This section of the Hans Christian Anderson reading is the Little Mermaid. I’ve never read this version before, but I’ve heard tell its pretty sad. Here goes!

• It’s interesting that I can tell where Disney got inspiration for a lot of things, but some facts are so backwards. The main character is quite and thoughtful, and it’s all the sisters who are fascinated by ship wreckage
• It’d be cool to write a traditional siren story from the mermaid’s point of view. What if they aren’t really wanting to kill people. They just want them to wreck their ships so the mer-people can get some cool stuff. Treasure hunting basically!
• I think it would be pretty cool to have a story where the mermaid falls in love with humans in general, instead of the prince specifically, and she befriends the humans without trying to become one
• I can’t tell what the grandmother is thinking. She has to know why the little mermaid is asking all these questions. Why doesn’t she stop her?
• I did not know that she cut out the little mermaid’s tongue. How did this ever get adapted to Disney?
• I’m pretty sure the little mermaid just got friend-zoned by the prince
• Honestly the prince is a jerk. I wouldn’t want the little mermaid to end up with him, regardless of anything. I wonder what would have happened if she used her sister’s knife and killed him
• I’m glad that the little mermaid became a child of the wind, but it seems like she still got the short end of the stick.

Bibliography: Fairy Tales and Stories by Hans Christian Anderson. Web source.

Image: Mermaid by Mysticartdesign. Source: Pixabay