Once upon a time, far out in the deep ocean where the water is very clear and blue, a sea king ruled the undersea world and the sea folk. The undersea world had beautiful trees and colorful flowers. There were beautiful sea creatures and all sorts of fish too. The sea folk lived in harmony.
The sea king, King Triton lived in his sea castle with his mother and his four daughters. The castle walls were made of blue coral and the roof shells opened whenever the water passed by.
The little princesses were very beautiful but the most beautiful one of them all was the youngest princess. Her name was Ariel and she was the little mermaid. Her skin was soft and her eyes were as blue as the deep sea. She had no feet as she was a mermaid. Instead of legs, she had a beautiful fish tail.
Ariel liked to play a lot. She used to play in the palace, down in the great halls all day long. One day while she was playing outside the place in the big, colorful garden, a small sculpture of a handsome boy sank down the bottom of a sunken ship. While playing, Ariel found it.
She is curious to know who this boy is so she swims to the ships that had fallen to the bottom of the sea. The little mermaid found a lot treasures from the world on land. She saw all kinds of things like silver forks and mirrors and golden combs.
The little mermaid started to keep all these treasures and made a collection in her treasure box. Every day, she grew more curious to know more about the surface. She wanted to swim to the surface but her father would not allow her or any of her sisters to swim up to the surface until they were fifteen.
This was a long time for the little mermaid as she was the youngest! So she asked her grandmother to tell her tales about the surface and she would day dream. Soon all her sisters turned 15 and they were allowed to swim to the surface.
Whenever they returned, they would tell the little mermaid about the wonders and beauties of the surface and the humans! When it was the little mermaid’s turn to swim to the surface, she was very eager and excited.
She swam to the surface and found a ship swimming above her. She hurried to see the ship but the crew was in trouble. There was strong rainstorm and the ship was about to sink! The ship dipped and swooped and rolled side to side. The little mermaid did not know what to do. She could see a very handsome young man trying to help everyone on the ship.
The man was working hard to keep the ship afloat. She did not know he was a prince. Suddenly, the ship started to tip over and the young prince fell into the sea!
The little mermaid dove deep and fast and grabbed the prince. She swam to the surface as fast as she could because she knew humans could not live under water. She placed on dry sand on the shore and admired him.
Suddenly, the young prince coughed and woke up. The little mermaid immediately hid behind a rock. He must not see her- a mermaid! The prince would never know that she saved him.
The little mermaid became sad and swam back to home. Her sisters asked about her adventure but she was too sad to say anything. If only she were human.
The next day, Ariel swam to the surface and saw the prince strolling around with his dog. She immediately hid and swam back to the ocean. She had fallen in love with the prince.
The sea witch Ursula saw her and asked why she was sad. Ariel wanted to be human so she could marry the prince.
Ursula told Ariel that she would make her human if only Ariel would give her voice in exchange. She told her Ariel would become her slave if the prince didn’t fall in love with her in three days. Ariel agreed without thinking. After turning her to a human, Ursula’s eels carried her to the surface and swam back to the ocean.
The next three days, Ariel was with the prince but it was difficult to express her feelings because she could not talk but as they spent time together, the prince was getting fond of her.
On the second day, the prince took her out for a ride on his boat and they almost kissed. This made Ursula very angry because the prince was falling in love with her. That night, Ursula transformed into a beautiful human and cast a spell on the prince and caused him to fall in love with her.
The following day, the prince made arrangements to marry Ursula and Ariel was sad. She did not know what to do or who the strange human was. Just then, her sea gull friend watches as Ursula sings to herself.
He flies off and comes to tell Ariel that the woman is Ursula and she doesn’t want the prince to marry Ariel. Ariel quickly picks herself up and crashes the prince’s wedding on his ship. She breaks Ursula’s magic necklace and she transforms into her real self.
The spell is broken and the prince remembers Ariel. Her voice returns to her and she speaks for the first time. Ursula is defeated and returns to the sea while Ariel marries the prince.
Her father casts another spell that allows Ariel to transform to a mermaid whenever she wanted and she lived happily ever after with the prince.
