The Little Mermaid
Once upon a time, deep down under the sea, lived a little mermaid. She lived with her father, the Sea King, in a palace made of blue coral. Her favourite food was seabiscuits.
The Sea King told all the merfolk that they must never go up to the surface. He thought humans were just too dangerous.
But the little mermaid thought humans were very interesting. She loved checking out the old shipwrecks on the seafloor, collecting all the old human things.
One day, she was out swimming with her best friend, the crab. They were quite near the surface! The crab kept telling her to keep her head in the water where it belonged.
Then she saw a boat pass overhead. She went right up to the surface to get a closer look. She could see a handsome young man playing with his dog.
The young man was a prince. As the little mermaid watched, a big storm blew in. And the dog’s lead fell out of the prince’s hand.
He stretched out to grab it but fell overboard with a great splash.
The dog was barking his head off!
The prince started sinking deeper and deeper. The trouble was he was a terrible swimmer. In fact, he could swim about as well as….. a stone!
But the little mermaid swam down and scooped him up. She brought him back to the beach and sang softly to make him feel better. Once, he opened his eyes a little bit and saw her kind face looking down at him.
Then he fell fast asleep. When he woke up he promised himself that he would find the girl who rescued him. He wanted to thank her.
He looked and looked, but couldn’t find her. He didn’t know that the girl who had saved him wasn't in the kingdom, but under it. In the sea.
When the Sea King found out that the little mermaid had been to the surface he was furious!
He only wanted to protect her, so he decided he would stop her interest in humans once and for all. He used his magic trident and smashed all of her human treasures to pieces.
The little mermaid was very upset and burst into tears when she saw all her broken treasures.
Then she thought how fantastic it would be if she could just go back to the surface one more time to look for more.
One day she was out swimming on her own when she met the sea witch, who said she could turn the little mermaid into a human for three days.
“Now, there’s an interesting idea,” she thought.
The sea witch worked her magic and turned her mermaid tail into legs!
She swam to the shore and, as you can imagine, it wasn’t easy without her mermaid tail.
When she got to the beach she had to learn how to use her new legs!
The prince was walking his dog along the beach and suddenly he saw the little mermaid. He realised that she was the one who had saved him.
“Please come to my castle, so I can thank you properly,” he said.
“Oh, yes please,” she answered, “I’ve never been to a human castle!”
At the castle she was given a beautiful new dress and some jewels. At a grand dinner table she was served lots of different foods but she didn’t like the look of them very much.
“Not hungry?” asked the prince.
“Not really,” said the little mermaid, “by the way, what’s this?” she asked.
“It’s a burger, of course,” said the prince. He was a bit surprised at this.
The next day, the prince took her on a carriage ride. She was fascinated by everything she saw and wondered how everything worked.
At the end of the day, the prince took her out on a rowing boat.
She took one look at the deep blue water and realised that she really wanted to go home.
The sea witch had been watching all this in her crystal ball.
“That girl has got a choice. She either lives as a human or a mermaid,” thought the sea witch.
The trouble was that the little mermaid really liked the prince. And the prince really liked her. So did his dog!
Then suddenly her best friend, the crab, swam up to the side of the boat. He looked sad.
Then she knew what she must do.
She knew she would miss her family and friends far too much. So, she thanked the prince and told him she had to go home.
Just as the sun went below the horizon her legs turned back into a tail and she was back to being a mermaid.
Then she felt really hungry and she couldn’t wait to eat some yummy seabiscuits.
She swam happily back to her family and friends in the coral palace deep under the sea.
After all, that’s where she really belonged.
The End
