837 in literature|7 April 1837]] | english_pub_date = | preceded_by = | followed_by = }} '''The Little Mermaid''' ([[Danish language|Danish]]: ''Den lille havfrue'') is a [[fairy tale]] by the [[Denmark|Danish]] [[poet]] and [[author]] [[Hans Christian Andersen]] about a young [[mermaid]] willing to give up her life in the sea and her identity as a merperson to gain a human soul and the love of a human prince. The tale was first published in 1837 and has been adapted to various media including [[musical theater]] and [[animated film]]. ==Plot== The Little Mermaid lives at the sea bottom with her father the sea king; her grandmother; and her five elder sisters, born one year apart. When a mermaid turns 15, she is allowed to swim to the surface to watch the world above, and as the sisters become old enough, one of them visits the surface every year. As each of them returns, the Little Mermaid listens longingly to their descriptions of the surface and of human beings. When the Little Mermaid's turn comes, she ventures to the surface, sees a ship with a handsome prince, and falls in love with him from a distance. A great storm hits, and the Little Mermaid saves the prince from a near-drowning. She delivers him unconscious to the shore near a temple. Here she waits until a young girl from the temple finds him. The prince never sees the Little Mermaid. [[Image:Andersen-hc.jpg|thumb|right|H.C. Andersen.]] The Little Mermaid asks her grandmother whether humans can live forever if they do not drown. The grandmother explains that humans have a much shorter lifespan than merfolk's 300 years, but that when mermaids die they turn to sea foam and cease to exist, while humans have an eternal [[soul]] that lives on in [[Heaven]]. The Little Mermaid, longing for the prince and an eternal soul, eventually visits the Sea Witch, who sells her a potion that gives her legs, in exchange for her tongue; the Little Mermaid has the most intoxicating voice in the world. Drinking the potion will make her feel as if a sword is being passed through her, and walking on her feet will feel like walking on knives. In addition, she will only get a soul if the prince loves her and marries her, for then a part of his soul will flow into her. Otherwise, at dawn on the first day after he marries another woman, the Little Mermaid will die brokenhearted and turn to sea foam. The Little Mermaid drinks the potion and meets the prince, who is attracted to her beauty and grace even though she is mute. Most of all he likes to see her dance, and she dances for him despite her excruciating pain. When the prince's father orders his son to marry the neighboring king's daughter, the prince tells the Little Mermaid he will not, because he does not love the princess. He goes on to say he can only love the young woman from the temple, but adds that the Little Mermaid is beginning to take the temple girl's place in his heart. It turns out that the princess is the temple girl, who had been sent to the temple to be educated. The prince loves her and the wedding is announced. The prince and princess marry, and the Little Mermaid's heart breaks. She thinks of all that she has given up and of all the pain she has suffered. She despairs, but before dawn, her sisters give her a knife that the Sea Witch has given them in exchange for their hair. If the Little Mermaid slays the prince with the knife, she will become a mermaid again and live out her full life. The Little Mermaid cannot bring herself to kill the sleeping prince lying with his bride and, as dawn breaks, throws herself into the sea. Her body dissolves into foam, but instead of ceasing to exist, she feels the warmth of the sun; she has turned into a spirit, a daughter of the air. The other daughters of the air tell her she has become like them because she strove with all her heart to gain an eternal soul. She will earn her own soul by doing good deeds, and she will eventually rise into the kingdom of God. ==Publication== "The Little Mermaid" was written in 1836, and first published by C.A. Reitzel in [[Copenhagen, Denmark|Copenhagen]] [[7 April]] [[1837]] in ''Fairy Tales Told for [[Children]]. First Collection. Third Booklet. 1837.'' ('' Eventyr, fortalte for Børn. Første Samling. Tredie Hefte. 1837.''). The story was republished 18 December 1849 as a part of ''Fairy Tales. [[1850]]''. (''Eventyr. 1850''), and again [[15 December]] [[1862]] as a part of ''Fairy Tales and Stories. First Volume. 1862.'' (''Eventyr og Historier. Første Bind. 1862.'').<ref>[http://www.andersen.sdu.dk/vaerk/register/info_e.html?vid=16 Hans Christian Andersen Center: Hans Christian Andersen: The Little Mermaid]</ref> ==Debate over ending== [[Image:Mermaid Last Page.jpg|thumb|right|170px|Original manuscript, last page]] Some scholars consider the last episode with its happy ending to be an unnatural addition. Jacob Bøggild and Pernille Heegaard point out that: {{cquote|One of the crucial aspects which any interpretation must confront is the final sequence of the tale, in which the little mermaid, against all odds, is redeemed from immediate damnation and accepted into the spiritual sphere, where the "daughters of the air" reside. In this, she is apparently promised the "immortal soul", which it has been her main motivation to obtain &mdash; along with the prince, of course. This ending has baffled critics because the narrative that precedes it points rather to a tragic conclusion than to a happy one.<ref>[http://www.andersen.sdu.dk/forskning/konference/resume_e.html?id=9708 Bøggild, Jacob, & Pernille Heegaard, "Ambiguity in Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid", published in ''Andersen og Verden'', Odense, 1993]. Via ''Summaries of papers from previous international HCA conferences'', Hans Christian Andersen Center, Institute of Literature, Media and Cultural Studies at the University of South Denmark</ref>}} Apparently Andersen originally ended the tale with the mermaid dissolving, but then added the "daughters of air" coda and retconned it stating it was his original intention and, in fact, the working title of the story.<ref>[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/littlemermaid/notes.html Sur La Lune fairy tales, notes on ''The Little Mermaid'']</ref> The daughters of air say they can earn souls simply by doing three hundred years' worth of good deeds; but Andersen later revised it to state that all this depends upon whether children are good or bad. Good behavior takes a year off the maidens' time of service; bad behavior makes them weep, and a day is added for every tear they shed. This has come under much criticism from scholars and reviewers, stating that "this final message is more frightening than any other presented in the tale. The story unfortunately descends into the Victorian moral tales written for children to scare them into good behavior. P. L. Travers, author of Mary Poppins and noted folklore commentator, perhaps said it best: 'But -- a year taken off when a child behaves; a tear shed and a day added whenever a child is naughty? Andersen, this is blackmail. And the children know it, and say nothing. There's magnanimity for you' (Travers 1979, 93)." <ref>[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/littlemermaid/notes.html Sur La Lune fairy tales, notes on ''The Little Mermaid'']</ref> <ref>Altmann, Anna E. and Gail deVos, ''Tales, Then and Now: More Folktales as Literary Fictions for Young Adults'' (Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited, 2001), pp. 179-183.</ref> The tale itself is considered by some feminists to contain a message about love and self-sacrifice, and the dangers of accepting abuse or inconsiderate treatment in the name of love. <ref>Borges, Victoria, [http://www.endicott-studio.com/rdrm/rrMermaids.html A Million Little Mermaids], article in ''Journal of Mythic Arts'' Summer 2007, webpage found 2007-05-15.</ref> <ref>[http://www.onlinedatingbook.co.uk/blog/relationships-and-dating/why-the-story-of-the-little-mermaid-should-be-taught-to-every-single-child Why ''The Little Mermaid'' Should Be Told To Every Child''], webpage found 2008-05-15.</ref> ==Origins== Andersen's conception appears to owe something to the [[elementals]] of [[Paracelsus]]. In that system, [[Ondine (mythology)|Undine]]s are water spirits, which may only obtain an immortal soul by securing the love of a man. At the end of the story, she appears to be transmuted into a [[sylph]], or air spirit. ==Adaptations== [[Image:525_Little_Mermaid.jpg|thumb|right|Classics Illustrated Junior comic]] * [[Antonin Dvorak]]'s opera ''[[Rusalka (opera)|Rusalka]]'' was inspired in part by ''The Little Mermaid''. * It was first translated into [[English language|English]] by H. P. Paull in 1872. * In [[1957]], the French composer [[Germaine Tailleferre]] wrote a three-act opera version of ''The Little Mermaid'' (called ''La Petite Sirène'' in French) on a libretto adapted by [[Philippe Soupault]]. * ''[[Classics Illustrated|Classics Illustrated Junior]]'', a 1950s American comic book series, published a version of the tale as issue #525. * One of the earliest animated films based on the story was the [[Soviet Union]]'s 29-minute ''[[Rusalochka]]'' (''The Little Mermaid''), released in [[1968]]. In 1976, a live-action ''Rusalochka'', a joint production by the [[USSR]] and [[Bulgaria]], was released. * In [[1961]], ''Shirley Temple Theatre'' broadcast a television version of "The Little Mermaid", starring [[Shirley Temple]] as the Mermaid. * There are several [[anime]] adaptations of the story, including ''[[Anderusen Dowa Ningyo Hime]]'' (''Andersen's Story: The Mermaid Princess''), a feature film directed by [[Tomoharu Katsumata]] (1975); and the 1991 [[Nippon Hoso Kyokai|NHK]] TV series ''[[Saban's Adventures of the Little Mermaid]]''. There have also been the [[magical girl]] adaptions [[Maho no Mako-chan]] and [[Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch]]. * In [[1987]], [[Shelley Duvall]] produced a [[The Little Mermaid (Faerie Tale Theatre episode)|version]] of the story for ''[[Faerie Tale Theatre]]''. [[Image:Movie poster the little mermaid.jpg|thumb|[[One-sheet]] for [[Disney]]'s 1989 adaptation of ''The Little Mermaid'']] * In [[1989]], the fairy tale was adapted into an [[animated film]] by the [[The Walt Disney Company|Walt Disney Company]] called ''[[The Little Mermaid (1989 film)|The Little Mermaid]]''. * [[Golden Films]] adapted the story in [[1992]]; the production was distributed by [[GoodTimes Entertainment]]. * In the late 1990s, the [[HBO]] series, ''[[Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child]]'', did an episode based on ''The Little Mermaid''. * The Broadway musical ''[[Once on This Island]]'' is a retelling of ''The Little Mermaid'' set in the French Antilles. * Japanese artist [[Junko Mizuno]] adapted ''The Little Mermaid'' as ''Mermaid Princess'', the third and final part of her "fractured fairy tales". * In [[2004]], the animated TV series ''[[Hans Christian Andersen]] [[The Fairytaler]]'' had an episode telling the story of ''The Little Mermaid''. * The [[Royal Danish Ballet]] commissioned Russian-American composer [[Lera Auerbach]] to create a modern rendition of this fairy tale. It was choreographed by [[John Neumeier]] and premiered on [[April 15]], [[2005]].<ref>[http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-250257/Performing-Arts#860511.hook ''Britannica Book of the Year 2006'', "Performing Arts, Europe: Dance"]</ref> * On July 28, 2007, the premire of Lior Navok's version for actress, two pianos and chamber ensemble/orchestra. <ref>[http://www.liornavok.com/music.asp?name=The+Little+Mermaid+%2D+for+chamber+ensemble+%2F+orchestra&id=75", "Lior Navok's 'The Little Mermaid'"]</ref> * On January 10, 2008, the [[The Little Mermaid (musical)|stage version of the Disney film]] opened on [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]]. * On March 6, 2008, Malaysia released the fantasy comedy film called, Duyung, which means Mermaid and actor, [[Maya Karin]] portrays the Duyung(Mermaid). ==The Little Mermaid statue== [[Image:The Little Mermaid-tourists.jpg|thumb|The Little Mermaid in Copenhagen]] :{{main article|The Little Mermaid (statue)}} A [[The Little Mermaid (statue)|statue of the Little Mermaid]] sits on a rock in the [[Copenhagen]] harbor in [[Churchill Park (Copenhagen)|Churchill Park]]. This small and unimposing statue is a Copenhagen icon and a major [[tourist attraction]]. The statue was commissioned in [[1909]] by [[Carl Jacobsen]], son of the founder of [[Carlsberg]], after he had been fascinated by a ballet about the fairytale. The sculptor [[Edward Eriksen]] created the statue, which was unveiled on [[23 August]], [[1913]]. His wife [[Eline Eriksen]] was the model. ==References== <references/> ==External links== {{wikisource|The Little Mermaid}} * [http://www.andersen.sdu.dk/vaerk/hersholt/TheLittleMermaid_e.html "The Little Mermaid"] Jean Hersholt's [[English language|English]] translation * [http://www.adl.dk/adl_pub/vaerker/cv/e_vaerk/e_vaerk.xsql?ff_id=22&id=2247&hist=fmD&nnoc=adl_pub ''Den lille havfrue''] Original Danish text * [http://www.kb.dk/elib/lit/dan/andersen/eventyr.dsl/hcaev008.htm ''Den lille Havfrue''] Original [[Danish language|Danish]] text from the [[Danish Royal Library]] * [http://museum.odense.dk/andersen/manuskript/visning.asp?inventarnr=HCA/XVIII-58-A&sprog=engelsk ''Den lille havfrue''] Original manuscript (Odense City Museum) * [http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/littlemermaid/index.html Surlalune: Annotated "The Little Mermaid"] Paull's translation, with annotations, scans from six illustrated editions, bibliography. [[Category:Works by Hans Christian Andersen|Little Mermaid, The]] [[Category:Fairy tales|Little Mermaid, The]] [[Category:Fictional mermen and mermaids|Little Mermaid, The]] [[Category:Public domain characters|Little Mermaid, The]] [[bg:Малката русалка]] [[ca:La Sireneta]] [[cs:Malá mořská víla]] [[da:Den lille Havfrue]] [[de:Die kleine Meerjungfrau (Märchen)]] [[et:Väike merineitsi]] [[fr:La Petite Sirène]] [[ko:인어공주]] [[it:La sirenetta (fiaba)]] [[is:Litla hafmeyjan]] [[he:בת הים הקטנה]] [[hu:A kis hableány]] [[nl:De kleine zeemeermin]] [[ja:人魚姫]] [[no:Den lille havfrue]] [[nn:Den lille havfrue]] [[pl:Mała Syrenka (baśń)]] [[pt:A Pequena Sereia]] [[ru:Русалочка]] [[fi:Pieni merenneito]] [[sv:Den lilla sjöjungfrun (saga)]] [[vi:Nàng tiên cá (truyện cổ tích)]] [[zh-yue:人魚公主]] [[zh:美人魚 (童話)]]