Story:The Little Mermaid: A Variant of Hans Christian Andersen's Story
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[edit] Source of the Story
This version of Hans Christian Andersen's story The Little Mermaid developed when I was talking to my son on the phone and telling him about whales, specifically sperm whales and killer whales, though a bit about dolphins, blue whales, and baleen whales in general, and a mention of giant squid. Afterwards, as it was his bed time, he asked me to tell him a story about a mermaid, and since I knew no other, I loosely based it on Hans Christian Andersen's tale which I remember reading as a kid, and the Disney Movie version which came out when I was older.
Note: The story was mostly told by me, but there was a brief exchange before the story, which I have included as it is perhaps somewhat relevant. I have done the best I could to remember exactly what was said, but I am sure there are some distortions. This transcript should not be regarded as exact, but rather approximate, as I am working from memory rather than from a recording. My son was 4 years old at the time of this telling.
Ingbert
[edit] The Little Mermaid
Click here to skip the intro. and go straight to the story.
[edit] Introductory Conversation
After Skelly's mom pointed out that he probably did no know what a mermaid was, despite having asked for a story about one:
Ingbert:
Do you know what a Mermaid is?
Skelly:
No.
Ingbert:
Well, a Mermaid is a Mythical Creature. Do you know what a Mythical Creature is?
Skelly:
No.
Ingbert:
Ok, well a Mythical Creature is a creature like an animal or person or beast or something which is not real, but people have made up and tell stories about. A Monster is a good example of a Mythical Creature. Monsters are not real, but people tell stories about them. A Mermaid is a Mythical Creature too, but you know how most Monsters--not all Monsters, some are nice--but most Monsters are usually mean or cruel or dangerous? Well, Mermaids are usually nice, well, at least in most of the stories that we tell these days. Do you understand?
Skelly:
Yes.
Ingbert:
Ok. So do you know what Mermaids look like?
Skelly:
No.
Ingbert:
Well, the top half of a Mermaid looks like a person, the bottom half looks like a fish.
Skelly:
Nooo---you're being silly!
Ingbert:
No, I'm serious, that's what they look like, the top half is a person, and the bottom half is a fish. That's the way people imagine them. Do you understand?
Skelly:
Uh-huh.
Ingbert:
Ok--
Hope:
Wait, Skelly, does a Mermaid have legs?
Skelly:
No.
Ingbert:
That's right, her bottom half is a fish.
Hope:
Does she have arms?
Skelly:
No.
Ingbert:
No, that's not right, she does have arms. Skelly, look at Momma. <pause> Are you looking at Momma?
Skelly:
Uh-huh.
Ingbert:
Momma, can you put your hands on your waist? Are Momma's hands on her waist?
Skelly:
Uh-huh. Her hands are on her waist.
Ingbert:
Ok, so if Momma was a Mermaid, everything above her hands would look just like Momma looks right now. Ok? And everything below her hands would look like a fish-tail. You understand?
Hope:
Like a small fish?
Skelly:
No, like a big fish!
Ingbert:
That's right, like a big fish!
Skelly:
Can you tell me the story now?
Ingbert:
Ok.
Hope:
Wait, are there Merboys?
Ingbert:
Well, it depends on who you talk to. Some people say yes, and some people say no, but since Mermaids are Mythical Creatures and don't really exist, it really depends on which story is being told. In some stories there are both Mermaids and Merboys, in other stories there are only Mermaids. In this story, it doesn't matter. Do you want Merboys?
[You can see that my explanations are probably not the most useful for a 4-year-old. I'm working on it, but it's hard to read him over the phone since I cannot see his face, so I don't know when he is confused or not.]
Skelly:
Yes, I want Merboys.
Hope:
Well, Mermen, really...
Skelly:
No, Momma, MER-BOYS!!!
Hope:
Ok, ok...
Ingbert:
Ok, we'll have Merboys in the story.
Skelly:
Can you tell me the story about the Mermaid now?
Ingbert:
Ok.
[edit] The Story
Ingbert:
Once upon a time there was a young mermaid who lived under the ocean with her family in a large mermaid city. She and the other mermaids spent their time doing things that mermaids do: swimming around, playing with their friends, farming kelp, I don't know--whatever mermaids do.
One day, the young mermaid decided to swim out beyond the city, farther than most mermaids do, in order to look around and see what was out there, and admire the beauty of the nature that surrounded the city. Now, she felt it was okay, because there hadn't been any Killer Whales around for a while, and there were a lot of Dolphins swimming around, and Dolphins are really good at chasing away sharks, so she felt pretty safe about it. She left the city, swam around the kelp fields, and looked around. She kept swimming until she came to a coral reef, and then she spent hours swimming around the coral reef, looking at everything: the beautiful fish, the shapes and colors of the coral, the eels, the sea anemones, and everything else. Just looking around, and taking in the beauty of the scenery.
After she had been swimming around for a while, she noticed a small cave in the bottom of the reef, and she noticed a dark shape move in the cave, and as she was watching, and older mermaid swam out of the cave, and swam up to her. This older mermaid was not from the mermaid city--the young mermaid would have recognized her if she was. And the older mermaid said, "Well, what are you doing here?"
The young mermaid replied, "Well, I was just swimming around, and looking at the beauty of the coral reef."
"Really?" the older mermaid said, "Well, that's interesting. You know, there's a place that is even more beautiful than this."
"Really?"
"Yes. Have you ever wondered what lies above the water?"
"Above the water?"
"Yes, you know how you can swim to the top of the ocean, and stick your head out and look around? You ever wonder what was out there?"
"No, I guess not..."
"Well, where the bottom of the ocean rises and meets the top of the ocean, there's this thing out there called land. And there are creatures out there, strange creatures, called human beings. The tops of these creatures look normal like you and me, but their bottoms are really strange. It's like they have two arms sticking out of the bottom of their waist, but those arms are thicker, and longer, and not as flexible as real arms. And at the end of those arms they have these flat things called feet, and they walk on them to get around the land."
"Really? No way, you're making this up!"
"No, I'm serious, go look for yourself. But be very careful. When you swim out of the ocean and onto the land, you can't stay there very long, or the heat of the sun will dry you out and you will die, so make sure you can get back into the ocean, ok?"
"Ok."
Well, the young mermaid was very curious, and so she went out to where the bottom of the ocean rose to meet the top of the ocean, and when she pulled herself out of the water, she found herself on a beach, a long streach of sand. Now, that land area looked very strange. For one there was a lot of light, and there were plants but they were very strange looking. Some were skinny and long and grew in big clumps, and others were thick and tall and grew high into the air. It was so strange, but there was no sight of the funny looking creature the old mermaid had described.
Well, the sun was hot, and was quickly drying the young mermaid out, but the sand was so soft and mushy, and her arms were so weak on the land--she was used to swimming around with water to support her--that she quickly became exhausted, and found it very hard to pull her body around. She was struggling, and struggling to get to the sea, when finally she saw one of the funny looking creatures. It was a man. And you know what, the top part of that man was very beautiful, and the young mermaid could not stop staring at him.
He saw her, and quickly ran over to her, and it seemed to her that he also might find her very beautiful, and he said something, but it was in a funny language, and she could not understand what he was saying. Suddenly, she realized how hot and dry she felt, and she pointed to the water, then she pointed to herself and pointed to the water. The man immediately understood what she wanted, and helped her into the water, and she swam away to recover. But when she looked back, she saw the man standing on the beach, and looking after her as she swum away.
From that day on, the young mermaid visited the area where the bottom of the ocean met the top of the ocean a lot. She found a rock that was much firmer than the sand was, and her arms grew strong as she practiced pulling herself out of the ocean. And there she met the man and they spent time together. At first, they just spent time sitting together, leaning against one another, but as time went by, they started trying to talk to each other. It was hard for the young mermaid, because the noises she made when she talked in the air sounded so funny, and the sun was so hot, but eventually the two of them managed to communicate pretty well through a mixture of words and gestures.
But as they got to know each other better, and began to like each other more and more, the young mermaid began to get very sad, for where could they live? She needed to stay in the water, and the man needed to stay on the land. How could they live together? It was physically impossible. In desperation she swam back to the older mermaid's cave and asked her what she should do.
That older mermaid, there was one thing she was good at: brewing potions that transformed mermaids into human beings for a day. However, she was not a nice person at all. She had been chased out of the mermaid city because she had been mean and cruel to other mermaids, and stolen from them, and hurt them, and now she was living alone in her little cave with very few possetions, and very poor. But she was also very greedy, and not satisfied with what she had, and would do anything she could in order to get money to buy things with.
When the young mermaid told the older mermaid her situation, the older mermaid immediately knew that here was a situation she could take advantage of. "I tell you what," said the older mermaid, "I can make you a potion that will transform you into a human for a day, but to do that, I need you to give me a gold coin."
Well, the young mermaid was not sure what to do. Her father and her mother were both poor, and did not have much money, and neither did her brothers and her sisters. What was she to do? There was no way they could afford a gold coin to pay the older mermaid. Then, she thought of her man. Maybe he could help her out? And immedidately she swam off to find him.
