(Short Voice) #23 THE LITTLE STINKY MERMAID - Jasons Bed Time Story Time

Hello, welcome to jasonnewland.com. My name is Jason Newland. This is Jason's Bedtime Storytime. Please only listen when you can safely close your eyes.

Now I am live streaming myself making this podcast. So the audio won't be as good as it will be on the podcast. I won't be interacting with people online because I'm going to be reading the story.

But I will say hello to everyone now and I will do a little wave to anybody that says hello to me on the stream while I read the story. So if you're watching on the stream and you want to just relax and listen to a lovely little fairy tale then that's cool. And did I say only listen when you can safely close your eyes? Because it's a Bedtime Storytime.

So if you're in a big truck and you know you're driving at maybe 60 miles an hour with a tank full of diesel, uh maybe don't listen to this at this time. Okay, good. So what I'm going to do, I'm going to read a story today.

I've done a few of these uh Bedtime Storytimes. I don't know how many. Let me just check.

I can actually tell you can't I? I don't have to make it into a secret. I can just tell you it's easy. I would actually be also sharing this on Instagram and streaming it.

But the stream I did was there was a bit of a background sound which was a bit fuzzy which I didn't uh didn't didn't adore if I'm honest. So the Bedtime Storytimes, this is number 23. Isn't it exciting? Maybe not.

Right, so today I'm going to do the Little Mermaid. I'm going to read the Little Mermaid. It's a classic Hans Christian Andersen tale of a little mermaid and what she will do for love.

So it's actually the little the dirty little mermaid. I just like to add the word dirty or poo face or anything in the titles just to amuse myself. So it says here just to let you know I'm reading this from storyberries.com. This is a vintage fairy tale and may contain violence.

We would encourage parents to read beforehand if your child is sensitive to such themes. So if you if you're watching or listening and your child loves violence then listen on. Yeah, I think that's what they mean.

Is it what I mean? Okay. Far away in the ocean where the water is as blue as the prettiest cornflower and as clear as crystal it is very very oh so deep indeed that no cable could sound it. No cable could sound it? What does that mean? And many church steeples piled one upon another would not reach from the ground beneath to the surface of the water above.

In other words it's deep. There dwell the sea kings and his subjects. We must not imagine that there is nothing at the bottom of the sea but bare yellow sand.

No indeed for on this sand grow the strangest flowers and plants the leaves and stems of which are so pliant that the slightest agitation of the water causes them to stir as if they had life. Fishes both large and small glide between the branches as birds fly among the trees here upon land. In the deepest spot of all stands the castle of the sea king.

Its walls are built of coral and the long gothic windows are of the clearest amber. The roof is formed of shells that open and close as the water flows over them. Their appearance is very beautiful for in each lies a glittering pearl which could be fit for the diadem of a queen.

I don't know what diadem is anyone? The sea king had been a widower for many many years and his aged mother kept house for him. Incestuous she was a very sensible woman but exceedingly proud of her high birth and on that account wore 12 oysters on her tail. She has a tail why she got a tail while others of high rank were only allowed to wear six.

She was however deserving of great praise especially for her care of the little sea princesses her six granddaughters. They were beautiful children but the youngest was the prettiest of them all. Her skin was as clear and delicate as a rose leaf and her eyes her eyes as blue as the deepest sea.

But like all the others she had no feet and her body ended in a fish's tail. There's a pattern here isn't there? This seems a bit fishy to me. All day long they played in the great halls of the castle or among the living flowers that grew out of the walls.

The large amber windows were open and the fish swam in just as the swallows fly into our houses when we open the windows. Yep constantly every time I open the window a swallow flies in. It's so annoying.

Only the fishes swam up to the princesses and ate out of her hands and allowed themselves to be stroked. Outside the castle there was a beautiful garden in which grew bright red and dark blue flowers and blossoms like flames of fire. The fruit glittered like gold and the leaves and stems waved to and fro continuously.

The earth itself was the finest sand but blue is the flame of burning sulfur. Over everything lay a peculiar blue radiance as if the sky the blue sky were everywhere. Above and below instead of the dark depths of the sea hmm in calm weather the sun could be seen looking like a reddish purple flower with light streaming from the calyx.

Each of the young princesses had a little plot of ground in the garden where they were going to get buried oh no no no where she might dig and plant as she pleases. One arranged her flower bed in the form of a whale. Another preferred another preferred to make hers like the figure of a little mermaid while the youngest child the youngest child made hers round like the sun and in it grew flowers as red as his rays at sunset.

She was a strange child and very smelly quiet and thoughtful while her sisters showed delight the wonderful things which they obtained from the wrecks of vessels she she cared only for her pretty flowers red like the sun and a and a beautiful marble statue. It was the representation of a handsome boy carved out of pure white stone which had fallen to the bottom of the sea from a wreck.

She planted by the statue a rose-colored weeping willow.

It grew it grew it grew rapidly and soon hung hung its fresh branches over the statue almost down to the blue sands. The shadows had the color of violet and waved to and fro like the branches so it it it seems as if the crown of the trees and the root word play trying to kiss each other. Nothing gave her so much pleasure as to hear about the world above the sea.

Ah the world above the sea! She made her grandmama tell her all she knew of the ships and of the towns the people and the animals. To her it seemed most wonderful and beautiful to hear that the flowers of the land had fragrance and weren't all wet and soggy like the ones she knew. While those below the sea they bore she was excited that the trees of the forest were green and that the fishes among the trees could sing so sweetly that it was a pleasure to listen to them.

Hmm I think she might have meant birds. Her grandmama called the birds fishes. Oh I was ahead of myself.

Oh the little mermaid would not have understood what was being meant by this saying birds because she didn't know what birds were. Didn't know what birds were. How could she know? How could she know what a bird is? She'd never never seen a bird.

Lived under the sea her whole life. How could she possibly know what a bird was? How could she know? She couldn't know. When you have reached your 15th year said grandmama you'll have permission to rise up out of the sea and sit on the rocks in the moonlight while the great ships go sailing by and then my smelly granddaughter you will see both forests and towns.

In the following year one of the sisters would be 15 but as each was a year younger than the other the youngest would have to wait five whole years five whole years before her turn came to rise up from the bottom of the ocean to see the earth as we do. However each promised to tell the others what she saw on her visit her first visit and what she thought was most beautiful.

Their grandmother could not tell them enough they just they were like sponges very wet sponges.

There were so many things about which they wanted to know. None of them longed so much for her turn to come as the youngest. She had the longest time to wait and she was so quiet and thoughtful and smelly.

Many nights she stood by the open window wondering why it was always open not realizing it was because she was so smelly and everyone else in the house couldn't stand it and had to keep opening the window. Looking up through the dark blue water and watching the fish as they splashed about with their fins and tails holding their noses as they swam past she could see the moon and the stars shining faintly but through the water they looked larger than they do to our eyes.

They did hmm because when something like a black cloud passed between her and them she knew she she knew that it was either a whale swimming over her head or a ship full of human beings who never imagined that a pretty little smelly mermaid was standing beneath them holding out her white hand towards the keel of their ship.

At length the eldest was 15 and was allowed to rise to the surface of the ocean. Whence she returned and she did return she was she had hundreds hundreds and hundreds of things to talk about but the finest thing she said was to lie on a sandbank in a quiet moonlight sea near the shore gazing at the lights of the nearby town that twinkled like hundreds of stars and listening to the sound of music the noise of carriages the voices of human beings and the merry peelings of the bells of the church steeples.

Because she could not go near all these wonderful things she longed for them even more.

Oh how eagerly did the youngest sister listen to all of these descriptions and afterwards when she stood at the open window again wondering why it was still open it seemed to be nailed open now i can't close it why is that the fish didn't even enter the room well one did but he had a gas mask on and she was looking through the dark blue water she thought of the great city with all its bustle and noise and she she even fancied that she could hear the sound of the church

bells down in the depths of the sea that's what she imagined in another year the second sister received permission to rise to the surface of the water and to swim about where she pleased she rose just as the sun was setting and this this she said was the most beautiful sight of all the whole sky looked like gold and violet and rose-colored clouds which she could not describe drifting across it sounds like she took acid and more swiftly than the clouds flew a large flock of wild swans towards the setting

sun like a long white veil across the sea she also swam towards the sun but it sank into the waves yes it sank into the waves i tell you and the rosy tints faded and the clouds and from the sea the third sister turn followed and she was the boldest of them all the third sister yes she was the boldest she had no hair she swam up a broad river that emptied into the sea and on the banks she saw green hillers hillers hills covered with beautiful vines and palaces and

castles peeping out from her amid the proud trees of the forest she heard birds she she she she did she heard birds singing and felt the rays of the sun so strongly that she was obliged often to dive under the water to cool her burning face in a narrow creek she found a large group of little human children sporting about in the water she wanted to play with them but they fled in a great fright and then a little black animal it was a dog but she did not know it

for she had never seen one before she'd never seen a dog before she didn't know it was a dog how could she know it was a dog she'd never seen one the dog came to the water and barked to her so furiously that she became frightened and rushed back to the open sea but she said she she should never forget the beautiful forest the green hills and the pretty children who who could swim in the water although they had no tails go figure this is dragon isn't it this is this

is a long story i mean i guess it's about the last sister the little mermaid but they talk a lot about the other kids why i don't understand it the fourth sister was more timid she remained in the midst of the sea but said it was quite as beautiful there as nearer the land she could see many miles around her and the sky above looked like a like a bell of a glass she had seen the ships but at such a great distance they looked like seagulls they both have actually

been seagulls the dolphins sported in the waves and the great whales spouted water from their nostrils till it seemed as if a hundred fountains were playing in every direction the fifth sister's birthday occurred in the winter so when her turn came she saw that the others had not what saw what the others had not seen the first time that she went up lots of ice the sea looked quite green and large large icebergs were floating about each like a pearl she said but larger larger than a pearl the icebergs are

generally known to be larger than the pearl and loftier than the churches built by men i forgot my place there they were of the most singular shapes and glittered like diamonds she had seated herself on one of the largest and let the wind play with her long hair she noticed that all the ships sailed past very rapidly steering as far away as they could as if they were afraid of the iceberg icebergs well they do have a bit of a bad reputation don't they icebergs but we got we got a

fairly decent movie out of it i suppose towards evening as the sun went down dark clouds covered the sky but we did get leona leonardo dicaprio didn't we the thunder rolled and the flashes of lightning glowed red on the icebergs as they were tossed about by the heavy sea there was room on that raft wasn't there for leonardo he could have they could have moved and let him on i just think that was a weird end as a film on all his ships the sails were reefed with fear and trembling

while she sat on the floating iceberg calmly watching the as it darted its forked flashes into the sea it's dragging on each of the sisters when first she had permission to rise to the surface was delighted with the new and beautiful sights now that they were grown up girls and could go when they pleased they had become quite indifferent about it they soon wished themselves back again and after a month had passed they said it was it's much more beautiful down below and pleasanter to be at home yet often in

the evening hours the five sisters would twine their arms around each other and rise to the surface together their voices were more charming than that of any human being because clearly they'd met every human in the world and before the approach of a storm when they feared that a ship might be lost they swam before the vessel singing enchanting songs of the delights to be found in the depths of the sea and begging the voyagers not to fear it if they sank to the bottom but the sailors could not understand

the song and thought it was the sighing of the storm so they thought the storm was singing to them okay these things were never beautiful to them for if the ship sank the men were drowned and their dead bodies alone reached the palace of the sea king how pleasant when the sisters rose arm in arm through the water their youngest sister would stand quite alone looking after them ready to cry only since mermaids have no tears she suffered more acutely uh where i put 15 years old she said i know

that i shall love the world up there and all the people who live in it at last she reached her 15th year well now you're right well now that you're grown up said the old grandmother come and let me adorn you like your sisters and she placed her hair and in a wreath of white lilies of which every flower leaf was half a pearl then the old lady ordered eight great oysters to attach themselves to the tail of the princess to show her high rank but they hurt me said the

little mermaid yeah i know pride must suffer pain replied the old lady oh how gladly she would have shaken off all this grandeur and laid aside the heavy reef the red flowers in her own garden would have suited her much better all much better she could not change herself so she said farewell and roses lightly as a bubble to the surface of the water the sun had just set when she raised her head above the waves the clouds were tinted with crimson and gold and through the glimmering twilight beamed at

the evening star in all its beauty the sea was calm the air mild and fresh but she still stank a large ship with three masts lay be calmed in the water only one sail was set for not a bridge stirred and the sailors sat idle on deck or abyss the rigging there was music and song on board and as darkness came on a hundred colored lanterns were lighted as if the flags of all nations waved in the air the little mermaid swam close to the cabin windows because as well as

being stinky she was also a peeping tom and now and then as she as the waves lifted her up she could lick in look lick she didn't lick the window she looked into the windows and she could see a number of gaily dressed people among them and the most beautiful of all was a young prince with a large black eyes he was 16 years of age and his birthday was being celebrated with great display the sailors were dancing on deck and when the prince came out of the cabin more than

a hundred rockets rose in the air making it a as bright as day the little mermaid was so startled oh as she dived under the water and when she again stretched out her head it looked as if all the stars of heaven were falling around her she had never seen such fireworks before great sun spurting fire about splendid fireflies flew into the air and everything was reflected in the clear calm sea beneath the ship itself was so brightly illuminated that all the people and even the smallest rope could be distinctly

seen how handsome the young prince looked as he pressed the hands of all his guests and smiled at them while the music resounded through the clear night air he's a prince now is he okay it was very late yet the little mermaid the little smell smelly stinky mermaid could not take her eyes from the ship or from the beautiful prince the colored lanterns had been extinguished water will do that no more rockets rose in the air and the cannon had ceased firing but the sea became restless and a moaning grumbling

sound could be heard beneath the waves and it wasn't just the little mermaid farting still the little mermaid remained by the cabin window rocking up and down on the water that she could look within stalker alert stalker alert after a while the cells were quickly set and the ship went on her way but soon the waves rose higher heavy clouds darkened the sky and lightning appeared in distance a dreadful storm was approaching once more the cells were furled and the great ship pursued her flying course over the raging sea the

waves rose mountain high as if they would overtop the mast but the ship dives like a swan beneath them then rose again on their lofty foaming crests to the little mermaid mermaid mermaid this was pleasant sport but not so to the sailors at length the ship groaned and creaked the thick planks gave away under the lashing of the sea as the waves broke over the deck the main mast snapped asunder like a reed and as the ship lay over on her side the water rushed in the little mermaid now perceived

that the crew was in danger because she was a very very clever stinky little girl as she could tell all the boats on its side maybe there's problems here hmm clever girl even she was obliged to be careful to avoid the beams and planks of the wreck which lay scattered on the water well you can go under the water can't you you haven't got to stay on the top of the water you live under the water why would you would float so it's not really a problem to you is it

just just you know just an observation at one moment it was pitch dark so that she could not see a single object but when a flash of lightning came it revealed the hell scene she could see everyone who had been on board except the prince when the ship parted she had not seen him sink into the deep waves and she was glad ever so glad for she thought he would now be with her then she remembered that human beings could not live in the water because she was bright so when

he got down to her father's palace he would certainly be quite dead no he must not die she thought so she swam about among the beams and planks which strew the surface of the sea forgetting that they could they could have crushed her to pieces could have crushed her diving deep under the dark waters rising and falling with the waves she at length managed to reach the young prince who was fast losing the power to swim in that stormy sea his limbs were for falling off and failing him his beautiful

eyes were closed and would have he would have died had not the little mermaid come to his assistance she held his head above the water and let the waves carry them where they would in the morning the storm had ceased but of the ship not a single fragment could be seen nor fragment as well the sun came up red and shining out of the water and it's uh its beams could pull back the cue of of health to the prince's cheeks but his eyes remain closed the mermaid kissed his high

smooth forehead and stroked his wet hair he see he seemed to her like the marble statue in her little garden so she kissed him again and wished that he might live presently they came in sight of land and she saw lofty blue mountains on which the white snow rested as if a flock of swans were lying upon them dead beautiful green forests were near the shore and close by stood a large building where a church or a cove a convent she could not tell she wasn't sure she didn't know what

either of them were orange and citron trees grew in the garden and before the door stood lofty palms so someone with big hands i guess i don't know the sea here formed a little bay in which the water lay quiet and still but very deep she swam with the handsome priest to the prince to the beach when she got there she was the beach or the beach was covered with fine white sand and there she laid him in the warm sunshine taking care to raise his head higher than his body

okay then bells sounded in a large white building and some young girls came into the garden this little mermaid swam out further from the shore and hid herself among some high rocks that rose out of the water covering her head and neck with the foam of the sea she watched there to see what would become of the poor prince it was not long before she saw a young girl approach the spot where the prince lay she seemed frightened at first but only for a moment she looked around wondering what that

odorous smell was lingering in the air didn't seem to be coming from the prince and then she brought a number of people and the mermaid saw that the prince came to life again and smiled upon those who stood about him but to her he said no smile he knew not that she had even saved him she knew not he knew not this made her very very sorrowful and when he was led away into the great building she dived down into the water and returned to her father's castle she had always

been silent and thoughtful and now she was more so than ever her sisters asked her what she'd been doing during her first visit to the surface of the water but she could tell nothing many an evening and morning did she rise to the place where she had left the prince she saw the fruits in the garden ripen and watched them gathered she watched the snow on the mountaintops melt away but never did she see the prince and therefore she always returned home even more sorrowful than before it was her only

comfort to sit in her own little garden and fling her arm around the beautiful marble statue which was like the prince she gave up tending her flowers and she grew in wild confusion over the paths twining their long leaves and stems around the branches the trees so that the whole place became dark and gloomy at length she could hear it no longer and told one of the sisters all about it at length she could she could bear it no longer and told one of her sisters about it then the others

heard the secret and very soon it became known to several mermaids one of whom had an intimate friend who happened to know about the prince intimate she had also seen the festival on board ship and she told them where the prince came from and where his palace stood so she saw it but she didn't do so her friend the other mermaids saw what happened but didn't do anything left her sister to do it oh that's nice come little sister said the other princesses when they entwined their arms and rose together

to the surface of the water near the spot where they knew the princess the princess palace stood it was one built of bright yellow shining stone and had long flights of marble steps they could tell this from the sea one of which reached quite down to the sea itself splendid gilded cuposias rose over the roof in between the pillars that surrounded the whole building stood lifelike statues of marble that sentence was too long i could figure out what was what was being said there through the clear crystal of the lofty

windows could be seen noble rooms with costly silk curtains and hangings of tapestry and walls covered with beautiful paintings in the center of the largest salon a fountain through its sparkling jets high up into the glass ceiling through which the sun shone and upon the water and upon the beautiful plants that grew in the basin of the fountain now that the little mermaid knew where the prince lived she spent many an evening and many a night on the water near the palace she would swim much nearer to shore than any

of the others had ventured and once she went up the channel under the marble balcony which threw a broad shadow on the water here she sat and watched a young prince who threw himself alone who thought himself alone in the bright moonlight i've got an optician's appointment tomorrow you might be grateful to hear i'll be able to actually read the words then she often saw him in evenings sailing in a beautiful boat in which music sounded and flags waved she peeped out from among the green rushes and if the wind

caught her long silvery white veil those who saw it believed it to be a swan spreading out its wings a big smelly swan many a night too when the fishermen set their nets by the light of their torches she heard them relate many good things about the young prince and this made her glad that she had saved his life when he was tossed about half dead on the waves she remembered how his head had rested on her bosom and how heartily she had kissed him but he knew nothing of all

this and could not even dream of her i guess if she if he did dream of her it'd be a wet dream wouldn't it because she lives under the water she grew more and more she grew more and more to like human beings and wished more and more to be able to wander about with those whose world seemed to be so much larger than her own they could fly over to sea and ships and mount the high hills which were far above the clouds and the lands they possessed their woods

and their fields stretched far away beyond the reach of her sight there was so much does she wish to know but her sisters were unable to answer all her questions she then went to her old grandmother who knew all about the upper world which she rightly called the lands above the sea if humans are not being drowned asked the little smelly mermaid can they live forever do do they never die as we do here in the sea yes replied the old lady they must also die and their term of life

is even shorter than ours we sometimes live for 300 years but when we cease to exist we become only foam on the surface of the water and not even we don't even have a grave amongst those we love we we have not immortal souls we shall never live again like the green seaweed when once it's being cut off it can never flourish more human beings on the contrary have souls which live forever even after the bodies being turned to dust they raise up through the clear pure air and beyond the

glittering stars as we rise out of the water they rise out and behold all the land of the earth so so they they rise to unknown in glorious regions which we shall never see are you sure grandmother that you're that you're not ill that sounds like bollocks i don't know is it true are you just making up lies just to make the make the story last longer what i don't i understand i mean why do we not have immortal souls i would gladly give up at least at least 100 years

to be able to have an immortal soul and and to be like a human and that's what i want you must not think of that said the old woman we believe that we are much happier and much better off than the humans so i shall die so so i should die said the merman that's my mermaid and as for the foam of the sea i should be driven about never never again to hear the music of the waves or see the pretty flowers of the red sun is there anything i

could do to win an immortal soul i already told you no shut up talking about your smelly smelly you're annoying me mind you there is one thing i suppose you could do well if a man if a man should love you a human man should love you um and use more to him than his father or mother and all his thoughts all his bloody thoughts and his love were fixed upon you just you and the priest places the priest the priest places his right hand in yours and he promised to

be true to you and forever then his soul would glide into your body not just his soul either and you would obtain a share in the future happiness of mankind he will give you a soul and retain his own as well but this can never happen your smelly fish's tail which among us is considered so beautiful on earth yeah on earth it's thought to be quite ugly they do not know any better and they think it necessary in order to be handsome you have to have two stout props what they

call legs then the little mermaid sighed and looked sorrowfully at her fish's tail let us be happy said the old lady and dart and spring around during the 300 years that we have to live which is really quite long enough you know and considering we don't have television after that we can rest ourselves all the better this evening we are going to have ball it is one of those splendid sights which which can never be seen on earth the walls and the ceilings of the large ballroom where were thick but

transparent crystal many hundreds of colossal shells some of a deep red others of a grass green with blue fire in them stood in rows on each side then they these lighted up the whole salon and shone through the walls so that the sea was also illuminated innumerable fishes great and small swam past the crystal walls on some of them the scales glowed with a purple brilliance and on others shone like a silver and gold through the halls flowed a broad stream and and it danced the merman and the mermaids to

the music of their own sweet singing no one on earth had such lovely voices as they but the little mermaid sang more sweetly than all the whole court applauded her with hands and tails and for a moment her heart felt quite gay for she knew that she had the sweetest voice on earth or in the sea but soon she thought again of the world above her she couldn't help but thinking about it she could not forget the charming of prince nor her sorrow that she had not an immortal soul like

his she crept away silently out of her father's palace and while everything within was gladness and song she sat in her own little garden sorrowful and alone then she heard the bugle sounding through the water and thought he is sailing above he he is whom my wishes center and whose hands i should like to place the happiness of my life i will venture all for him and to win an immortal soul while my sisters are dancing in my father's palace i will go to the witch of whom i have always

been so much afraid she can give me counsel and help so the little mermaid went out from her garden and took to the road forming whirlpools behind which the sorceress lived a foaming whirlpools i need them glasses she had never been that way before neither flowers nor grass grew there nothing but bare gray sandy ground stretched out to the whirlpool a bit like dubai before they started building on it the foaming mill wheels seized everything that came within its reach and cast it into the fathomless deep through the midst of

these crushing whirlpools the little mermaid was obliged to pass before she could reach the dominions of the sea witch then for a long distance the road lay across a stretch of warm bubbling mire called by the witch her turf moor this is a long one isn't it beyond this was the witch's house which stood in the center of a strange forest where all the trees and flowers were polypy half animals and half plants they looked like serpents with a hundred heads growing out of the ground the branches were long slimy

arms with fingers like flexible worms moving limb after limb from the root to the top all that could be reached in the sea they seethed upon and held fast so that it never escaped from their clutches the little mermaid was so alarmed at what she saw that she stood still in a heartbeat with fear she came very near turning back but she thought of the prince and of the human sill for which she longed and her courage returned she fastened her long flowing hair around her head so that the polypy

should not lay hold of it she crossed her hands on her bosom and then darted forward as a fish shoots through the water between the supple arms and fingers of the ugly polypy which was stretched out on either side of her she saw that they all held in their grafts something that they seized with their numerous little arms which were as strong as iron bands tightly grasped in their clinging arms were white skeletons of human beings who had perished at sea and had sunk down into the deep waters skeletons of

land animals and oars rudders and chests of ships there was even a little mermaid whom they had caught and strangled and this seemed the most shocking of all to little princess but self-obsessed she now came to a space of marshy ground in the wood where large fat water snakes were rolling in the mire and showing their ugly drab colored bodies in the midst of this spot stood a house built on the bones of shipwrecked human beings there sat the sea witch allowing a toad to eat from her mouth just as

people sometimes feed a canary with pieces of sugar she called the ugly water snakes her little chickens and allowed them to crawl all over her bosom i know what you want said the sea witch it is very stupid of you but you shall have your way so it will bring you to sorrow my pretty princess you want to get rid of your fish's tail and to have two supports instead like human beings on earth so the young prince may fall in love with you and so that you may have an

immortal soul and the witch laughed so loud so disgustingly that the toad and the snakes fell to the ground and laid their wriggling you are just in time said the witch for after sunrise tomorrow i should not be able to help you till the end of another year i will prepare a draft for you with which you must swim to land tomorrow before sunrise seat yourself there and drink it it makes sense really because you can't really drink underwater can you your tail will then disappear and shrink up into what

men call legs you will feel great pain as if a sword were passing through you but all who see you will say that you are the prettiest little human being that they ever saw a bit smelly but other than that you will still have the same floating graceness of movement that no dancer will ever tread so lightly every step you take however will be as if you were treading upon sharp knives and as if the the blood must flow if you'll bear it this if you will bear it if you

will if you'll accept this i will help you yes i will said the little said the little princess in a trembling in a trembling voice yes i will she fought the princess and the immortal soul prince and everything blah blah but think again said the witch for when once the shape has become like human being you can no more be mermaid you will never return through the water to your sisters or to the father's palace again and if you do not win the love of the prince so that it will

he will he is willing to forget his father and his mother for your sake and to love you with his soul and allow the priest to join your hands that you may be man and wife then you will never have an immortal soul the first morning after he marries another your heart will break and you will become foam on the crest of the waves i will do it said the little mermaid such a contrast in that voice isn't it i will do it said the little mermaid and she became pale

as death but i must be paid also said the witch and it's not a trifle that i ask which is a bit annoyed the uh little mermaid because she actually had brought a trifle she thought that would be a good good way to settle up her debts but apparently not you live and learn you have the sweetest voice of any who dwell here in the depths of the sea and you believe that you will be able to charm the prince with it but his voice you must give to me the

best thing you possess i will have at the price of my costly draft which must be mixed with my own blood so that it may be as sharp as a two-edged sword but if you take away my voice said the little princess what is left for me your beautiful form your graceful walk your expressive eyes your shapely bosom your flappy ears surely with these you can enchant a man's heart well have you lost your courage put out your little tongue that i may cut off that i may cut off our

payment then you shall have the powerful draft it shall be said the mermaid then a witch placed a cauldron on the fire to prepare the draft the magic draft cleanliness is a good thing she said scaring the vessel with snakes which she had tied together in a large knot then she pricked herself in the breast and let the black blood drop into the cauldron the steam that rose twisted itself in such horrible shapes that no one could look at them without fear every moment the witch threw a new ingredient into

the vessel and when it began to boil the sound was like the weeping of a crocodile who's ever actually heard a crocodile cry i know like crocodile tears crocodile tears but really when at last the magic draft was ready it looked like the clearest water this is there it is for you said the witch then she cut off the mermaid's tongue so that she would never again speak or sing if the popple should seize you as you returned through the wood said the witch said the witch throw over them a

few drops of the potion and their fingers will be torn into a thousand pieces but the little mermaid no had no occasion to do this for the pop the polypy sprang back in terror when they caught sight of the glittering draft which shone in her hand like a twinkling star and the blood squirting out of her mouth from where the tongue had been cut off so she passed quickly through the wood and the marsh and between the rushing whirlpools she saw that her father's palace the torches in the ballroom were

extinguished and all within were asleep but she did not venture to go into them she didn't want to disturb them for now she was dumb and going to leave them forever as she felt was in her heart to to do or else her heart would break she stole into the garden took a flower from the flowerbed of each of her sisters kissed her hand towards the palace a thousand times and then rose up through the dark blue waters that's probably the most unbelievable part of the story a thousand times she

kissed her hand a thousand times that would take ages absolutely ages and you'd lose track wouldn't you lose track of the counting at some point a thousand's quite a lot to count up to without losing track of where you are it's you know whenever i try and count to a thousand guaranteed there's always someone interrupts you know like last time i tried to count a thousand are you gonna pay for your shopping sir there's a queue behind you i'm finished i'm all the way up to 93 the sun had not

risen when she came inside of the prince's palace and approached the beautiful marble steps but the moon shone clear and bright then a little mermaid drank the magic draught and it seemed as if a two-edged sword went through her delicate body she fell into a swoon and lay like one dead when the sun rose and shone over the sea she recovered and felt a sharp pain but before she stood but before her stood the handsome young prince he fixed her cold black eyes upon her so earnestly that she cast down

her own and then became aware of her fish's tail but it wasn't there anymore she had a nice pretty pair of legs and tiny feet as any little maid could have but she had no clothes she wrapped herself in her long thick hair to try and cover up her bosom and her knees and her feet the prince asked her who she was and when she came she looked at him mildly and sorrowfully with her deep blue eyes but could not speak he took her by the hand and led her to

the palace every step she took was at the witch just as the witch has said it would be she felt as if she were treading upon the points of needles or sharp knives she bore it willingly however and moved at the prince's side as lightly as a bubble so that he and all who saw her wondered at her graceful swaying movements she was very soon arrayed in costly robes of silk and muslin and was the most beautiful creature in the palace but she was dumb and could neither sing nor speak

beautiful female servants dressed in silk and gold stepped forward and sang before the prince and his royal parents one sang better than all the others and the prince clapped his hands and smiled at her this was a great sorrow to the little mermaid for she knew how much more sweetly she herself once could sing and she thought oh if only i could do if if only i could do that again you know if only i hadn't given away my voice forever to be with him and now he wants to be

with the other one the other one that can sing i mean what do i smell or something the servants next performed some pretty fairy-like dances to the sound of beautiful music then the little mermaid raised her lovely white arms stood on the tips of her toes glided over the floor and danced as no one yet had been able to dance with her new legs at each moment her beauty was more revealed and her expressive eyes appealed more directly to the heart than the songs of the slaves everyone was enchanted especially

the prince who called her his little foundling she danced again quite readily to please him though each time her foot touched the floor it seems as if she was treading on sharp knives need to get some new shoes the prince said that she should remain with him always and she was given permission to sleep at his door on a velvet cushion he had a pages dress made for her that she might accompany him on horseback they rode together through the sweet scented woods she started to notice that wherever she went

there was always lots of flowers and fragrance around it's almost like she was really smelly and no one told her and there the green boughs touched their shoulders and the little birds sang among the fresh leaves she climbed with him to the top of the high mountains and although her tender feet bled so that even her steps were marked she only smiled and followed him till they could see the clouds beneath them like a flock of birds flying to distant lands while all the prince's palace all the prince's palace and

when all the household were asleep she would go and sit on the board broad marble steps for it eased her burning feet to bathe them in the cold sea water it was then that she thought of all those below in the deep once during the night her sisters came up arm in arm singing sorrowfully as they floated in the water she beckoned to them and they recognized her and told her how they had grieved after that they came to the same place every night once she saw in the distance her

old grandmother who had not been to the surface of the sea for many years and the old sea king her father with a crown on his head they stretched out their hands towards her but did not venture so near the land as her sisters had as the days passed she loved the prince more dearly and her he loved her as one would love a small child the fort never came to him to make her his wife yet unless he married her she could not receive an immortal soul and on the

morning after his marriage with another she would dissolve into the foam of the sea do you not love me like the best of them don't you love me hey don't you love me the eyes of the little mermaid seemed to say when he took her in his arms and kissed her fair forehead yes you are dear to me said the prince for you have the best parent you're the best heart and you are the most devoted to me you're like a young maiden whom i once saw but whom i never

met never met again i was in a ship you see it was it was a shipwreck and the waves cast me ashore near a holy temple where several young maidens performed the service the youngest of them found me on the shore and saved my life i saw her but twice and she she's the only one in the world whom i love but you're like her you are uh you've almost driven her here and you've always driven her image out of my mind she belongs to the holy temple and good fortune

has sent you to me in her stead we will never be apart ah he knows not that i was he who saved him he thought the little mermaid i carried him over the sea to the wood where the temple strands i sat beneath the foam and watched till the human beings came to help him i saw the pretty maiden that he loves better than me and he loves the mermaid sighed deeply but she could not weep he says the maiden belongs to the holy temple that she will never return to

the world they will meet no more no more i am by his side and sees him every day i'll take care of him and love him and give up my life for his sake that's what she thought didn't say out loud obviously very soon it was said that the prince was to marry and that the beautiful daughter of a neighboring king would be his wife for a fine ship was being fitted out although the prince gave out that you know he intended merely to pay a visit to the king it

was generally supposed that he was uh when he went to court he was going to court the princess basically he was gonna court her a great company were to go with him the little mermaid smiled and shook her head she knew the prince's thoughts better than any of the others i must travel he said to her i must see this beautiful princess my parents desire it but they will not oblige me to bring her home as my bride i cannot love her because she's she's not like the beautiful maiden in

the temple whom whom you resemble if i was forced to choose a bride i'll choose you my dumb foundling with those expressive eyes then he kissed her rosy mouth played with her long waving hair and laid his head on her heart while she dreamed of human happiness and an immortal soul you're not afraid of the sea are you he said as they stood on the deck of the noble ship which was to carry them to the country of the neighboring king then he told her of a storm and a calm

of strange fishes and deep beneath them and of what the divers had seen there she smiles at his description for she knew better than any other what wonders were at the bottom middle of the sea in the moonlight night when all on board were asleep except the man at the helm she sat on the deck gazing down through the clean water she thought she could distinguish her father's castle and upon it her aged grandmother with the silver crown on her head looking through the rushing tide at the keel of the

vessel then her sisters came up on the waves and gazed at her mournfully wringing their white hands she beckoned to them and smiled and wanted to tell them how happy and well off she was but the cabin boy approached and when her sisters dived down he thought what he saw was only the foam of the sea the next morning the ship sailed into the harbor of a beautiful town belonging to the king whom the prince was going to visit the church bells were ringing and from the high towers sounded a

flourish of trumpets soldiers with flying colors and glittering bayonets lined the roads with which they passed each day was a festival balls and entertainments followed one another but the princess had yet not appeared people said that she had been brought up and educated in a religious house where she was learning every royal virtue at last she came then the little mermaid who was anxious to see whether she was really beautiful was obliged to admit that he she had never seen a more perfect vision of beauty her skin was delicately fair

and beneath her long dark eyelashes her laughing blue eyes shone with truth and purity it was you said the prince who saved my life when i was if i was dead on the beach and he folded his blushing bride in his arms oh so you got the wrong person oh i am too happy said he to the mermaid my fondest hopes are now fulfilled you will rejoice at my happiness for your devotion to me is great and sincere the little mermaid kissed his hand felt as if her heart were already

broken his wedding morning could bring death to her and she would change into the foam of the sea all the church bells rang and the heralds rode through the town proclaiming the bethroval perfume door was burnt in costly silver lamps on every altar because they'd noticed a really bad smell over the last uh day or so they couldn't figure out where it was coming from the priest waved the censors while the bride and the bridegroom joined their hands and received the blessings of the bishop the little mermaid dressed in silk

and gold held up the bride's train why she had a train i don't know maybe it was a toy train maybe she just was into that kind of things but her ears a train spotter maybe but her ears heard nothing of the festive music and her eyes saw not the holy ceremony she thought of the night of death which was coming to her and all that she had lost in the world on the same evening the bride and the bridegroom went on aboard the ship cannings were roaring roaring roaring flags

waving and in the center of the ship a costly tent of purple and gold had been erected erected it contained elegant sleeping couches for the bridal pair during the night the ship under a favorable wind with swelling sails glided away smoothly and lightly over the calm sea when it grew dark a number of colored lamps were lighted and the sailors danced merrily on the deck the little mermaid could not help thinking of her first rising of the sea when she had seen similar joyful festivals so she too joined in the

dance poised herself in the air as a swallow when he pursued his prey and all presents cheered her wonderingly wonderingly inglingly wonderingly they cheered her she had never danced so gracefully before her tender feet felt as if cut with sharp knives but she cared not for the pain a sharper pang was piercing her heart she knew that this was the last evening she would ever see the prince for for whom she had forsaken her kindred and her home she had given up her beautiful voice and suffered unheard of pain daily

for him while he knew nothing of it this was the last evening that she should breathe the same air as him or gaze on the starry sky in the deep sea an eternal night without a thought or a dream awaited her she had no soul and could now never win one all was joy and gaiety on a ship until long after midnight she smiled and danced with the rest while a thought of death was in her heart the prince kissed his beautiful bride and she played with his raven hair till

they went arm in arm to rest in the sumptuous test tent then all became still on board with the ship as everyone was listening to just to you know to see what's going on because again there was no television and only the pilot who stood at the helm was awake the little mermaid leaned her white arms on the edge of the vessel and looked towards the east of the first blush of morning for that first ray of the dawn which was to be her death she saw her sisters rising out

of the flood they were as pale as she but her beautiful hair no longer waved in the wind it had been cut off we have given our hair to the witch they said to obtain a help for you that you may not die tonight she has given us a knife see it is a very sharp sharp knife they kept singing for some reason before the sun rises you must plunge it into the heart of your prince when the warm blood heart of the prince when the warm blood falls upon the

feet your feet they will grow together again into a fish's tail and you will once more be a mermaid and you can return to us to live out your 300 years before you're changed into salty sea foam they stand either he or you must die before sunrise our old grandmother will mourn she mourns for you her white hair is falling out for you struggling even to do a poo constipation constipation as ours fell under the witch's scissors kill the prince kill the prince and come home kill the prince kill the

prince and come home if you don't see the red blood splitting all over your toes then you're gonna die kill the prince and come home kill the prince and come home please we miss you we do something like that then they sighed deeply mournfully and sank beneath the waves the little mermaid drew back the crimson curtain of the tent and beheld the fair bride whose head was resting on a prince's breast oh he has breasts as well she bent down and kissed his noble brow they looked at the sky on

which she rose the rosy dawn grew brighter and brighter she glanced at the sharp knife and again fixed her eyes on the prince who whispered the name of his bride in his dreams she was in his thoughts and a knife trembled in the hand of the little mermaid the little smelly mermaid but she flung it far away from her into the waves the water turned red to where it fell and the drops that spurted up looked like blood she cast one more lingering half-fainted glance at the prince then threw herself

from the ship into the sea and felt her body dissolve into foam the sun rose above the waves and her warm rays fell on the cold foam of the little mermaid who did not feel as if she were dying how would she know she saw the bright sun and hundreds of transparent beautiful creatures floating around her she could see through them the white cells of the ships and the red clouds in the sky their speech was melodious but could not be heard by mortal ears just as their bodies could not

be seen by mortal eyes the little mermaid perceived that she had a body like theirs and that she continued to rise higher and higher out of the foam where am i asked she and her voice sounded ethereal like the voices of those who are with her no earthly music could imitate it among the daughters of the air answered one of them a mermaid is not an immortal soul nor can she obtain one unless she wins the love of a human being on the will of another hangs her eternal destiny but

the daughter of the air or they do they do not possess an immortal soul can by their good deeds procure one for themselves we fly to warm countries and cool the sultry air that destroys mankind with the pestilence we carry the perfume of the flowers to spread health and restoration what's that smell it's been lingering around here for the last few minutes i just don't know where it's come from after we have striven for 300 years to do all the good in our power we receive an immortal soul and take

part of the in the happiness of mankind you poor little mermaid have tried with your whole heart to do what we are doing you have suffered and endured and raised yourself to the spirit world by your good deeds and now now by striving for 300 years in the same way you may obtain an immortal soul the little mermaid lifted her glorified eyes towards the sun and for the first time felt them filling with tears on the ship in which she had left the prince there were life and noise and she

saw him and his beautiful bride searching for her sorrowfully they gazed at the pearly foam as if they knew that she had thrown herself into the waves unseen she kissed the forehead of the bride and fanned the prince and then mounted with the other children of the air to a rosy cloud that floated above after 300 years thus shall we float into the kingdom of heaven she said and we may even get there sooner whispered one of her companions unless we can enter the house of men unseen rather we can

enter the house of men where there are children and for every day in which we find a good child that is the joy of his parents and deserves their love our time of probation is shortened the child does not know when we fly through the room that we smile with joy at his good conduct for we can count one year less of our 300 years but when we share no tea or a wicked child we shed tears of sorrow and for every tear a day is added to our time of trial and they all lived happily ever after now go to sleep