Storytelling: Daughter of the Air (Week 14)

The Little Mermaid Statue in Denmark

She was just over two-hundred years into her service as a Daughter of the Air.  She was so close to earning her eternal soul that she could almost taste it, though her senses didn’t work the way they had before and she had little reason now to actually taste things.  Being ethereal was indescribable; it felt like being light as a feather yet having the weight of the world on your shoulders at the same time. 

She had watched over her prince during his lifetime.  He lived his life convinced that his bride was the maiden who saved him from that shipwreck all those years ago.  She had come to terms with that long, long ago.  In fact, she had come to appreciate his wife.  She took care of the prince and loved him dearly.  Both of them had mourned her when she had faded into the sea foam and appeared to die.  As she watched over the prince over the years, she came to realized that he had really cared for her during her short time on earth, despite the fact that things did not work out how she had hoped.  She still loved him, even though the prince had died long ago, but now she had come to realize that things had worked out for the best.  If she had married the prince like she originally wished, she never would have done all the good that she had achieved during her time as a Daughter of the Air. 

Her father and sisters were still alive and thankfully happy.  There were many, many children in the family now.  It made her smile to think of her father as a grandfather.  Though the normal lifespan of a mermaid was three hundred years, her family had packed as much love and memories into their time as possible.  Whenever it was possible, she tried to do as many good deeds around them as she could.  It was nice to just be around them, even if they were not aware of her presence.  Unfortunately, her grandmother had passed, fading into the sea foam.  Each year, though, her family celebrated her life. 

It was amazing to think that this incredible journey started so long ago on her fifteenth birthday, on her first journey to the surface.  She never could have imagined that her birthday would spark the search for love and ultimately the search for her soul.

Arthur's Note:

I partially chose to write about this story because I loved the Disney version so much as a child.  Now as an adult, I fought the original story so interesting.  I had heard that the ending of the original was really sad and depressing.  When I read it, though, I found it more hopeful than anything.  When writing my story, I wanted to really capture that.  So, I wrote it in the future, after she died and became a Daughter of the Air and had her reflect on her time on earth.  

Hans Christian Anderson - The Little Mermaid 

Fairy Tales and Stories by Hans Christian Andersen, translated by H. P. Paull (1872).

Reading Diary B: Hans Christian Anderson (Week 14)

Illustration by Dulac

• “We must not imagine that there is nothing at the bottom of the sea but bare yellow sand.”  The story goes on to talk about all the things that live down, deep in the ocean.  It doesn’t really mention anything scary, but I imagine there are some extremely scary things down there.  It’s almost unfathomable.
• I loved the Little Mermaid growing up, so it is really interesting to see the differences between the original story and Disney’s version.  She is quiet in the original and also is uninterested in trinkets from shipwrecks.  Instead, she enjoyed flowers.  Also, her grandmother has a very large presence in the original. 
• She was not allowed to dress as she wanted. ““Pride must suffer pain,” replied the old lady. Oh, how gladly she would have shaken off all this grandeur and laid aside the heavy wreath! The red flowers in her own garden would have suited her much better”
• When the prince falls into the water, she is excited at first.  “she thought he would now be with her; and then she remembered that human beings could not live in the water, so that when he got down to her father’s palace he would be quite dead. But he must not die.” 
• The prince didn’t know that the little mermaid had saved him.
• Her sisters play a bigger role than expected. 
• I wonder how the grandma knows so much about things on land when she too is confined to the waters
• The story really is quiet sad.  And it’s not really the prince’s fault either. 
• The ending is sad, but it is actually a lot more hopeful than I expected.

Hans Christian Anderson - The Little Mermaid part 6

Reading Diary A: Hans Christian Anderson (Week 14)

Illustration in a collection of Anderson's Fairy tales

• The Princess and the Pea is a really interesting story, but it brings up some questions.  For example, why is it that sensitivity is the only way to tell if someone is a true princess?  That doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.  I think it’s funny that the story ends by saying that it was a true story.
• I haven’t heard the story of the Emperor and the clothes before, but I was excited when I saw it in this unit.  I recently heard about it and I’ve been seeing and hearing it mentioned all over the place since then.  Now I finally get what it was all about!  Basically it is all about pride, and only a child is willing to be honest in spite of pride.
• “This is the black goblin’s fault, I am sure. Ah, well, if the little lady were only here with me in the boat, I should not care for any darkness.”
• So I suppose the tale of the Wicked Prince is about greed?  I’m surprised that God actually had any interaction.  I expected the prince to become ruined all on his own.  The fact that such a tiny gnat took down such a “mighty” prince is quite ironic.
• I didn’t realized that the story of the Little Match Girl was from Hans Christian Anderson.
• “Her father would certainly beat her”  Geez, that is intense.
• “ her grandmother had never appeared so large or so beautiful. She took the little girl in her arms, and they both flew upwards in brightness and joy far above the earth, where there was neither cold nor hunger nor pain, for they were with God.”  I’m not really sure how I feel about this.  I’m not really crazy about this story.  It’s so sad.

Hans Christian Anderson unit

Fairy Tales and Stories by Hans Christian Andersen, translated by H. P. Paull (1872).