FastPass to History ~ "Den lille havfrue"

Hans Christian Anderson's 1837 tale of "the little sea lady" or "Den lille havfrue" in the original Danish, is well known as a tale that, during adaptation into a Disney film, lost it's original grizzly ending where the little sea maid lost her life to save her prince.




The Little Mermaid statue, Copenhagen

In the classic Hans Anderson tail, er, tale, the Little Mermaid (in the Danish, she is only called the Little Mermaid) finally gets to satisfy her curiousity about the human world when, on her fifteenth birthday, she is allowed to explore their world for the first time. Like the movie, the mermaid spots a prince out at sea, falls in love and rescues him from a storm. He is found by a temple maiden and taken inside.

The Little Mermaid after discussing human souls with her grandmother, strikes a bargain with a sea witch involving her transformation to a human in exchange for her tongue. She will gain a human soul only on true loves kiss and will not be allowed to return from the sea. Another caveat, the transformation will be horribly painful and despite being guaranteed to be a beautiful dancer, her feet will feel as though she is walking on knives and bleed.

The sea lady makes the swap, only to find he fell in love with the temple maiden (herself a princess). They get married. Although our mermaid doesn't marry the prince, she does give up her mer-life and much of her human life in pursuit of him and an immortal soul. After the prince's marriage to another, the mermaid despairs over her lost love and all the pain she suffered for that love. Her sisters come to her aid, trading their hair away for an enchanted knife. If the little sea lady kills the prince and drips the blood on her legs, her legs will once again join into a tail and she can return to her natural mermaid life with her sisters.

After considering, she tosses herself into the sea determined to turn to sea foam and die like a soulless mermaid rather than kill her lost love. Rather than a watery grave, she turns to sea foam and then a spirit of the air. The other air spirits offer a chance to earn a soul and, eventually, heaven.

It turns out there is some controversy over whether Anderson himself changing his original ending. Originally this tale ended with the sea maid turning to foam.

After publication in 1837, the little sea lady enjoyed numerous adaptations and interpretations, including not only movies, books and musical theatre, but ballet and opera as well. Walt Disney first showed interest in the fairy tale back in the 1930's, but the project was shelved in favor of other ideas.
Following up "The Great Mouse Detective," Ron Clements stumbled upon the tale in a book shop. After originally passing over the idea, the studio green lit production in 1984 despite original concerns about it being to similar to "Splash."

Twenty four years later, this Disney princess graces New Fantasyland with spirit and spunk. I can't wait to see how this little mermaid continues to become part of our World. An upcoming part in "Once Upon a Time"? Ginnifer Godwin hinted a curtained red-headed mermaid may be making an appearance in Storybrooke.

I wonder whether she'll resemble Anderson's sea lady or the Disney adaptation.