The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Anderson

Summary:
As a young mermaid in the sea she dreamed of the mystery of land and the people that lived there. On her fifteenth birthday she was able to go to the surface and that's where she fell in love with a dark haired prince. There was a terrible accident an she saved the prince from a ship wreak but he didn't know who saved him. She returned to the bottom of the sea and made a deal with an evil sea witch to become human for one day to make the prince fall in love with her, although all her dreams didn't come true the beauty of this classic tale of love and wonder. Her quest for a human soul was forever answered.

Personal Reaction:
I have always loved the Little Mermaid, the Disney movie version does seem to have the happy ending everyone dreams of. But is Hans Christian Anderson's tale it is a beautifully written and illustrated tale of a young girl's wonder of life and love and we all can relate to that.

Extension Classroom Ideas:
1) Older students have them pick a passage from the story and complete activities of reading comphrension and vocabulary.
2)talk to preschoolers about how her life changes once she gets legs
3) Make mermaid tail cutouts and have children decorate ( )

This was OK, but I didn't like the ending. It felt like the author couldn't figure out how to end it, so he just pulled something out of the "air." (That's a pun that goes along with the story ;)) ( )

This was OK, but I didn't like the ending. It felt like the author couldn't figure out how to end it, so he just pulled something out of the "air." (That's a pun that goes along with the story ;)) ( )

This is definitely a piece of classic literature. Hans Christian Anderson's stories are all very amazing. Everyone who reads it will definitely be impressed. ( )

The Little Mermaid is one of my favourite fairy tales by the wonderful Hans Christian Andersen. I have always been interested in his authorship and I spent a year of internship to promote Odense as Hans Christian Andersen’s city and wrote articles about his fairy tales and studied them in detail.

This fairy tale is certainly something else. Everyone who has read it and seen the Disney version will definitely be surprised, or have an even worse reaction seeing the Disney film first and reading the tale. Because it IS different. The Disney film is very bright and happy, whereas Hans Christian Andersen’s original tale is sad and melancholic – it simply tells the story of true love; the love one cannot have.

“She laughed and danced with the thought of death in her heart”.

I love the beautiful descriptions, the language and how the mermaid sacrifices herself in order to be with him. I like the idea that an ancient myth (the idea of mermaids) has been incorporated into a fairy tale from the 1800s. There is something very fascinating about mermaids and her troubles, i.e. she can’t get close to him, because she doesn’t have legs to walk the earth.

“But a mermaid has no tears, and therefore she suffers so much more”.

I can definitely recommend every Hans Christian Andersen-fan to read the original story. There are three options on how you will react to it:
A) You will not like it because it is so different to the Disney version that everyone knows of.
B) You will love the bleak and melancholic atmosphere and be drawn towards it. You will hurt along with the mermaid and feel her troubles of love.
C) You will be completely torn. ( )