The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen

The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen

• The story is one of Hans Christian Andersen's most beloved fairy tales, written in 1837.
• The story is about a mermaid who wants to give up her life in the sea and immortality in exchange for a human soul.

The Underwater World

• The ocean is described as blue as the petals of the loveliest cornflower, and as clear as the purest glass.
• The sea floor is deep, requiring many steeples to reach from the bottom to the surface of the sea.
• The sea floor is inhabited by sea folk, with marvelous trees and flowers that move with the water.
• Fish of all sizes dart among the branches, like birds flit through trees on land.

The Sea King's Palace

• The palace of the sea king is made of coral, with high pointed windows of the clearest amber.
• The roof is made of mussel shells that open and shut with the tide, each holding glistening pearls.
• The sea king is a widower, and his old mother keeps house for him.

The Sea Princesses

• The sea king's daughters are six lovely girls, but the youngest is the most beautiful of them all.
• The youngest princess has skin as soft and tender as a rose petal, and eyes as blue as the deep sea.
• She, like her sisters, has no feet, but instead, a fish tail.

The Palace Garden

• The palace has a big garden with flaming red and deep-blue trees, whose fruit glitters like gold.
• The trees' blossoms flame like fire on their constantly waving stalks.
• The soil is fine, blue sand, with a strange blue veil over everything.
• The garden has a sense of weightlessness, like being in the air with only the blue sky above and beneath.