I was surprised that the little mermaid killed herself in this tale. I’ve always known that was the real ending of the story but I’ve never actually read a little mermaid story where she does. I’ve always read the Disney version. I liked this version a million times more. It had a lot of substance. But, if I’m being honest, I don’t know if I would read this to young girls. She gives up her voice for a man and then when he marries someone else, she kills herself and turns into sea foam. Like what? Over some dude? No thanks, that’s dumb. But that’s my reader response as a feminist probably. Despite that, I really did like this story and found it enjoyable. Lots of books have endings I don’t agree with but that doesn’t make them less enjoyable. ( )

I first read Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Mermaid," in Korean as a pre-school, kindergarten or 1st or 2nd grade. I cannot recall the exact time. The story left an impression. I realized I had empathy for the character. The author has imagination to write a story of the mermaids, group of beings half human that can swim under water with fins. The original story is different from Disney's reinterpretation of the story. Andersen's version is not a happy ending. Andersen was rumored to be physically unattractive so his stories have darker elements.

The female mermaid undergoes a painful transformation for a chance to be with a young man she does not know. She did not do her probability right before taking the plunge to transform herself to human by going to the sea witch. Realistically, no matter how good of an impression you leave for a guy, he normally will have moved on, and moved on fast. By the time you get to him, if he seems like a good catch, or just not repulsive, he will already have someone by his side. If a guy was head-over-heels for a girl, he would have found her. She would not have to go searching for him.

That is what happens in this story. The young mermaid undergoes a painful transformation, gives up being with her family to meet the young man again. She meets him but she cannot speak to him. She gave up her tongue to meet him. Just to meet him! What a bad trade-off. That is how gruesome the original story is. The mermaid gave up her tongue! He is nice to her and invites her in but he has already found another girl. The poor thing did not have a chance.

Her sisters find her and tell her the only way she can transform back to being a mermaid is to kill the young man with a knife given to her and wipe his blood onto her legs. She has to kill him, put the knife right through his heart to save her own life or she will turn into a bubble. The mermaid goes over him one night while he is honeymooning with his wife, when he is asleep. She hovers over him, ready to stab him but she cannot. She loved him. She could not hurt him. She turns into a bubble, foam, became one with the sea. The young man never finds out what this mermaid did to get to him, all the pain and sacrifice she put herself through. He never finds out. He has a feeling but does not know.

This story was written by an Aries man and I am attracted to their works but upon second glance, it's very selfish. The female character has to give up that much just to have a chance meeting with a young man that is not guaranteeing her anything? It is quite disempowering. The story is well-written, but the girl/mermaid is disempowered as her ability to speak was given up to become human. ( )

Much different from Disney's version. The mermaid does not get her prince. But she revives a soul for her good deeds. Bought from Kindle.