A LITTLE MERMAID BY HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSON.
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Book
blog day boo yah. As you should know Tuesdays is book blog day were
we talk anything and everything and pretty much run with it. Today's
blog is on the book The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Anderson.
The
Little Mermaid lives in an underwater kingdom with her widowed father
(the sea king or Mer-king), her dowager grandmother, and her five
older sisters, each of whom had been born one year apart. When a
mermaid turns fifteen, she is permitted to swim to the surface for
the first time to glimpse the world above, and when the sisters
become old enough, each of them visits the upper world one at a time
every year. As each returns, the mermaid listens longingly to their
various descriptions of the world inhabited by human beings.
When
the little mermaids turn comes, she rises up to the surface, watches
a birthday celebration held on a ship in honour of a handsome prince,
and falls in love with him from a safe distance. A violent storm
hits, sinking the ship, and the little mermaid saves the prince form
drowning. She delivers him unconscious to the shore near a temple.
Here, she waits until a young woman from the temple and her ladies in
waiting to find him. To her dismay, the prince never sees her or even
realises it was she who had originally saved his life.
The
Little Mermaid becomes melancholic and asks her grandmother if humans
can live forever. The grandmother explains that humans have a such
shorter lifespan than a mermaids 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 sol, visits the sea witch in a dangerous
part of the ocean. The witch willingly helps her by selling her a
potion that gives her legs in exchange for her tongue and beautiful
voice, as the little mermaid has the most enchanting voice in the
world. The witch warns the little mermaid that once she becomes a
human she can never return to the sea. Consuming the potion will make
her feel as if a sword is being passed through her body, yet when she
recovers, she will be able to dance like no human has ever danced
before. However she will consistently feel as if she is walking on
sharp knives. In addition, she will obtain a soul if she wins the
love of the prince and marries him, for then a part of his soul will
flow into her. Otherwise, at dawn on the first day after he marries
someone else, the little mermaid will die with a broke heart and
dissolve into sea foam upon the waves.
After
she agrees to the arrangement, the little mermaid swims up to the
surface near the prince's castle and drinks the potion. The liquid
felt like a sword piercing through her body and she passed out on the
steps o the princes palace, naked. She is found by the prince, who is
mesmerised by her beauty and grace even though she is mute. Most of
all, he likes to see her dance, and she dances for him despite
suffering excruciation pain with every step. Soon, the little mermaid
becomes the prince's favourite companion and accompany him on many of
his outings. When the prince's parents encourage their son to marry
the neighbouring prince in an arranged marriage. The prince tells the
little mermaid he will not because hew does not love the princess.
He goes on to say he can only love the young woman from the temple
who he believed rescued him. It turns out the neighbouring kingdom is
the temple girl, as she was sent to the temple for her education. The
prince declares his love for her and the royal wedding is announced
at once.
The
prince and princess celebrate their new marriage on a wedding ship
and the little mermaids heart breaks, she thinks of all she has
sacrificed and of all the pain she has endured for the prince. She
despairs, thinking of the death that await her, but before dawn her
sisters rise out of the water and bring her a dagger that the sea
witch has given them in exchange for their long, beautiful hair. If
the little mermaid kills the princes and lets his blood drip on her
feet, she will become a mermaid once more, all her suffering will
end, and she will live out her full life in the ocean with her
family.
However,
the little mermaid cannot bring herself to kill the sleeping prince
lying with his new wife, and she throws the dagger and herself off
the ship into the water just as dawn breaks. She dissolves into foam,
but instead of ceasing to exist she feels the warm sun and discovers
that she has turned into a luminous and ethereal earthbound spirit, a
daughter of the air. As the little mermaid ascends into the
atmosphere, she is greeted by other daughters who tell her she has
become like them because like them she strove with all her heart to
obtain an immortal soul. Because of her selflessness, she is given a
chance to earn her own soul by doing good deeds for mankind for 300
years and will one day rise up into heaven.
- The Little Mermaid Wiki
Anderson
wrote the book in 1836 and was published by C. A, Reitzel in
Copenhagen on April 7th 1837 in the first collection of
Fairy Tales Told for Children. The story was republished twice ion
December 18th 1849 and December 15th 1862 as
part of Fairy tales 1850 and fairy tales and stories.
The
1989 Disney adaption of the book is probably the most well known
version of the little mermaid to date. The movie is loosely based on
the Hans Christian Anderson story with the main change being that
Ariel gets her happy ending rather than becoming part of the sea
foam.
I
loved watching Disney's version of the little mermaid as a kid,
though I think we can contribute that more to the Disney corporation
rather than the actual story of the little mermaid, especially since
the Disney version doesn't fully match the original story. I read the
little mermaid fully when I got older and to be honest now I prefer
the original story to Disney's version but the Movies timing and
comedic characters to the originals. I recommend the movie to all
children and those a child at heart and give the movie an 8/10, I
recommend the book to all book lovers and to those with curious
children and give the book a 9/10.
I
have already written a blog on the writer Hans Christian Anderson
already. Head down to the Bibliography down below, click the link and
have a read.
NOTICE:
The
Bandersnatch blog will be having a week off in the first week of
April 2020, as such the first posting back in April will be Friday
10th April 2020 with a Friday Funday.
WEBSITE
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
And
there you have it a decent book for those who love to read So we'll
be leaving this here for today please leave a comment, share with
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IS THE BANDERSNATCH, I'M MAMA OGRE AND REMEMBER STAY WEIRD, STAY
WACKY, STAY WONDEROUS AND I'LL SEE YOU SOON...
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