WEBVTT 1 00:00:19.519 --> 00:00:25.960 I'm still waiting for you. Hi everyone, thanks for listening to Shoes, 2 00:00:25.960 --> 00:00:31.280 Booze and Tattoos. As always, I'm Jess, I'm your host again. 3 00:00:31.480 --> 00:00:34.200 I do want to thank all of you who have donated over at Patreon, 4 00:00:34.719 --> 00:00:38.600 all of you who have left reviews, all of you that participate in the 5 00:00:38.640 --> 00:00:44.399 Facebook group, and all of you listening. You guys are what keeps this 6 00:00:44.399 --> 00:00:50.920 show going and I thank you all so much. Now, this is a 7 00:00:51.119 --> 00:00:57.719 part two to the last episode, which is fairy Tales. Before we get 8 00:00:57.759 --> 00:01:02.119 on with the episode again, I am going to give a warning just in 9 00:01:02.159 --> 00:01:08.480 case anybody is picking this up separately from the first. This episode may contain 10 00:01:08.599 --> 00:01:15.079 subjects that aren't appropriate for some listeners. There may be mentions of sexual assault, 11 00:01:15.439 --> 00:01:21.079 violence, murder, cannibalism, torture, suicide, impossible insinuations, or 12 00:01:21.120 --> 00:01:26.280 mentions of pedophilia, among other things. This is the episode where we will 13 00:01:26.359 --> 00:01:33.120 talk briefly about some insinuations or mentions of pedophilia that will be in the second 14 00:01:33.159 --> 00:01:38.920 part of this So, like I said in the first episode, this week 15 00:01:38.719 --> 00:01:47.480 we're going to be talking about fairy tales. We've all grown up with fairy 16 00:01:47.480 --> 00:01:52.799 tales, We've all heard these stories at least once and have some kind of 17 00:01:52.840 --> 00:01:59.000 familiarity with them. Most of you listening, it's going to be through Disney. 18 00:01:59.280 --> 00:02:01.439 This is where you're going to be most familiar with a lot of these 19 00:02:01.480 --> 00:02:07.680 tales. In the first part of this episode, we talked about the story 20 00:02:07.680 --> 00:02:12.879 of Cinderella and how it differed from the original version, as well as snow 21 00:02:12.879 --> 00:02:21.800 White. Today, we're going to go over another two stories. The first 22 00:02:21.840 --> 00:02:28.560 one we're going to talk about is quite long. I'm going to put that 23 00:02:28.639 --> 00:02:30.120 right out there. It is going to be a little long. The original 24 00:02:30.159 --> 00:02:36.080 tale is a little long. It's not a novel or anything, but it's 25 00:02:36.120 --> 00:02:42.560 a little bit longer than like the Cinderella story was. And this was actually 26 00:02:42.599 --> 00:02:47.479 my first original story that I read. This is one that I grew up 27 00:02:47.520 --> 00:02:55.840 with. My little sister Jamie absolutely loved, loved the Little Mermaid. Just 28 00:02:57.000 --> 00:03:01.639 like with the first episode, we're going to go over the Disney version again 29 00:03:01.719 --> 00:03:07.080 from Princess dot Disney dot Com, and then we're going to go over the 30 00:03:07.120 --> 00:03:16.919 original story. So first let's get into the Disney one Deep Beneath the Sea 31 00:03:17.199 --> 00:03:23.639 loved a little mermaid named Ariel. She loved exploring her underwater home with her 32 00:03:23.639 --> 00:03:30.199 friend Flounder, but dreamed of living on land as a human. Ariel was 33 00:03:30.240 --> 00:03:38.280 always searching for human treasures. When she and Flounder found a strange forked object, 34 00:03:38.840 --> 00:03:44.520 they swam to the surface to find Scuttle the seagull. It's a dinglehopper, 35 00:03:44.599 --> 00:03:52.159 he proclaimed. Ariel's father was King Triton, ruler of the sea. 36 00:03:52.319 --> 00:03:57.840 He thought humans were dangerous. When he learned that Ariel had been to the 37 00:03:57.919 --> 00:04:02.319 surface, he forbade her to ever go again. Then he asked Sebastian the 38 00:04:02.360 --> 00:04:06.439 Crab to keep an eye on her, But Ariel continued to go to the 39 00:04:06.479 --> 00:04:14.960 surface, and one night, a terrible storm swept across the sea. Ariel 40 00:04:15.039 --> 00:04:19.360 and Flander watched as a prince fell off of a huge ship. I have 41 00:04:19.480 --> 00:04:25.639 to save him, she cried. Ariel pulled Prince Eric to shore and sang 42 00:04:25.680 --> 00:04:32.560 to him, then she swam away. Prince Eric only caught a glimpse of 43 00:04:32.600 --> 00:04:41.839 Ariel's face, but he knew he would remember her beautiful voice forever. Desperate 44 00:04:41.839 --> 00:04:46.480 to see Prince Eric again, Ariel agreed to give her voice to the evil 45 00:04:46.519 --> 00:04:51.600 sea witch Ursula. With bigger plans in mind. Ursula cast a spell and 46 00:04:51.720 --> 00:05:00.480 turned Ariel into a human. However, if Prince Eric didn't kiss Ariel by 47 00:05:00.519 --> 00:05:05.720 sunset on the third day, she would become a mermaid again. Even worse, 48 00:05:06.160 --> 00:05:13.639 she would belong to the Sea Witch forever. Charmed by her silent beauty, 49 00:05:13.879 --> 00:05:18.399 Prince Eric showed Ariel his kingdom. Ariel loved being with the Prince in 50 00:05:18.439 --> 00:05:25.279 this human world, but the two had not yet kissed. Worried that Prince 51 00:05:25.399 --> 00:05:32.079 Eric was falling in love with Ariel, Ursula transformed herself into the beautiful Vanessa. 52 00:05:32.639 --> 00:05:35.439 She was going to make the Prince fall in love with her instead. 53 00:05:39.000 --> 00:05:44.079 Disguised as Vanessa and using Ariel's voice, the sea Witch cast a spell on 54 00:05:44.120 --> 00:05:48.160 Prince Eric, and he thought he was in love. He was going to 55 00:05:48.319 --> 00:05:57.680 marry Vanessa. Ariel had lost her true love, But just before sunset on 56 00:05:57.720 --> 00:06:02.199 the third day, Scuttle discovered that Vanessa was Ursula in disguise, and he 57 00:06:02.279 --> 00:06:10.160 hurried to warn Ariel. As Sebastian went to find King Triton, Ariel and 58 00:06:10.240 --> 00:06:15.680 Flounder raced to catch Prince Eric's ship. With the help of her friends, 59 00:06:15.759 --> 00:06:20.279 Ariel was able to stop the wedding and get her voice back, released from 60 00:06:20.399 --> 00:06:25.600 Ursula's spell, Prince Eric realized that Ariel was the only one he truly loved, 61 00:06:26.279 --> 00:06:30.000 but it was too late. The sun went down before Ariel and the 62 00:06:30.040 --> 00:06:35.399 Prince could kiss. She was a mermaid once more, and she belonged to 63 00:06:35.480 --> 00:06:44.160 Ursula. To save his daughter, King Triton gave Ursula his great powers and 64 00:06:44.279 --> 00:06:49.879 became her prisoner. Now I am the true ruler of all the ocean, 65 00:06:50.160 --> 00:06:58.000 shouted Ursula. As Ursula grew in size and towered above the sea, Prince 66 00:06:58.120 --> 00:07:03.240 Eric jumped aboard an old ship. He steered its jagged boat through Ursula's heart, 67 00:07:03.759 --> 00:07:10.639 and with a howl, the sea witch disappeared in the waves. With 68 00:07:10.720 --> 00:07:16.600 Ursula gone, King Triton regained his powers. Seeing Ariel's love for Prince Eric, 69 00:07:17.360 --> 00:07:25.680 the King granted her wish. She became human. Ariel and Prince Eric 70 00:07:25.800 --> 00:07:30.879 married and lived happily in a castle by the sea. The end. Now, 71 00:07:30.920 --> 00:07:38.000 that's a very sweet kind of telling of this story. The original the 72 00:07:38.199 --> 00:07:44.240 overall is similar or the same, However, a lot of the details are 73 00:07:44.360 --> 00:07:50.439 very different. And like I said before, this is the first original story 74 00:07:50.560 --> 00:07:56.360 I read when it came to these fairy tales. It was dark and it 75 00:07:56.399 --> 00:08:01.920 was sad, but it's a wonderful story. I absolutely loved this one. 76 00:08:03.560 --> 00:08:11.279 I actually prefer the original to the Disney movie for this. This was written 77 00:08:11.319 --> 00:08:18.519 by Hans Christian Anderson. Far out in the ocean, the water is as 78 00:08:18.519 --> 00:08:24.000 blue as the petals of the loveliest cornflower, and as clear as the purest 79 00:08:24.040 --> 00:08:33.360 glass. But it's very deep too. It goes down deeper than any anchor 80 00:08:33.480 --> 00:08:37.200 rope will go, and many, many steeples would have to be stacked one 81 00:08:37.240 --> 00:08:41.399 on top of the other to reach the bottom of the surface of the sea. 82 00:08:43.759 --> 00:08:50.320 It's down there that the sea folk live. Now. Don't suppose that 83 00:08:50.360 --> 00:08:52.840 there are only bare white sands at the bottom of the sea. No. 84 00:08:54.000 --> 00:09:01.159 Indeed, the most marvelous trees and flowers grow down there, with such pliant 85 00:09:01.200 --> 00:09:05.200 stalks and leaves that the least stir in the water makes them move about as 86 00:09:05.279 --> 00:09:11.679 though they were alive. All sorts of fish, large and small, dart 87 00:09:11.720 --> 00:09:16.559 among the branches, just as birds flit through the trees. Up Here, 88 00:09:18.399 --> 00:09:22.080 from the deepest spot in the ocean rises the palace of the Sea King. 89 00:09:24.600 --> 00:09:28.039 Its walls are made of coral, and its high pointed windows of the clearest 90 00:09:28.039 --> 00:09:33.519 amber, but the roof is made of muscle. Shells that open and shut 91 00:09:33.559 --> 00:09:39.320 with the tide. This is a wonderful sight to see, for every shell 92 00:09:39.440 --> 00:09:43.960 holds glistening pearls, any one of which would be the pride of a queen's 93 00:09:43.960 --> 00:09:52.600 crown. The sea king down there had been a widower for years, and 94 00:09:52.720 --> 00:09:56.559 his old mother kept the house for him. She was a clever woman, 95 00:09:56.879 --> 00:10:03.799 but very proud of her noble birth. Therefore she flaunted twelve oysters on her 96 00:10:03.840 --> 00:10:07.360 tail, while the other ladies of the court were only allowed to wear six. 97 00:10:09.279 --> 00:10:15.279 Except for this, she was an altogether praiseworthy person, particularly so because 98 00:10:15.279 --> 00:10:22.799 she was extremely fond of her granddaughters, the little Sea Princesses. They were 99 00:10:22.919 --> 00:10:28.039 six lovely girls, but the youngest was the most beautiful of them all. 100 00:10:30.120 --> 00:10:33.120 Her skin was as soft as a tender rose petal, and her eyes were 101 00:10:33.159 --> 00:10:37.840 as blue as the deep sea. But like all the others, she had 102 00:10:37.840 --> 00:10:46.519 no feet. Her body ended in a fish tail the whole day long. 103 00:10:46.679 --> 00:10:50.639 They used to play in the palace down in the great halls, where live 104 00:10:50.759 --> 00:10:58.240 flowers grew on the walls. Whenever the high amber windows were thrown open, 105 00:10:58.559 --> 00:11:03.200 the fish would swim in, just as swallows dart into our rooms. When 106 00:11:03.279 --> 00:11:07.960 we open the windows. But these fish now would swim right up to the 107 00:11:09.000 --> 00:11:13.200 little princesses and eat out of their hands, and let themselves be petted. 108 00:11:16.320 --> 00:11:20.360 Outside the palace was a big garden with flaming red and deep blue trees. 109 00:11:22.200 --> 00:11:26.480 Their fruit glittered like gold, and their blossoms flamed like fire on their constantly 110 00:11:26.559 --> 00:11:35.039 waving stalks. The soil was very fine sand, indeed, but as blue 111 00:11:35.240 --> 00:11:39.840 as burning brimstone. A strange blue veil lay over everything. Down there, 112 00:11:41.159 --> 00:11:45.360 you would have thought yourself aloft in the air, with only the blue sky 113 00:11:45.440 --> 00:11:48.879 above and beneath you, rather than down at the bottom of the sea. 114 00:11:50.759 --> 00:11:54.879 When there was a dead calm, you could just see the sun like a 115 00:11:54.000 --> 00:12:01.559 scarlet flower with light streaming from its kells. Each little princess had her own 116 00:12:01.600 --> 00:12:05.960 small garden plot, where she could dig and plant whatever she liked. One 117 00:12:07.000 --> 00:12:09.039 of them made her a little flower bed in the shape of a whale. 118 00:12:09.720 --> 00:12:15.279 Another thought at need to shape hers like a little mermaid. But the youngest 119 00:12:15.279 --> 00:12:20.000 of them made hers as round as the sun, and there she grew only 120 00:12:20.039 --> 00:12:26.600 flowers which were as red as the sun itself. She was an unusual child, 121 00:12:26.080 --> 00:12:31.600 quiet and wistful, and when her sisters decorated their gardens with all kinds 122 00:12:31.639 --> 00:12:35.279 of odd things they found in sunken ships. She would allow nothing in hers 123 00:12:35.360 --> 00:12:41.759 except flowers as red as the sun and a pretty marble statue. This figure 124 00:12:41.919 --> 00:12:46.120 of a handsome boy, carved in pure white marble, had sunk down to 125 00:12:46.159 --> 00:12:52.919 the bottom of the sea from some ship that had wrecked. Beside the statue, 126 00:12:52.960 --> 00:12:56.360 she planted a rose colored weeping willow tree, which thrives so well that 127 00:12:56.399 --> 00:13:01.799 its graceful branches sheeted the statue and hung down into the blue sand, where 128 00:13:01.840 --> 00:13:07.559 their shadows took on a violet tint and swayed. As the branches swayede, 129 00:13:09.799 --> 00:13:13.480 it looked as if the roots and the tips of the branches were kissing each 130 00:13:13.480 --> 00:13:18.799 other in play. Nothing gave the youngest princess much pleasure as to hear about 131 00:13:18.799 --> 00:13:24.879 the world of human beings up above her. Her old grandmother had to tell 132 00:13:24.919 --> 00:13:28.039 her all she knew about the ships and the cities, and of people and 133 00:13:28.200 --> 00:13:35.120 animals. What seemed nicest of all to her was that up on the land 134 00:13:35.559 --> 00:13:37.919 the flowers were fragrant, for those at the bottom of the sea had no 135 00:13:39.039 --> 00:13:45.960 scent, And she thought it was nice that the woods were green, and 136 00:13:46.000 --> 00:13:50.000 that the fish you saw among their branches could sing so loud and so sweet 137 00:13:50.039 --> 00:13:56.799 that it was delightful to hear them. Her grandmother had to call the birds 138 00:13:56.879 --> 00:14:00.279 little fish, or the princess wouldn't have known what she was talking about, 139 00:14:00.639 --> 00:14:05.919 for she had never seen a bird. When you get to be fifteen, 140 00:14:05.120 --> 00:14:09.240 her grandmother said, you will be allowed to rise up out of the ocean 141 00:14:09.559 --> 00:14:13.159 and sit on the rocks in the moonlight to watch the great ships sailing by. 142 00:14:15.519 --> 00:14:20.360 You will see woods and towns too. Next year, one of her 143 00:14:20.360 --> 00:14:24.879 sisters would be fifteen, but the others well, since each was a whole 144 00:14:24.960 --> 00:14:30.399 year older than the next. The youngest still had five long years to wait 145 00:14:30.519 --> 00:14:33.879 until she could rise up from the water and see what our world was like. 146 00:14:35.080 --> 00:14:39.120 But each sister promised to tell the others about all that she saw and 147 00:14:39.200 --> 00:14:46.919 what she found most marvelous on her first day. Their grandmother had not told 148 00:14:46.919 --> 00:14:50.799 them half enough, and there were so many things that they longed to know 149 00:14:50.879 --> 00:14:56.879 about. The most eager of them all was the youngest, the very one 150 00:14:56.919 --> 00:15:01.639 who was so quiet and wistful. Many a night she stood by her open 151 00:15:01.679 --> 00:15:05.120 window and looked up through the dark blue water where the fish waved their fins 152 00:15:05.200 --> 00:15:13.399 and tails. She could just see the moon and the stars to be sure. 153 00:15:13.440 --> 00:15:16.120 Their light was quite dim, but looked at through the water, they 154 00:15:16.120 --> 00:15:22.679 seemed much bigger than they appeared to us. Whenever a cloud like shadow swept 155 00:15:22.679 --> 00:15:26.440 across them, she knew that it was either a whale swimming overhead, or 156 00:15:26.480 --> 00:15:33.720 a ship with many human beings aboard it. Little did they dream that a 157 00:15:33.759 --> 00:15:37.159 pretty young mermaid was down below, stretching her white arms up towards the keel 158 00:15:37.200 --> 00:15:43.759 of their ship. The eldest princess had her fifteenth birthday, so now she 159 00:15:43.840 --> 00:15:48.200 received permission to rise up out of the water. When she got back, 160 00:15:48.320 --> 00:15:52.720 she had a hundred things to tell her sisters about. But the most marvelous 161 00:15:52.720 --> 00:15:56.200 thing of all, she said, was to lie on a sand bar in 162 00:15:56.240 --> 00:16:00.519 the moonlight when the sea was calm, and to gaze at the large city 163 00:16:00.559 --> 00:16:07.000 on the shore, where the lights twinkled like hundreds of stars. To listen 164 00:16:07.000 --> 00:16:11.879 to music, to hear the chatter and clamor of carriages and people, to 165 00:16:11.879 --> 00:16:18.960 see so many church towers and spires, and to hear the ringing bells because 166 00:16:18.960 --> 00:16:22.320 she could not enter the city. That was just what she most dearly longed 167 00:16:22.360 --> 00:16:27.919 to do. Oh how intently the youngest sister listened after this, whenever she 168 00:16:27.960 --> 00:16:32.399 stood at her open window at night and looked up through the dark blue waters, 169 00:16:33.080 --> 00:16:36.519 she thought of that great city with all of its clatter and clamor, 170 00:16:37.000 --> 00:16:40.679 and even fancied that in the depths she could hear the church bells ring. 171 00:16:42.200 --> 00:16:45.720 The next year, her second sister had permission to rise up to the surface 172 00:16:45.759 --> 00:16:52.279 and swim wherever she pleased. She came up just at sunset, and she 173 00:16:52.399 --> 00:16:59.000 said that this spectacle was the most marvelous sight she had ever seen. The 174 00:16:59.080 --> 00:17:03.519 heavens had a gold and glow, and as for the clouds, she could 175 00:17:03.559 --> 00:17:08.559 not find words to describe their beauty. Splashed with red and tinted with violet, 176 00:17:08.799 --> 00:17:14.960 they sailed over her head. But much faster than the sailing clouds were 177 00:17:15.039 --> 00:17:18.599 wild swans in a flock, like a long white veil, trailing above the 178 00:17:18.680 --> 00:17:26.200 sea. They flew towards the setting sun. She too, swam toward it, 179 00:17:26.240 --> 00:17:30.599 but down it went, and all the rose colored glow faded from the 180 00:17:30.680 --> 00:17:37.279 sea and the sky. The following year, her third sister ascended, and 181 00:17:37.359 --> 00:17:40.960 as she was the boldest of them all, she swam up a broad river 182 00:17:41.039 --> 00:17:47.640 that flowed into the ocean. She saw gloriously green, vine colored hills. 183 00:17:48.960 --> 00:17:55.240 Palaces and manor houses could be glimpsed through the splendid woods. She heard all 184 00:17:55.240 --> 00:17:59.880 the birds sing, and the sun shone so brightly that often she had to 185 00:18:00.079 --> 00:18:04.559 dive under the water to cool her burning face. In a small cove, 186 00:18:04.680 --> 00:18:10.559 she found a whole school of mortal children paddling about in the water, quite 187 00:18:10.640 --> 00:18:15.960 naked. She wanted to play with them, but they took fright and ran 188 00:18:15.000 --> 00:18:22.440 away. Then along came a little black animal. It was a dog, 189 00:18:22.000 --> 00:18:27.319 but she had never seen a dog before. It barked at her so ferociously 190 00:18:27.359 --> 00:18:33.319 that she took fright herself and fled to the open sea. But never could 191 00:18:33.319 --> 00:18:37.519 she forget the splendid woods, the green hills, and the nice children who 192 00:18:37.519 --> 00:18:45.279 could swim in the water, although they didn't wear fish tails. The fourth 193 00:18:45.319 --> 00:18:48.440 sister was not so venturesome. She stayed far out among the rough waves, 194 00:18:48.960 --> 00:18:53.519 which she said was a marvelous place. You could see all around you for 195 00:18:53.680 --> 00:18:59.359 miles and miles, and the heavens up above you were like a vast dome 196 00:18:59.359 --> 00:19:03.680 of glass. She had seen ships, but they were so far away that 197 00:19:03.680 --> 00:19:11.440 they looked like seagulls. Playful dolphins had turned somersaults, and monstrous whales had 198 00:19:11.440 --> 00:19:15.799 spouted water through their nostrils, so that it looked as if hundreds of fountains 199 00:19:15.799 --> 00:19:22.079 were playing all around them. Now the fifth sister had her turn. Her 200 00:19:22.119 --> 00:19:26.319 birthday came in the wintertime, so she saw things that none of the others 201 00:19:26.319 --> 00:19:33.079 had seen. The sea was a deep green color, and enormous icebergs drifted 202 00:19:33.079 --> 00:19:40.519 about. Each one glistened like a pearl, but they were more lofty than 203 00:19:40.559 --> 00:19:45.839 any church steeple built by man. They assumed the most fantastic shapes and sparkled 204 00:19:45.880 --> 00:19:52.440 like diamonds. She had seated herself on the largest one, and all the 205 00:19:52.480 --> 00:19:56.519 ships that came sailing by sped away as soon as the frightened sailors saw her 206 00:19:56.640 --> 00:20:03.359 there, with her long hair blowing in the way. In the late evening, 207 00:20:03.720 --> 00:20:07.880 clouds filled the sky, thunder cracked, and lightning darted across the heavens. 208 00:20:08.880 --> 00:20:14.680 Black waves lifted those great bergs of ice on high, where they flashed. 209 00:20:14.720 --> 00:20:19.279 When the lightning struck on all the ships, the sails were reefed, 210 00:20:19.759 --> 00:20:26.880 and there was fear and trembling. But quietly she sat there upon her drifting 211 00:20:26.880 --> 00:20:33.720 iceberg and watched the blue forked lightning strike the sea. Each of the sisters 212 00:20:33.720 --> 00:20:37.000 took the light in the lovely new sights when she first rose up to the 213 00:20:37.039 --> 00:20:41.279 surface of the sea. But when they became grown up girls who were allowed 214 00:20:41.319 --> 00:20:47.799 to go wherever they liked, they became indifferent to it. They would become 215 00:20:47.839 --> 00:20:51.240 homesick, and in a month they said that there was no place like the 216 00:20:51.279 --> 00:20:56.960 bottom of the sea where they felt so completely at home. On many an 217 00:20:56.960 --> 00:21:00.680 evening, the older sisters would rise to the surface arm in arm, all 218 00:21:00.799 --> 00:21:04.960 five in a row. They had beautiful voices, more charming than those of 219 00:21:06.039 --> 00:21:11.400 any mortal beings. When a storm was brewing and they anticipated a shipwreck, 220 00:21:11.039 --> 00:21:15.359 they would swim before the ship and sing most seductively of how beautiful it was 221 00:21:15.400 --> 00:21:19.680 at the bottom of the ocean, trying to overcome the prejudice that the sailors 222 00:21:19.680 --> 00:21:26.880 had against coming down to them. But people could not understand their song en 223 00:21:26.920 --> 00:21:30.759 miss took it for the voice of a storm, nor was it for them 224 00:21:30.799 --> 00:21:36.279 to see the glories of the deep. When their ship went down, they 225 00:21:36.319 --> 00:21:40.640 were drowned, and it was as dead men that they reached the sea. 226 00:21:40.720 --> 00:21:45.519 King's palace on the evenings, when the mermaids rose through the water like this 227 00:21:45.839 --> 00:21:52.200 arm in arm, their younger sister stayed behind, all alone, looking after 228 00:21:52.240 --> 00:21:56.920 them and wanting to weep. But a mermaid has no tears, and therefore 229 00:21:57.119 --> 00:22:03.119 she suffered so much more. Oh, how I do wish I were fifteen, 230 00:22:03.440 --> 00:22:07.079 she said, I know I shall love that world up there and all 231 00:22:07.119 --> 00:22:12.240 of the people who live in it. And at last she too came to 232 00:22:12.240 --> 00:22:18.920 be fifteen. Now I'll have you off my hands, said her grandmother, 233 00:22:18.279 --> 00:22:26.279 the old Queen Dowager. Come let me adorn you like your sisters. In 234 00:22:26.319 --> 00:22:30.559 the little maid's hair. She put a wreath of white lilies, each petal 235 00:22:30.640 --> 00:22:33.880 of which was formed from half of a pearl, and the old Queen let 236 00:22:33.920 --> 00:22:38.759 eight big oysters fasten themselves to the princess's tail, as a sign of her 237 00:22:38.880 --> 00:22:45.720 high rank. But that hurts, said the little mermaid. You must put 238 00:22:45.759 --> 00:22:48.759 up with a good deal to keep up appearances. Her grandmother told her, 239 00:22:49.480 --> 00:22:53.839 Oh, how gladly she would have shaken off all these decorations and laid aside 240 00:22:53.880 --> 00:22:59.720 the cumbersome wreath. The red flowers in her garden were much more becoming to 241 00:22:59.759 --> 00:23:04.920 her. But she didn't dare to make any changes. Goodbye, she said, 242 00:23:06.039 --> 00:23:08.480 and she went up through the water as light and as sparkling as a 243 00:23:08.519 --> 00:23:12.960 bubble. The sun had just gone down when her head rose above the surface, 244 00:23:15.119 --> 00:23:21.400 but the clouds still shone like gold and roses, and in the delicately 245 00:23:21.440 --> 00:23:27.720 tinted sky sparkled the clear gleam of the evening star. The air was mild 246 00:23:27.759 --> 00:23:33.160 and fresh, and the sea unruffled. A great three master lay in view, 247 00:23:33.240 --> 00:23:37.680 with only one of its sails set, for there was not even the 248 00:23:37.720 --> 00:23:42.559 whisper of a breeze, and the sailors idled about in the rigging and on 249 00:23:42.599 --> 00:23:48.039 the yards. There was music and singing on the ship, and as night 250 00:23:48.119 --> 00:23:52.759 came on they lighted hundreds of such brightly colored lanterns that one might have thought 251 00:23:52.759 --> 00:24:00.200 the flags of all nations were swinging in the air. The little mermaid swim 252 00:24:00.359 --> 00:24:03.079 right up to the window of the main cabin, and each time she rose 253 00:24:03.119 --> 00:24:07.160 with the swell, she could peep in through the clear glass panes at the 254 00:24:07.200 --> 00:24:14.680 crowd of brilliantly dressed people. Within the handsomest of a mall was a young 255 00:24:14.759 --> 00:24:19.920 prince with big dark eyes. He couldn't be more than sixteen years old. 256 00:24:21.839 --> 00:24:25.640 It was his birthday, and that was the reason for all of the celebration. 257 00:24:26.119 --> 00:24:30.480 Upon deck, the sailors were dancing, and when the prince appeared among 258 00:24:30.559 --> 00:24:33.680 them, a hundred or more rockets flew through the air, making it as 259 00:24:33.680 --> 00:24:38.839 bright as day. These startled the little mermaids so badly that she ducked under 260 00:24:38.880 --> 00:24:44.960 the water, but she soon peeped up again, and then it seemed as 261 00:24:44.960 --> 00:24:48.720 if all the stars in the sky were falling around her. Never had she 262 00:24:48.880 --> 00:24:56.559 seen such fireworks. Great sun spun around, splendid firefish floating through the blue 263 00:24:56.559 --> 00:25:02.160 air, and all these were mirrored in the crystal clear sea. It was 264 00:25:02.240 --> 00:25:06.759 so brilliantly bright that you could see every little rope of the ship, and 265 00:25:06.839 --> 00:25:12.160 the people could be seen distinctly. How handsome the young prince was. He 266 00:25:12.400 --> 00:25:17.680 laughed, and he smiled and shook people by the hand while the music rang 267 00:25:17.720 --> 00:25:22.720 out in the perfect evening. It got very late, but the little mermaid 268 00:25:22.799 --> 00:25:26.960 could not take her eyes off of the ship and the handsome prince. The 269 00:25:27.079 --> 00:25:32.799 brightly colored lanterns were put out. No more rockets flew through the air, 270 00:25:32.960 --> 00:25:37.559 and no more cannon boomed, But there was a mutter and a rumble deep 271 00:25:37.599 --> 00:25:41.680 down in the sea, and the swell kept bouncing her up so high that 272 00:25:41.720 --> 00:25:48.440 she could look into the cabin. Now the ship began to sail canvas. 273 00:25:48.480 --> 00:25:52.839 After canvas was spread in the wind, the waves rose high, great clouds 274 00:25:52.880 --> 00:25:57.680 gathered, and lightning flashed in the distance. They were in for a terrible 275 00:25:57.759 --> 00:26:04.200 storm, and the earners made haste to reef the sails. The tall ship 276 00:26:04.319 --> 00:26:08.799 pitched and rolled as it sped through the angry sea. The waves rose up 277 00:26:08.839 --> 00:26:15.200 like towering black mountains, as if they would break over the masthead. But 278 00:26:15.279 --> 00:26:19.400 the swan lightship plunged into the valleys between each wave and emerged to ride their 279 00:26:19.480 --> 00:26:25.559 lofty heights. To the little mermaid this seemed good sport, but to the 280 00:26:25.640 --> 00:26:30.640 sailors it was nothing of the sword. The ship creaked and labored. Thick 281 00:26:30.680 --> 00:26:36.599 timbers gave way under the heavy blows. Waves broke over the ship, The 282 00:26:36.640 --> 00:26:42.079 main mast snapped into like a reed. The ship listed over on its side, 283 00:26:42.440 --> 00:26:48.200 and water burst into the hold. Now the little mermaids saw that the 284 00:26:48.240 --> 00:26:52.480 people were in peril, and that she herself must take care to avoid the 285 00:26:52.519 --> 00:26:57.880 beams and wreckage tossed about by the sea. One moment it would be black 286 00:26:57.920 --> 00:27:02.359 as pitch, and she couldn't see a thing. The next moment, the 287 00:27:02.480 --> 00:27:07.519 lightning would flash so brightly that she could distinguish every soul on board. Everyone 288 00:27:07.640 --> 00:27:14.000 was looking out for himself as best he could. She watched closely for the 289 00:27:14.039 --> 00:27:18.799 young Prince, and when the ship split in two, she saw him sink 290 00:27:18.839 --> 00:27:23.759 down in the sea. At first she was overjoyed that he would be with 291 00:27:23.759 --> 00:27:29.599 her, but then she recalled that human people could not live under the water, 292 00:27:30.279 --> 00:27:36.319 and he could only visit her father's palace as a dead man. No, 293 00:27:37.079 --> 00:27:41.000 he should not die, so she swam in among all the floating planks 294 00:27:41.000 --> 00:27:47.400 and beams, completely forgetting that they might crush her. She dived through the 295 00:27:47.440 --> 00:27:52.039 waves and rode their crests until at length she reached the young Prince, who 296 00:27:52.079 --> 00:27:56.440 was no longer able to swim in the raging sea. His arms and legs 297 00:27:56.440 --> 00:28:00.400 were exhausted, his beautiful eyes were closing, and he would have died if 298 00:28:00.440 --> 00:28:06.200 the little mermaid had not come to help him. She held his head above 299 00:28:06.240 --> 00:28:11.599 water and let the waves take them where the waves went. At daybreak, 300 00:28:11.720 --> 00:28:15.000 when the storm was over, not a trace of the ship was in view. 301 00:28:15.519 --> 00:28:19.599 The sun rose out of the waters red and bright, and its beams 302 00:28:19.640 --> 00:28:22.519 seemed to bring the glow of life back to the cheeks of the prince, 303 00:28:23.640 --> 00:28:30.640 but his eyes remained closed. The mermaid kissed his high and shapely forehead. 304 00:28:30.440 --> 00:28:34.400 As she stroked his wet hair in place. It seemed to her that he 305 00:28:34.480 --> 00:28:41.200 looked like that marble statue in her little garden. She kissed him again and 306 00:28:41.279 --> 00:28:47.200 hoped that he would live. She saw dry land rise before her in high 307 00:28:47.279 --> 00:28:51.319 blue mountains, top with snow and glistening white, as if a flock of 308 00:28:51.359 --> 00:28:57.160 swans were resting there. Down by the shore were splendid green woods, and 309 00:28:57.279 --> 00:29:02.119 in the foreground stood at church, or perhaps a convent. She didn't know 310 00:29:02.200 --> 00:29:07.880 which, but anyway it was a building. Orange and lemon trees grew in 311 00:29:07.960 --> 00:29:11.799 its garden, and tall palm trees grew beside the gateway. Here the sea 312 00:29:11.880 --> 00:29:18.039 formed a little harbor, quite calm and very deep. Fine white sand had 313 00:29:18.039 --> 00:29:23.079 been washed up below the cliffs. She swam there with the handsome prince and 314 00:29:23.240 --> 00:29:27.599 stretched him out on the sand, taking special care to pillow his head up 315 00:29:27.680 --> 00:29:33.000 high in the warm sunlight. The bells began to ring in the great white 316 00:29:33.039 --> 00:29:38.720 building, and a number of young girls came out to the garden. The 317 00:29:38.799 --> 00:29:42.599 little mermaid swam away behind some tall rocks that stuck out of the water. 318 00:29:44.599 --> 00:29:48.559 She covered her hair in her shoulders with the foam so that no one would 319 00:29:48.599 --> 00:29:52.240 see her tiny face, and then she watched to see who would find the 320 00:29:52.279 --> 00:29:57.920 poor prince. In a little while, one of the young girls came upon 321 00:29:59.039 --> 00:30:03.160 him. She seemed frightened, but only for a minute. Then she called 322 00:30:03.200 --> 00:30:11.440 more people. The mermaid watched the prince regain consciousness and smile at everyone around 323 00:30:11.480 --> 00:30:17.279 him, but he did not smile at her, for he didn't even know 324 00:30:17.359 --> 00:30:22.039 that she had saved him. She felt very unhappy, and when they led 325 00:30:22.119 --> 00:30:26.640 him away to the building, she dived sadly down into the water and returned 326 00:30:26.640 --> 00:30:33.079 to her father's palace. She had always been quiet and wistful, and now 327 00:30:33.119 --> 00:30:38.240 she became much more so. Her sisters asked her what she had seen on 328 00:30:38.319 --> 00:30:42.400 her first visit up to the surface, but she will not tell them a 329 00:30:42.440 --> 00:30:48.839 thing. Many evenings and many mornings she visited the spot where she had left 330 00:30:48.839 --> 00:30:55.599 the prince. She saw the fruit in the garden ripened and harvested, and 331 00:30:55.720 --> 00:31:00.559 she saw the snow on the high mountain melted away. But not see the 332 00:31:00.559 --> 00:31:07.160 prince. So each time she came home sadder than she had left. It 333 00:31:07.200 --> 00:31:11.440 was her one consolation to sit in her little garden and throw her arms about 334 00:31:11.440 --> 00:31:17.880 the beautiful marble statue that looked so much like the prince. But she took 335 00:31:17.880 --> 00:31:22.480 no care of her flowers. Now they overgrew the paths until the palace was 336 00:31:22.519 --> 00:31:26.079 a wilderness, and their long stalks and leaves became so entangled in the branches 337 00:31:26.079 --> 00:31:33.119 of the tree that it cast a gloomy shade. Finally, she couldn't bear 338 00:31:33.160 --> 00:31:38.759 it any longer. She told her secret to one of her sisters. Immediately, 339 00:31:38.799 --> 00:31:44.039 all the other sisters heard about it. No one else knew, except 340 00:31:44.079 --> 00:31:48.160 a few more mermaids, who told no one except their most intimate friends. 341 00:31:49.319 --> 00:31:55.880 One of these friends knew who the prince was. She too, had seen 342 00:31:55.880 --> 00:32:00.359 the birthday celebration on the ship. She knew where they came from and where 343 00:32:00.359 --> 00:32:05.640 his kingdom was. Come, little sister, said the other princess. Arm 344 00:32:05.680 --> 00:32:08.119 in arm, they rose from the water in a long row, right in 345 00:32:08.160 --> 00:32:14.079 front of where they knew the Prince's palace stood. It was built of pale, 346 00:32:14.119 --> 00:32:19.880 glistening golden stone, with great marble staircases, one of which led down 347 00:32:19.880 --> 00:32:24.319 to the sea. Magnificent built domes rose over the roof, and between the 348 00:32:24.359 --> 00:32:32.160 pillars. All around the building were marble statues that looked almost lifelike. Through 349 00:32:32.200 --> 00:32:37.960 the clear glass of the lofty windows, one could see into the splendid halls 350 00:32:37.640 --> 00:32:44.200 with their costly silk hangings and tapestries, and walls covered with paintings that were 351 00:32:44.240 --> 00:32:49.720 delightful to behold. In the center of the main hall, a large fountain 352 00:32:49.759 --> 00:32:53.759 played its columns of spray up to the glass domed roof, through which the 353 00:32:53.799 --> 00:32:58.920 sun shone down on the water and upon the lovely plants that grew in the 354 00:32:58.960 --> 00:33:05.279 big basin. Now that she knew where he lived, many an evening and 355 00:33:05.359 --> 00:33:08.799 many a night she spent there. In the sea, she swam much closer 356 00:33:08.839 --> 00:33:14.079 to shore than any of her sisters would dare venture, and she even went 357 00:33:14.160 --> 00:33:19.640 far up a narrow stream under the splendid marble balcony that cast its long shadow 358 00:33:19.680 --> 00:33:23.880 in the water. Here she used to sit and watch the young prince when 359 00:33:23.880 --> 00:33:30.960 he thought himself quite alone in the bright moonlight. On many evenings she saw 360 00:33:30.000 --> 00:33:35.160 him sail out of his fine boat with music playing and flags of flutter, 361 00:33:37.240 --> 00:33:40.599 she would peep out through green rushes, and if the wind blew her long 362 00:33:40.680 --> 00:33:45.640 silver veil, anyone who saw it mistook it for a swan spreading its wings. 363 00:33:47.839 --> 00:33:52.759 On many nights she saw the fishermen come out to see with their torches, 364 00:33:52.039 --> 00:33:57.880 and heard them tell about how kind the young prince was. This made 365 00:33:57.920 --> 00:34:00.720 her proud to think that it was she who had saved his life when he 366 00:34:00.839 --> 00:34:07.039 was tossled about half dead among the waves, And she thought of how softly 367 00:34:07.119 --> 00:34:12.360 his head had rested on her breast, and how tenderly she had kissed him. 368 00:34:12.960 --> 00:34:16.119 Though he knew nothing of all this, nor could he even dream of 369 00:34:16.159 --> 00:34:23.639 it. Increasingly she grew to like human beings, and more and more she 370 00:34:23.760 --> 00:34:30.639 longed to live among them. Their world seemed so much wider than her own, 371 00:34:31.119 --> 00:34:35.599 for they could skim over the sea and ships, and mount up into 372 00:34:35.639 --> 00:34:39.840 the lofty peaks high over the clouds, and their lands stretched out in woods 373 00:34:39.880 --> 00:34:45.199 and fields further than the eye could see. There was so much she wanted 374 00:34:45.239 --> 00:34:51.679 to know. Her sisters could not answer all her questions, so she asked 375 00:34:51.679 --> 00:34:54.480 her old grandmother, who knew more about the upper world, Which was what 376 00:34:54.559 --> 00:35:00.760 she said was the right name for their countries above the sea. If men 377 00:35:00.840 --> 00:35:06.239 aren't drowned, the little mermaid asked, do they live one forever? Don't 378 00:35:06.239 --> 00:35:09.480 they die as we do down here in the sea. Yes, the old 379 00:35:09.559 --> 00:35:15.199 lady said, they too must die, and their lifetimes are even shorter than 380 00:35:15.280 --> 00:35:20.599 ours. We can live to be three hundred years old, but when we 381 00:35:20.679 --> 00:35:24.519 perish, we turn into mere foam on the sea, and haven't even a 382 00:35:24.599 --> 00:35:30.960 grave down here among our dear ones. We have no immortal soul, no 383 00:35:31.199 --> 00:35:37.559 life hereafter. We are like the green seaweed. Once cut down, it 384 00:35:37.639 --> 00:35:44.639 never grows again. Human beings, on the contrary, have a soul which 385 00:35:44.679 --> 00:35:50.760 lives forever, long after their bodies have turned to clay. It rises through 386 00:35:50.800 --> 00:35:54.440 thin air up to the shining stars, just as we rise through the water 387 00:35:54.599 --> 00:36:00.719 to see the lands on earth. So men rise up to beautiful places which 388 00:36:00.760 --> 00:36:06.239 we shall never see. Why weren't we given an immortal soul, the little 389 00:36:06.239 --> 00:36:10.400 mermaids asked, sadly, I would gladly give up my three hundred years if 390 00:36:10.400 --> 00:36:15.440 it could mean I could be human for only a day and later share that 391 00:36:15.639 --> 00:36:21.159 heavenly realm. You must not think about that, said the old lady. 392 00:36:21.920 --> 00:36:25.280 We fare much more happily and are much better off than the folk up there. 393 00:36:28.320 --> 00:36:30.880 Then I must also die and float his foam upon the sea, not 394 00:36:31.039 --> 00:36:36.400 hearing the music of the waves, and seeing neither the beautiful flowers nor the 395 00:36:36.440 --> 00:36:40.039 red sun. Can't I do anything at all to win an immortal soul? 396 00:36:42.480 --> 00:36:46.199 No, her grandmother answered, not unless a human being loved you so much 397 00:36:46.239 --> 00:36:51.920 that you meant more to him than his father and his mother. If his 398 00:36:52.079 --> 00:36:55.119 every thought and his whole heart cleave to you, so that he would let 399 00:36:55.159 --> 00:37:00.079 a priest join his right hand to yours, and would promise to be faithful 400 00:37:00.199 --> 00:37:06.920 here and throughout all eternity, then his soul would dwell in your body, 401 00:37:06.960 --> 00:37:12.280 and you would share in the happiness of mankind. He would give you a 402 00:37:12.320 --> 00:37:19.519 soul and yet keep his own. But that can never come to pass the 403 00:37:19.679 --> 00:37:22.880 very thing that is your greatest beauty. Here in the sea, your fishtail 404 00:37:23.679 --> 00:37:30.280 would be considered ugly. On land. They have such poor taste that to 405 00:37:30.280 --> 00:37:34.440 be thought beautiful there you have to have two awkward props, which they call 406 00:37:34.599 --> 00:37:39.840 legs. The little mermaid sighed and looked unhappily at her fishtail. The old 407 00:37:39.920 --> 00:37:44.960 lady said to her, let us leap and bound throughout the three hundred years 408 00:37:44.960 --> 00:37:49.760 that we have to live. Surely that is time to spare, and afterwards 409 00:37:49.920 --> 00:37:52.800 we shall be glad enough to rest in our graves. We are holding a 410 00:37:52.880 --> 00:38:00.199 court ball this evening. This was a much more glorious affair than is ever 411 00:38:00.280 --> 00:38:05.760 to be seen on earth. The walls and the ceiling of the Great Ballroom 412 00:38:05.800 --> 00:38:10.760 were made of massive but transparent glass. Many hundreds of huge, rose, 413 00:38:10.840 --> 00:38:16.119 red and green shells stood on each side and rose, with the blue flames 414 00:38:16.119 --> 00:38:21.400 that burned in each shell, illuminating the whole room and shining through the walls 415 00:38:21.440 --> 00:38:25.440 so clearly that it was quite bright out in the sea outside. You could 416 00:38:25.440 --> 00:38:30.480 see the countless fish, great and small, swimming toward the glass walls, 417 00:38:30.559 --> 00:38:35.960 and some of them the scales gleamed purplish red, while others were silver and 418 00:38:36.039 --> 00:38:39.760 gold. Across the floor of the hall ran a wide stream of water, 419 00:38:40.480 --> 00:38:47.679 and upon this the mermaids and mermen danced to their own entrancing songs. Such 420 00:38:47.760 --> 00:38:52.320 beautiful voices are not to be heard among the people who live on land. 421 00:38:52.920 --> 00:38:58.400 The little mermaids sang more sweetly than anyone else, and everyone applauded her. 422 00:38:59.320 --> 00:39:02.440 For a moment her heart was happy because she knew that she had the loveliest 423 00:39:02.480 --> 00:39:07.840 voice of all in the sea or on land. But her thoughts soon strayed 424 00:39:07.880 --> 00:39:13.719 to the world up above. She couldn't forget the charming prince, nor her 425 00:39:13.760 --> 00:39:20.039 sorrow that she did not have an immortal soul like his. Therefore she stole 426 00:39:20.079 --> 00:39:24.679 out of her father's palace, and while everything there was song and gladness, 427 00:39:24.679 --> 00:39:30.320 she sat sadly in her own little garden. Then she heard a bugle call 428 00:39:30.400 --> 00:39:35.360 through the water, and she thought, that must mean he is sailing up 429 00:39:35.400 --> 00:39:39.880 there. He whom I love more than my own father or mother, He 430 00:39:40.039 --> 00:39:45.039 of whom I am always thinking, and in whose hands I would so willingly 431 00:39:45.119 --> 00:39:52.320 trust my lifelong happiness. I dare do anything to win him and gain an 432 00:39:52.320 --> 00:39:58.400 immortal soul. While my sisters are dancing here in my father's palace, I 433 00:39:58.440 --> 00:40:01.320 shall visit the sea witch, of whom I have always been so afraid. 434 00:40:02.760 --> 00:40:09.079 Perhaps she will be able to advise me and help me. The little mermaids 435 00:40:09.079 --> 00:40:14.159 set out from her garden toward the whirlpools that raged in front of the witch's 436 00:40:14.199 --> 00:40:20.280 dwelling. She had never gone that way before. No flowers grew there, 437 00:40:20.440 --> 00:40:27.159 nor any seaweed, bare and gray. The sands extended to the whirlpools, 438 00:40:27.840 --> 00:40:31.920 where like roaring mill wheels, the waters whirred and snatched everything within their reach 439 00:40:32.119 --> 00:40:38.360 down to the bottom of the sea. Between these tumultuous whirlpools, she had 440 00:40:38.400 --> 00:40:43.920 to thread her way to reach the Witch's waters, and then, for a 441 00:40:43.960 --> 00:40:50.199 long stretch, the only trail lay through a hot, seething mire. The 442 00:40:50.280 --> 00:40:54.119 witch called this her peat marsh. Beyond it, her house lay in the 443 00:40:54.159 --> 00:40:59.679 middle of a weird forest, where all the trees and shrubs were polyps, 444 00:41:00.679 --> 00:41:05.960 half animal and half plant. They looked like hundred headed snakes growing out of 445 00:41:05.960 --> 00:41:10.960 the soil. All their branches were long, slimy arms with fingers like wriggling 446 00:41:12.000 --> 00:41:17.840 worms. They squirmed joint by joint from their roots to their outermost tentacles, 447 00:41:19.639 --> 00:41:22.840 and whatever they could lay a hold of they twined around and never let go. 448 00:41:24.639 --> 00:41:28.920 The little mermaid was terrified and stopped at the edge of the forest. 449 00:41:30.039 --> 00:41:35.239 Her heart thumped with fear, and she nearly turned back. But then she 450 00:41:35.320 --> 00:41:39.079 remembered the prince and the souls that men have, and she summoned her courage. 451 00:41:42.199 --> 00:41:45.480 She bound her long flowing locks closely about her head, so that the 452 00:41:45.519 --> 00:41:49.480 polyps could not catch hold of them, folded her arm across her breast, 453 00:41:49.639 --> 00:41:54.280 and darted through the water like a fish. The slimy polyps stretched out their 454 00:41:54.280 --> 00:42:00.239 writhing arms and fingers to try to seize her. She saw that every one 455 00:42:00.280 --> 00:42:05.039 of them held something that it had caught with its hundreds of little tentacles, 456 00:42:05.679 --> 00:42:09.199 into which it clung with its strong hoops of steel. The white bones of 457 00:42:09.280 --> 00:42:14.559 men who had perished at sea and sunk to these depths could be seen in 458 00:42:14.599 --> 00:42:20.639 the polyp's arms, ships rudders and seamen's chests, and the skeletons of land 459 00:42:20.679 --> 00:42:24.199 animals who had also fallen to their clutches. But the most ghastly sight of 460 00:42:24.280 --> 00:42:31.920 all was a little mermaid whom they had caught and strangled. She reached a 461 00:42:32.000 --> 00:42:37.639 large muddy clearing in the forest, where big, fat water snakes slithered about, 462 00:42:37.280 --> 00:42:43.440 showing their foul, yellowish bellies. In the middle of this clearing was 463 00:42:43.480 --> 00:42:47.679 a house built of the bones of shipwrecked men, and there sat the sea 464 00:42:47.719 --> 00:42:52.320 witch, letting a toad eat out of her mouth, just as we might 465 00:42:52.400 --> 00:42:58.199 feed sugar to a little canary bird. She called the fat, ugly water 466 00:42:58.239 --> 00:43:05.159 snakes her little chickabities and let them crawl and sprawl about her. I know 467 00:43:05.679 --> 00:43:09.760 exactly what you want, said the sea witch. It's very foolish of you, 468 00:43:10.440 --> 00:43:14.920 but just the same, you shall have your way, for it will 469 00:43:14.960 --> 00:43:19.280 bring you to grief, My proud princess. You want to get rid of 470 00:43:19.320 --> 00:43:22.719 your fish tail and to have two props instead, so that you can walk 471 00:43:22.760 --> 00:43:27.360 about like a human creature, and have the young prince fall in love with 472 00:43:27.400 --> 00:43:34.039 you and win him and an immortal soul. Besides. At this, the 473 00:43:34.119 --> 00:43:37.559 witch gave such a loud, cackling laugh that the toad and the snakes were 474 00:43:37.599 --> 00:43:43.400 shaken to the ground where they lay writhing. You are just in time, 475 00:43:43.519 --> 00:43:47.280 said the witch. After the sun comes up tomorrow, a whole year would 476 00:43:47.280 --> 00:43:52.920 have to go by before I could be of any help to you. Jay 477 00:43:52.119 --> 00:43:58.119 shall compound you a drought, and before sunrise you must swim to the shore 478 00:43:58.159 --> 00:44:01.800 with it, seat yourself on rye land, and drink the drought down. 479 00:44:04.079 --> 00:44:08.239 Then your tail will divide and shrink until it becomes what people on earth call 480 00:44:08.320 --> 00:44:15.199 a pair of shapely legs. But it will hurt. It will feel as 481 00:44:15.280 --> 00:44:20.440 if a sharp sword slashed through you. Everyone who sees you will say that 482 00:44:20.480 --> 00:44:22.960 you are the most graceful human being they have ever laid eyes on. For 483 00:44:23.079 --> 00:44:27.639 you will keep your gilded movement, and no dancer will be able to tread 484 00:44:27.679 --> 00:44:32.559 as lightly as you. But every step you take will feel as if you 485 00:44:32.599 --> 00:44:38.559 are treading upon knife blades so sharp that blood must flow. I am willing 486 00:44:38.559 --> 00:44:44.960 to help you, But are you willing to suffer all of this? Yes, 487 00:44:45.320 --> 00:44:47.760 said the little mermaid in a trembling voice, as she thought of the 488 00:44:47.800 --> 00:44:53.480 prince and of gaining a human soul. Remember, said the witch, once 489 00:44:53.519 --> 00:44:58.880 you have taken on a human form, you can never be a mermaid again. 490 00:45:00.119 --> 00:45:04.079 You can never come back through the waters to your sisters or to your 491 00:45:04.079 --> 00:45:07.760 father's palace. And if you do not win the love of the prince so 492 00:45:07.800 --> 00:45:12.880 completely that for your sake he forgets his father and mother, cleaves to you 493 00:45:13.000 --> 00:45:16.159 with his every thought and his whole heart, and lets the priest join your 494 00:45:16.199 --> 00:45:22.760 hands in marriage, then you will not win an immortal soul. If he 495 00:45:22.880 --> 00:45:28.280 marries someone else, your heart will break on the very next morning, and 496 00:45:28.360 --> 00:45:34.039 you will become foam of the sea. I'll take that risk, said the 497 00:45:34.079 --> 00:45:39.840 little mermaid, but she turned as pale as death. Also, you will 498 00:45:39.880 --> 00:45:45.559 have to pay me, said the witch, And it's no trifling price that 499 00:45:45.599 --> 00:45:50.679 I'm asking. You have the sweetest voice of anyone down here at the bottom 500 00:45:50.719 --> 00:45:54.039 of the sea, and while I don't doubt that you would like to captivate 501 00:45:54.079 --> 00:45:59.719 the prince with it, you must give this voice to me. I will 502 00:45:59.760 --> 00:46:02.800 take the very best thing that you have in return for my sovereign drought. 503 00:46:04.880 --> 00:46:07.519 I must pour my own blood in it to make the drink as sharp as 504 00:46:07.559 --> 00:46:14.039 a two edged sword. But if you take my voice, said the little 505 00:46:14.039 --> 00:46:17.760 Mermaid, what will be left to me? Your lovely form, the witch 506 00:46:17.800 --> 00:46:23.800 told her, Your gliding movements and your eloquent eyes. With these you can 507 00:46:23.840 --> 00:46:30.719 easily enchant a human heart. Well, have you lost your courage? Stick 508 00:46:30.719 --> 00:46:36.039 out your little tongue and I shall cut it off. I'll have my price, 509 00:46:36.960 --> 00:46:40.400 and you shall have the potent drought. Go ahead, said the little 510 00:46:40.400 --> 00:46:45.400 mermaid. The witch hung her cauldron over the flames to brew the drought. 511 00:46:46.679 --> 00:46:51.239 Cleanliness is a good thing, she said, as she tied her snakes in 512 00:46:51.320 --> 00:46:55.719 a knot and scoured out the pot with them. Then she pricked herself in 513 00:46:55.800 --> 00:47:01.960 the chest and let her black blood splash into the cold steam swirled up from 514 00:47:01.960 --> 00:47:08.519 it in such ghastly shapes that anyone would have been terrified by them. The 515 00:47:08.559 --> 00:47:13.800 witch constantly threw new ingredients into the cauldron, and it started to boil with 516 00:47:13.880 --> 00:47:20.360 a sound like that of a crocodile shedding tears. When the dart was ready, 517 00:47:20.760 --> 00:47:25.159 at last, it looked as clear as the purest water. Here it 518 00:47:25.239 --> 00:47:30.519 is, said the witch, and then she cut off the tongue of the 519 00:47:30.559 --> 00:47:35.639 little mermaid, who now was dumb. It could neither sing nor talk. 520 00:47:37.920 --> 00:47:39.920 If the polyps should pounce on you when you walk back through my wood, 521 00:47:39.960 --> 00:47:44.239 the witch said, just spill a drop of this brew upon them, and 522 00:47:44.280 --> 00:47:47.440 their tentacles would break in a thousand pieces. But there was no need for 523 00:47:47.480 --> 00:47:52.119 that. The polyps curled up in terror as soon as they saw the bright 524 00:47:52.199 --> 00:47:55.199 drink. It glittered in the little Mermaid's hand as if it were a shining 525 00:47:55.280 --> 00:48:00.800 star. So she soon traversed the forest the marsh. In the place of 526 00:48:00.920 --> 00:48:07.559 raging whirlpools, she could see her father's palace. The lights had been snuffed 527 00:48:07.559 --> 00:48:10.679 out in the great ballroom, and doubtless everyone in the palace was asleep, 528 00:48:12.440 --> 00:48:15.199 But she dared not go near them. Now that she was stricken dumb and 529 00:48:15.280 --> 00:48:20.079 was leaving her home forever. Her heart felt as if it would break with 530 00:48:20.199 --> 00:48:24.559 grief. She snuck into the garden, took one flower from each of her 531 00:48:24.559 --> 00:48:30.880 sister's little pots, blew a thousand kisses towards the palace, and then mounted 532 00:48:30.960 --> 00:48:36.480 up through the dark blue sea. The sun had not yet risen when she 533 00:48:36.519 --> 00:48:40.760 saw the prince's palace. As she climbed his splendid marble staircase, the moon 534 00:48:40.880 --> 00:48:46.559 was shining clear. The little mermaid swallowed the bitter, fiery drought, and 535 00:48:46.679 --> 00:48:52.239 it was as if a two edged sword struck through her frail body. She 536 00:48:52.320 --> 00:48:58.920 swooned away and lay there as if she were dead. When the sun rose 537 00:48:59.000 --> 00:49:02.880 over the sea, she awoke and felt a flash of pain, But directly 538 00:49:02.920 --> 00:49:07.840 in front of her stood the handsome young prince, gazing at her with his 539 00:49:07.960 --> 00:49:13.599 cold black eyes. Lowering her gaze, she saw that her fishtail was gone, 540 00:49:14.119 --> 00:49:16.920 and that she had the loveliest pair of white legs any young maid could 541 00:49:16.960 --> 00:49:22.159 hope to have. But she was naked, so she clothed herself and her 542 00:49:22.199 --> 00:49:28.599 own long hair. The prince asked who she was and how she came to 543 00:49:28.639 --> 00:49:32.880 be there. Her deep blue eyes looked at him tenderly, but very sadly, 544 00:49:32.960 --> 00:49:37.079 for she couldn't speak. Then he took her hand and led her into 545 00:49:37.119 --> 00:49:43.119 his palace. Every footstep felt as if she were walking on the blades and 546 00:49:43.239 --> 00:49:47.480 points of sharp knives, just as the witch had foretold, but she gladly 547 00:49:47.599 --> 00:49:53.960 endured it. She moved as lightly as a bubble as she walked beside the 548 00:49:53.960 --> 00:50:00.239 Prince. He and all who now saw her marveled at the grace of her 549 00:50:00.280 --> 00:50:07.039 gliding walk. Once clad in the rich silk in muslin garments that were provided 550 00:50:07.079 --> 00:50:10.599 for her, she was the loveliest person in all the palace, though she 551 00:50:10.760 --> 00:50:17.480 was dumb and could neither sing nor speak. Beautiful slaves attired in silk and 552 00:50:17.559 --> 00:50:23.920 cloth of gold came to sing before the Prince and his royal parents. One 553 00:50:23.920 --> 00:50:29.119 of them sang more sweetly than all of the others, And when the Prince 554 00:50:29.199 --> 00:50:32.800 smiled at her and clapped his hands, the little mermaid felt very unhappy, 555 00:50:34.360 --> 00:50:39.199 for she knew that she herself used to sing much more sweetly. Oh, 556 00:50:39.239 --> 00:50:44.079 she thought, if only he knew that I parted with my voice forever so 557 00:50:44.159 --> 00:50:49.400 that I could be near him. Graceful slaves now began to dance in the 558 00:50:49.480 --> 00:50:54.960 most wonderful music. Then the little mermaid lifted her shapely white arms, rose 559 00:50:55.039 --> 00:51:00.039 up on the tips of her toes, and skimmed over the floor. No 560 00:51:00.119 --> 00:51:06.960 one had ever danced so well. Each movement set off her beauty to better 561 00:51:07.079 --> 00:51:10.760 and better advantage, and her eyes spoke more directly to the heart than any 562 00:51:10.800 --> 00:51:16.719 of the singing slaves could do. She charmed everyone, and especially the Prince, 563 00:51:16.960 --> 00:51:22.920 who called her his dear little foundling. She danced sometime and again, 564 00:51:23.760 --> 00:51:28.199 though every time she touched the floor she felt as if she were treading on 565 00:51:28.280 --> 00:51:32.519 sharp edged steel. The Prince said that he would keep her with him always, 566 00:51:34.159 --> 00:51:37.519 and that she was to have a velvet pillow to sleep on outside his 567 00:51:37.599 --> 00:51:43.239 door. He had a page's suit made for her so that she could go 568 00:51:43.320 --> 00:51:46.280 with him on horseback. They would ride through the sweet scented woods, where 569 00:51:46.280 --> 00:51:51.599 the green boughs brushed her shoulders, and with the little birds sang amongst the 570 00:51:51.599 --> 00:51:57.639 fluttering leaves. She climbed up high mountains with the Prince, and though her 571 00:51:57.679 --> 00:52:00.599 tender feet bled so that all could see it, she only laughed and followed 572 00:52:00.639 --> 00:52:06.519 him on until they could see the clouds driving far below like a flock of 573 00:52:06.559 --> 00:52:12.119 birds. In flight to distant lands. At home in the Prince's palace, 574 00:52:12.719 --> 00:52:15.800 while the others slept. At night, she would go down to the broad 575 00:52:15.840 --> 00:52:20.480 marble steps to cool her burning feet in the cold sea water, and then 576 00:52:20.559 --> 00:52:27.119 she would recall those who lived beneath the sea. One night, her sisters 577 00:52:27.159 --> 00:52:31.639 came by arm in arm, singing sadly as they breasted the waves. When 578 00:52:31.639 --> 00:52:37.480 she held out her hands toward them, they knew who she was and told 579 00:52:37.480 --> 00:52:40.960 her how unhappy she had made them all. They came to see her every 580 00:52:42.079 --> 00:52:45.199 night after that, and once far far out to sea, she saw her 581 00:52:45.199 --> 00:52:49.760 old grandmother, who had not been up to the surface in many years. 582 00:52:51.440 --> 00:52:54.280 With her was the sea king, with his crown upon his head. They 583 00:52:54.320 --> 00:52:58.840 stretched out their hands to her, but they did not venture so near the 584 00:52:58.920 --> 00:53:04.079 land as her sisters had. Day after day she became more dear to the 585 00:53:04.119 --> 00:53:08.840 prince, who loved her as one would love a little child. But he 586 00:53:08.920 --> 00:53:14.440 never thought of making her his queen. Yet she had to be his wife 587 00:53:14.519 --> 00:53:17.280 or she would never have an immortal soul, And on the morning after his 588 00:53:17.320 --> 00:53:22.119 wedding, she would turn to foam on the waves. Don't you love me? 589 00:53:22.199 --> 00:53:27.400 Best of all? The little mermaid's eyes seemed to question him when he 590 00:53:27.440 --> 00:53:30.920 took her in his arms and kissed her lovely forehead. Yes, you are 591 00:53:30.960 --> 00:53:35.559 most dear to me, said the prince, for you have the kindest heart. 592 00:53:36.119 --> 00:53:38.719 You love me more than anyone else does, and you look so much 593 00:53:38.760 --> 00:53:43.639 like a young girl I once saw but shall never find again. I was 594 00:53:43.679 --> 00:53:46.920 on a ship that was wrecked, and the waves cast me ashore near a 595 00:53:47.000 --> 00:53:52.960 holy temple where many young girls performed the rituals. The youngest of them found 596 00:53:53.000 --> 00:53:58.480 me beside the sea and saved my life. Though I saw her no more 597 00:53:58.519 --> 00:54:01.519 than twice. She is the only person in all the world whom I could 598 00:54:01.599 --> 00:54:06.559 love. But you are so much like her that you almost replace the memory 599 00:54:06.599 --> 00:54:10.599 of her in my heart. She belongs to that holy temple. Therefore it 600 00:54:10.760 --> 00:54:15.280 is my good fortune that I may have you. We shall never part. 601 00:54:17.079 --> 00:54:21.719 He doesn't know that it was me who saved his life, the little mermaid 602 00:54:21.760 --> 00:54:25.400 thought. I carried him over the sea to the garden where the temple stands. 603 00:54:27.320 --> 00:54:29.920 I hid behind the foam and watched to see if anyone would come. 604 00:54:30.039 --> 00:54:34.760 I saw the pretty maid he loves better than me. A sigh was the 605 00:54:34.800 --> 00:54:39.760 only sign of her deep distress, for a mermaid cannot cry. He says 606 00:54:39.800 --> 00:54:44.880 that the other maid belongs to the Holy Temple. She will never come out 607 00:54:44.880 --> 00:54:49.880 into the world, so they will never see each other again. It is 608 00:54:49.920 --> 00:54:52.280 I who will care for him, love him, and give all of my 609 00:54:52.360 --> 00:54:59.239 life to him. Now rumors arose that the prince was to wed the beautiful 610 00:54:59.320 --> 00:55:04.280 daughter of anighboring king, and that it was for this reason that he was 611 00:55:04.320 --> 00:55:08.599 having such a superb ship made ready to sail. The rumor ran that the 612 00:55:08.599 --> 00:55:13.880 prince's real interest in visiting the neighboring kingdom was to see the king's daughter, 613 00:55:14.079 --> 00:55:19.840 and that he was to travel with a lordy routine. The little mermaid shook 614 00:55:19.840 --> 00:55:22.599 her head and smiled, for she knew the Prince's thoughts far better than anyone 615 00:55:22.639 --> 00:55:28.440 else did. I am forced to make this journey, who told her? 616 00:55:29.280 --> 00:55:32.800 I must visit the beautiful princess, for this is my parents wish. But 617 00:55:32.880 --> 00:55:37.360 they would not have me bring her home as my bride against my own will, 618 00:55:37.079 --> 00:55:42.000 and I can never love her. She does not resemble the lovely maiden 619 00:55:42.039 --> 00:55:45.880 in the Temple as you do, and if I were to choose a bride, 620 00:55:45.920 --> 00:55:50.280 I would sooner choose you, My dear mute foundling with those telling eyes 621 00:55:50.320 --> 00:55:55.880 of ears, and he kissed her on the mouth, ran his fingers through 622 00:55:55.920 --> 00:56:00.880 her long hair, and laid his head against her heart, that she came 623 00:56:00.920 --> 00:56:07.840 to dream of mortal happiness and an a mortal soul. I trust you aren't 624 00:56:07.840 --> 00:56:10.119 afraid of the sea, he said, as they went on board the magnificent 625 00:56:10.199 --> 00:56:15.159 vessel that was to carry them to the land of the neighboring king. And 626 00:56:15.280 --> 00:56:20.199 he told her stories of storms, of ships becalmed, of strange deep sea 627 00:56:20.320 --> 00:56:24.679 fish, and of the wonders that divers have seen. She smiled at such 628 00:56:24.719 --> 00:56:29.559 stories, for no one knew about the bottom of the sea as well as 629 00:56:29.559 --> 00:56:34.719 she did. In the clear moonlight, when everyone except the man at the 630 00:56:34.760 --> 00:56:37.480 helm was asleep, she sat on the side of the ship, gazing down 631 00:56:37.559 --> 00:56:42.880 through the transparent water, and fancied she could catch a glimpse of her father's 632 00:56:42.880 --> 00:56:50.119 palace. On the topmost tower stood her old grandmother, wearing her silver crown 633 00:56:50.760 --> 00:56:55.199 and looking up at the keel of the ship through rushing waves. Then her 634 00:56:55.199 --> 00:57:00.480 sisters rose to the surface, looked at her sadly, and wrung their white 635 00:57:00.519 --> 00:57:06.280 hands. She smiled and waved, trying to let them know that all went 636 00:57:06.320 --> 00:57:09.559 well, and that she was happy. But along came the cabin boy, 637 00:57:09.920 --> 00:57:14.639 and her sisters dived at a sight so quickly that the boys supposed the flash 638 00:57:14.679 --> 00:57:20.719 of white he had seen was merely foam on the sea. The next morning, 639 00:57:21.079 --> 00:57:25.679 the ship came into the harbor of the neighboring King's glorious city. All 640 00:57:25.719 --> 00:57:30.239 the church bells chimed, and trumpets were sounded from the high towers, while 641 00:57:30.280 --> 00:57:36.800 the soldiers lined up with flying banners and glittering bayonets. Every day had a 642 00:57:36.800 --> 00:57:42.559 new festivity, as one ball or levey followed another. But the princess was 643 00:57:42.599 --> 00:57:46.599 still to appear. They said she was being brought up in some far away 644 00:57:46.639 --> 00:57:52.400 sacred temple, where she was learning every royal virtue. But she came at 645 00:57:52.480 --> 00:57:57.960 last. The little mermaid was curious to see how beautiful this princess was. 646 00:58:00.440 --> 00:58:05.360 She had a grant that a more exquisite figure she had never seen. The 647 00:58:05.440 --> 00:58:09.360 princess's skin was clear and fair, and behind the long dark lashes, her 648 00:58:09.400 --> 00:58:15.280 deep blue eyes were smiling and devoted. It was you, cried the prince. 649 00:58:16.280 --> 00:58:20.079 You are the one who saved me when I lay like a dead man 650 00:58:20.159 --> 00:58:24.039 beside the sea. He clasped the blushing bride of his choice in his arms. 651 00:58:25.159 --> 00:58:29.280 Oh I am happier than a man should be. He told the little 652 00:58:29.280 --> 00:58:34.199 mermaid, my fondest dream, that which I never dared to hope, has 653 00:58:34.239 --> 00:58:37.760 come true. You will share in my great joy, for you love me 654 00:58:37.800 --> 00:58:44.280 more than anyone does. The little Mermaid kissed his hand and felt that her 655 00:58:44.320 --> 00:58:50.400 heart was beginning to break the morning after his wedding day, she would be 656 00:58:50.440 --> 00:58:57.679 dead and turn to watery foam. All the church bells rang out, and 657 00:58:57.840 --> 00:59:01.519 haralds rose through the streets to announce the wedding. Upon every altar, sweet 658 00:59:01.519 --> 00:59:07.360 scented oils were burned, and costly silver lamps. The priests swung their censors. 659 00:59:07.800 --> 00:59:12.639 The bride and the groom joined their hands, and the bishop blessed their 660 00:59:12.679 --> 00:59:17.480 marriage. The little mermaid, clothed in silk and cloth of gold, held 661 00:59:17.480 --> 00:59:22.159 the bride's train, but she was deaf to the wedding march and blind to 662 00:59:22.199 --> 00:59:28.159 the holy ritual. Her thought turned on her last night, upon earth, 663 00:59:29.079 --> 00:59:34.719 and on all she had lost in this world. That same evening, the 664 00:59:34.800 --> 00:59:38.960 bride and the groom went aboard the ship. Cannon thundered and banners waved, 665 00:59:39.519 --> 00:59:44.159 and on the deck. The royal pavilion of purple and gold was set up 666 00:59:45.760 --> 00:59:50.880 here the wedded couple were to sleep on that calm, clear night, The 667 00:59:50.960 --> 00:59:55.360 sails swelled in the breeze, and the ship glided so lightly that it scarcely 668 00:59:55.400 --> 01:00:01.360 seemed to move over the quiet sea. At nightfall, brightly colored lanterns were 669 01:00:01.440 --> 01:00:07.119 lighted, and the mariners merely danced on the deck. The little mermaid could 670 01:00:07.159 --> 01:00:10.559 not forget that the first time she rose from the depths of the sea and 671 01:00:10.719 --> 01:00:19.199 looked as such happiness was when she had first seen the Prince light as a 672 01:00:19.239 --> 01:00:23.599 swallow, pursued by his enemies. She'd joined the whirling dance. Everyone cheered 673 01:00:23.599 --> 01:00:30.800 her, for never had she danced so wonderfully. Her tender feet felt as 674 01:00:30.800 --> 01:00:35.599 they were pierced by daggers, but she didn't feel it. Her heart suffered 675 01:00:35.599 --> 01:00:39.360 far greater pain. She knew that this was the last evening that she would 676 01:00:39.360 --> 01:00:45.079 ever see him, for whom she had forsaken her home and family, for 677 01:00:45.159 --> 01:00:49.800 whom she had sacrificed her lovely voice, and suffered such constant torment. While 678 01:00:49.800 --> 01:00:53.320 he knew nothing of all these things. It was the last night that she 679 01:00:53.320 --> 01:00:58.840 would breathe The same air with him, or look upon deep waters or the 680 01:00:58.920 --> 01:01:04.519 star fields of the blue sky. A never ending night, without thought and 681 01:01:04.599 --> 01:01:07.840 without dreams awaited her, who had no soul and could not get one. 682 01:01:09.960 --> 01:01:15.559 The merrymaking lasted long after midnight, yet she laughed and danced on, despite 683 01:01:15.599 --> 01:01:21.639 the thought of death she carried in her heart. The prince kissed his beautiful 684 01:01:21.639 --> 01:01:24.480 bride, and she toyed with his cold black hair. Hand in hand. 685 01:01:24.760 --> 01:01:30.800 They went to rest in the magnificent pavilion. A hush came over the ship. 686 01:01:31.800 --> 01:01:36.559 Only the helmsman remained on deck as the little mermaid leaned her white arms 687 01:01:36.559 --> 01:01:39.559 over the bulkworks and looked to the east to see if the first red hint 688 01:01:39.599 --> 01:01:45.119 of daybreak. But she knew that the first flash of the sun would strike 689 01:01:45.159 --> 01:01:50.679 her dead. When she saw her sisters rise up among the waves, they 690 01:01:50.719 --> 01:01:54.280 were as pale as she, and there was no sign of their lovely long 691 01:01:54.320 --> 01:01:58.519 hair that the breezes used to blow. It had all been cut off. 692 01:02:00.679 --> 01:02:04.280 We have given our hair to the witch, they said, so that she 693 01:02:04.320 --> 01:02:08.239 would send you help and save you from death. To night, she gave 694 01:02:08.320 --> 01:02:14.320 us a knife. Here it is see the sharp blade. Before the sun 695 01:02:14.400 --> 01:02:17.719 rises, you may strike it into the prince's heart, and when his warm 696 01:02:17.760 --> 01:02:22.119 blood bathes your feet, they will grow together and become a fishtail again. 697 01:02:23.519 --> 01:02:27.760 Then you will be a mermaid, able to come back with us to the 698 01:02:27.840 --> 01:02:30.400 sea and to live out your three hundred years before you die and turn into 699 01:02:30.440 --> 01:02:37.639 dead sea foam. Make haste, he or you must die before sunrise. 700 01:02:38.800 --> 01:02:44.000 Our old grandmother is so grief stricken that her white hair is falling fast, 701 01:02:44.719 --> 01:02:49.800 just as ours did under the witch's scissors. Kill the prince and come back 702 01:02:49.840 --> 01:02:54.320 to us. Hurry see that red glow in the heavens. In a few 703 01:02:54.320 --> 01:02:59.559 minutes, the sun will rise, and you must die. They then dove 704 01:02:59.599 --> 01:03:05.039 beneath the waves again. The little mermaid parted the purple curtains of the tent 705 01:03:05.079 --> 01:03:09.559 and saw the beautiful bride asleep with her head on the prince's chest. The 706 01:03:09.639 --> 01:03:15.039 mermaid bent down and kissed his shapely forehead. She looked at the sky fast 707 01:03:15.119 --> 01:03:21.320 reddening for the daybreak. She looked at the sharp knife, and again turned 708 01:03:21.360 --> 01:03:24.480 her eyes towards the prince, who, in his sleep murmured the name of 709 01:03:24.519 --> 01:03:30.719 his bride. His thoughts were all for her, and the knife blade trembled 710 01:03:30.719 --> 01:03:36.679 in the Mermaid's hand, But then she flung it from her far out over 711 01:03:36.719 --> 01:03:39.559 the waves, where it fell. The waves were red, as if bubbles 712 01:03:39.559 --> 01:03:46.880 of blood seized in the water. With eyes already glazing, she looked once 713 01:03:46.920 --> 01:03:52.360 more at the prince, hurled herself over the bulkwards into the sea, and 714 01:03:52.440 --> 01:03:59.000 felt her body dissolve into foam. The sun rose up from the waters. 715 01:03:59.440 --> 01:04:03.639 Its beam fell warm and kindly upon the chill sea foam, and the little 716 01:04:03.679 --> 01:04:09.920 Mermaid did not feel the hand of death. In the bright sunlight overhead, 717 01:04:10.159 --> 01:04:15.519 she saw hundreds of fair ethereal beings. They were so transparent that through them 718 01:04:15.679 --> 01:04:19.119 she could see the ship's white sails and the red clouds in the sky. 719 01:04:21.320 --> 01:04:27.119 Their voices were sheer music, but so spirit like that no human ear could 720 01:04:27.119 --> 01:04:30.440 detect the sound, just as no eye on earth could see their forms. 721 01:04:32.480 --> 01:04:39.000 Without wings, they floated as light as the air itself. The little mermaid 722 01:04:39.079 --> 01:04:44.039 discovered that she was shaped like them, and that she was gradually rising up 723 01:04:44.079 --> 01:04:50.119 out of the paae. Who are you, she asked, and her voice 724 01:04:50.119 --> 01:04:56.239 sounded like those above her, so spiritual that no music on earth could match 725 01:04:56.280 --> 01:05:01.599 it. We are the daughters of the Air, answered, A mermaid has 726 01:05:01.679 --> 01:05:06.079 no immortal soul and can never get one unless she wins the love of a 727 01:05:06.159 --> 01:05:15.719 human being. Her eternal life must depend upon a power outside herself. The 728 01:05:15.840 --> 01:05:19.960 daughters of the Air do not have an immortal soul either, but they can 729 01:05:20.000 --> 01:05:26.880 earn one by doing good deeds. We fly to the south, where the 730 01:05:27.000 --> 01:05:31.719 hot, poisonous air kills human beings unless we bring cool breezes. We carry 731 01:05:31.719 --> 01:05:36.280 the scent of flowers through the air, bringing freshness and healing balm wherever we 732 01:05:36.360 --> 01:05:44.119 go. When for three hundred years we have tried to do all the good 733 01:05:44.119 --> 01:05:47.440 that we can, we are given and an immortal soul and a share in 734 01:05:47.519 --> 01:05:54.119 mankind's eternal bliss. You poor little mermaid, have tried with your whole heart 735 01:05:54.199 --> 01:05:58.599 to do this too. Your suffering and your loyalty have raised you up to 736 01:05:58.639 --> 01:06:01.920 the realm of airy spirit, And now, in the course of three hundred 737 01:06:02.000 --> 01:06:06.119 years, you may earn by your good deeds, a soul that will never 738 01:06:06.199 --> 01:06:12.360 die. The little Mermaid lifted her clear, bright eyes toward God's Son, 739 01:06:12.679 --> 01:06:16.159 and for the first time her eyes were wet with tears. On board the 740 01:06:16.239 --> 01:06:20.639 ship, all was astir and lively. Again she saw the Prince and his 741 01:06:20.760 --> 01:06:26.760 fair bride in search for her. They gazed sadly into the seething foam, 742 01:06:26.800 --> 01:06:31.440 as if they knew she had hurled herself into the waves unseen by them. 743 01:06:31.519 --> 01:06:36.400 She kissed the bride's forehead, smiled upon the prince, and rose up with 744 01:06:36.480 --> 01:06:43.079 the other daughters of the air to the rose red clouds that sailed on high. 745 01:06:43.440 --> 01:06:45.320 This is the way that we shall rise to the Kingdom of God. 746 01:06:45.599 --> 01:06:50.679 After three hundred years have passed, maybe get there even sooner. One spirit 747 01:06:50.719 --> 01:06:57.400 whispered unseen. We fly into the homes of men where there are children, 748 01:06:57.800 --> 01:07:00.400 And for every day on which we find a good child who phases his parents 749 01:07:00.679 --> 01:07:06.679 and deserves their love, God shortens our days of trial. The child does 750 01:07:06.719 --> 01:07:11.719 not know when we float through his room, but when we smile at him 751 01:07:11.760 --> 01:07:15.800 in approval, one year is taken from our three hundred. But if we 752 01:07:15.880 --> 01:07:21.159 see a naughty, mischievous child, we must shed tears of sorrow, and 753 01:07:21.320 --> 01:07:30.840 each tear adds a day to the time of our trial. While really sad 754 01:07:30.079 --> 01:07:36.000 and quite long, this story will always hold a very special place in my 755 01:07:36.039 --> 01:07:42.480 heart. It was the first original story I had ever read. When it 756 01:07:42.519 --> 01:07:47.000 came to like fairy tales in the Disney princesses and stuff like that. But 757 01:07:47.119 --> 01:07:50.920 this was one of those ones that I read, Oh, I want to 758 01:07:50.920 --> 01:07:56.159 say, maybe ten years ago or so. And I did read this to 759 01:07:56.199 --> 01:08:00.039 my daughter, not ten years ago, but she was a little bit older 760 01:08:00.719 --> 01:08:04.760 and she really enjoyed it too, and she was poor thing. She would 761 01:08:04.760 --> 01:08:08.840 cry when I would read it to her. But as you can tell, 762 01:08:08.880 --> 01:08:13.880 it's like an hour long story. So I am so sorry if that did 763 01:08:13.960 --> 01:08:17.399 drag on a little bit. I know some parts were very detailed in describing 764 01:08:17.439 --> 01:08:20.680 certain things, but that was part of the magic for me when I read 765 01:08:20.720 --> 01:08:25.319 it. Now, this next one, we're going to go on to Peter 766 01:08:25.479 --> 01:08:30.960 Pan this one. This one is very different from the other ones we've talked 767 01:08:30.960 --> 01:08:35.840 about in that there's layers to it. It's not just an adaptation from an 768 01:08:35.840 --> 01:08:42.880 original story. It's much more recent than the last few, and its first 769 01:08:42.920 --> 01:08:50.439 mentions we're in the early nineteen hundreds for this. I'm going from Refinery twenty 770 01:08:50.479 --> 01:08:56.880 nine. This is an article written by Mike Albo back in twenty fourteen, 771 01:08:57.680 --> 01:09:02.840 and honestly, it breaks everything down in such a phenomenal way there's just no 772 01:09:02.920 --> 01:09:06.159 reason for me to go in and try to put it in my own words, 773 01:09:06.159 --> 01:09:11.239 because they were going to do a better So before we get into that, 774 01:09:11.399 --> 01:09:15.079 Peter Pan. The story of Peter Pan, in different versions of it, 775 01:09:15.119 --> 01:09:19.880 have been played over and over and over over the last hundred years. 776 01:09:23.319 --> 01:09:28.279 It was last performed on live TV in nineteen fifty five and again in fifty 777 01:09:28.319 --> 01:09:32.640 six. There was a two thousand and five film one, the movie Hook. 778 01:09:33.079 --> 01:09:36.439 That's the one I loved when I was growing up, was that movie 779 01:09:36.479 --> 01:09:45.039 hook. Peter Pan has had many incarnations over the years, but the origins 780 01:09:45.079 --> 01:09:47.439 of the tale, as well as the fates of its author J. M. 781 01:09:47.560 --> 01:09:53.119 Barry and the children who inspired it, turned out to be much much 782 01:09:53.159 --> 01:10:00.600 more interesting. So let's talk about Barry and the boys. J. M. 783 01:10:00.680 --> 01:10:04.399 Barry was born in eighteen sixty He was the son of Margaret and Alexander 784 01:10:04.479 --> 01:10:11.520 Berry, and he was in the Scottish town of Carrie Muir shit Carrie Muir 785 01:10:11.920 --> 01:10:15.159 something like that. He had an older brother, David, who was known 786 01:10:15.199 --> 01:10:19.840 to be one of those beautiful golden children who everyone loved and adored. But 787 01:10:19.960 --> 01:10:25.199 in the winter of eighteen sixty seven, David was hit by a fellow ice 788 01:10:25.239 --> 01:10:33.840 skater. He fell, cracked his skull and died Barry's mother never recovered mentally 789 01:10:34.720 --> 01:10:38.920 and was said to find a small comfort in the fact that David would remain 790 01:10:39.000 --> 01:10:45.239 a boy forever. It was here that Barry's lifelong obsession with boys and that 791 01:10:45.359 --> 01:10:53.239 preservation of their innocence became anchored in his psyche. Barry moved to London and 792 01:10:53.359 --> 01:10:58.880 in eighteen ninety four he married an actress named Mary Ansell. As a kind 793 01:10:58.920 --> 01:11:04.960 of wedding present, he gave her a Saint Bernhard dog. The couple never 794 01:11:05.039 --> 01:11:12.920 had children, and evidence suggests they may have never actually consummated their marriage either. 795 01:11:14.680 --> 01:11:18.680 He just as much declared it in his story Tommy and Grizzel. He 796 01:11:18.760 --> 01:11:23.720 wrote this in about nineteen hundred, and he wrote about a toxic marriage, 797 01:11:24.279 --> 01:11:30.479 which he wrote six years into his marriage with Ansel Grizzle. I seem to 798 01:11:30.520 --> 01:11:34.960 be different from all other men. There seems to be some curse upon me. 799 01:11:36.119 --> 01:11:41.159 You are the only woman I ever wanted to love, but apparently I 800 01:11:41.239 --> 01:11:46.439 can't. The marriage between JM and Mary didn't last, and they ended up 801 01:11:46.439 --> 01:11:56.239 divorcing in nineteen o nine. Could you imagine reading something like that? Something 802 01:11:56.359 --> 01:12:03.840 published that just seems terrible. In eighteen ninety eight, Barry met a pair 803 01:12:03.880 --> 01:12:10.359 of boys in Kensington Gardens, which is an expanse adjacent to London's Hyde Park. 804 01:12:11.319 --> 01:12:15.159 George and Jack Llewellyn Davies, aged five and four, were walking with 805 01:12:15.159 --> 01:12:21.760 their nurse. Barry began to see them there repeatedly, and he befriended them. 806 01:12:21.920 --> 01:12:27.800 Soon after he met their parents, Sylvia and Arthur. Later, three 807 01:12:27.840 --> 01:12:32.319 more sons were born, Peter, Michael, and Nico. The Davies clan 808 01:12:32.479 --> 01:12:41.239 began to let Barry into their lives, and gradually Barry became uncle Jim. 809 01:12:41.319 --> 01:12:46.239 Peter Pan made its first appearance in The Little White Bird, Barry's thinly veiled 810 01:12:46.279 --> 01:12:51.239 novel about George Llewellen Davies that today, with our sensitivity to sexual predators, 811 01:12:51.880 --> 01:12:58.079 has a creepy tone. In the book, a boy named David is befriended 812 01:12:58.079 --> 01:13:00.439 by the narrator, who pretends to have a son of his own who died. 813 01:13:01.520 --> 01:13:08.119 He uses this lie to create empathy with David's parents. The narrator is 814 01:13:08.159 --> 01:13:13.479 particularly excited that David's mother, Mary has been duped, which allows him to 815 01:13:13.520 --> 01:13:19.680 take David utterly from her and make him mine. Within the novel, the 816 01:13:19.800 --> 01:13:24.880 narrator invests a story about a magical boy named Peter Pan, who never grows 817 01:13:24.920 --> 01:13:30.359 old and who lives in Kensington Gardens. In his biography J. M. 818 01:13:30.439 --> 01:13:36.560 Barry in The Lost Boys, Andrew Berskin stressed that despite it all, he 819 01:13:36.640 --> 01:13:42.439 doesn't believe Barry was a sexual predator of children. Barry, he says, 820 01:13:42.560 --> 01:13:46.239 was a lover of childhood, but was not in any sexual sense the pedophile 821 01:13:46.279 --> 01:13:50.479 that some claim him to have been. It's a similar defense many provide for 822 01:13:50.560 --> 01:13:56.000 Michael Jackson that his obsession with boys, deep seated and obsessive as it was, 823 01:13:56.159 --> 01:14:01.960 had no physical aspect to it, but Peer's dudgeon. In his more 824 01:14:02.279 --> 01:14:08.840 damning biography, Neverland, J. M. Barry, The dou Marriers and 825 01:14:08.960 --> 01:14:15.079 the Dark Side of Peter Pan thinks very differently. He even dug up incriminating 826 01:14:15.119 --> 01:14:21.279 evidence that was more to Barry's attachment to the Davy's children than simple protective friendship. 827 01:14:24.399 --> 01:14:29.239 First, there are letters that he wrote to Michael Llewellen Davies, who 828 01:14:29.279 --> 01:14:33.640 has often thought of as Barry's favorite Davy's child. On the eve of Michael's 829 01:14:33.720 --> 01:14:41.079 eighth birthday in June of nineteen o eight, Barry wrote quote, I wish 830 01:14:41.119 --> 01:14:45.119 I could be with you and your candles. You can look on me as 831 01:14:45.159 --> 01:14:48.960 one of your candles, the one that burns badly, the greasy one that 832 01:14:49.079 --> 01:14:54.840 is bent in the middle, but still hooray. I am Michael's candle. 833 01:14:55.920 --> 01:14:59.920 I wish I could see you putting on the redskin's clothes for the first time. 834 01:15:00.039 --> 01:15:04.880 Dear Michael, I am very fond of you, but don't tell anybody. 835 01:15:05.119 --> 01:15:12.680 End quote. And then there's the matter of Barry becoming the boy's guardian. 836 01:15:13.720 --> 01:15:16.720 Arthur Llewellen Davies died from cancer of the jaw in nineteen oh seven, 837 01:15:17.399 --> 01:15:21.399 and then Sylvia, the mother, died of lung cancer in nineteen ten. 838 01:15:23.920 --> 01:15:29.279 Sylvia had left a handwritten document that said what I would like would be if 839 01:15:29.399 --> 01:15:33.800 Jenny would come to Mary and that the two together would I'm sorry this is 840 01:15:33.800 --> 01:15:39.560 written very terribly. Would is w d would be looking after the boys in 841 01:15:39.640 --> 01:15:45.000 the house. So Mary was the boy's nanny, Jenny was Mary's sister. 842 01:15:45.600 --> 01:15:53.039 Barry transcribed the will himself and sent it to the boy's maternal grandmother. However, 843 01:15:54.039 --> 01:16:00.000 he altered Jenny to Jimmy, so it appeared that Sylvia wished for him 844 01:16:00.000 --> 01:16:10.199 to become the boys guardian, intentional or just a really convenient accident. Regardless, 845 01:16:10.399 --> 01:16:15.119 the children became his to care for. But amid all these machinations, 846 01:16:15.560 --> 01:16:21.359 there is as of yet no hard evidence that Barry ever physically abused these children. 847 01:16:23.359 --> 01:16:28.840 This is the author of Peter Pan we are talking about had a Michael 848 01:16:28.960 --> 01:16:38.319 Jackson esque fascination with boys and childhood. That's kind of a rough one. 849 01:16:40.720 --> 01:16:45.600 So what happened to the Davies kids. In nineteen fifteen, George, the 850 01:16:45.680 --> 01:16:50.239 oldest of the Davis boys, was killed in World War One fighting with his 851 01:16:50.359 --> 01:16:56.840 regiment in Landers. The death of his brother caused Michael and Barry to grow 852 01:16:56.920 --> 01:17:02.279 a bit closer. Michael left home to attend Eton College and had a hard 853 01:17:02.279 --> 01:17:10.319 time adjusting. He was troubled and antisocial, but became very close with Rupert 854 01:17:10.319 --> 01:17:15.199 Buxton, a son of a decorated baronet. The two reportedly became inseparabool, 855 01:17:15.239 --> 01:17:23.880 spending both time at the university and on holiday together. In May of nineteen 856 01:17:23.920 --> 01:17:29.920 twenty one, Davies and Buxton drowned together in Sandford Pool, a body of 857 01:17:29.920 --> 01:17:35.119 water a few miles from Oxford. Some reports say that the bodies were found 858 01:17:35.159 --> 01:17:41.479 clinging to each other. Theories of how and why they died abound, but 859 01:17:41.600 --> 01:17:45.520 some believed that Buxton and Davies were lovers and this was a suicide pact. 860 01:17:47.840 --> 01:17:54.039 In later interviews, Michael's younger brother, Peter and Nico acknowledged suicide was a 861 01:17:54.119 --> 01:18:02.359 likely explanation. Years later, Peter Llewellen Davies became a successful publisher. Many 862 01:18:02.399 --> 01:18:06.239 of the letters between Michael and Barry were destroyed by him as he grew to 863 01:18:06.319 --> 01:18:13.199 dislike having his name associated with Peter Pan. He is quoted as calling Peter 864 01:18:13.279 --> 01:18:19.800 Pan that terrible masterpiece. Many, including his son Ruthven They do imply that 865 01:18:20.439 --> 01:18:27.439 the unwanted fame drove Peter to become an alcoholic. In April of nineteen sixty 866 01:18:27.520 --> 01:18:34.119 he threw himself under a subway train in London. Barry he died of pneumonia 867 01:18:34.439 --> 01:18:41.840 in nineteen thirty seven. He bequeathed the copyright of all of his Peter Pan 868 01:18:41.960 --> 01:18:46.399 works to the Great Ormond Street Hospital, a hospital for children, which still 869 01:18:46.479 --> 01:18:51.920 greatly benefits from owning the rights. Now that's the end of the article. 870 01:18:51.960 --> 01:18:57.039 It does go on a little bit with the boyology thing and looking a little 871 01:18:57.199 --> 01:19:00.520 psychologically into it. We're not going to really talk about that much. One 872 01:19:00.560 --> 01:19:05.720 thing I did notice the difference from the original stories from the movies that we've 873 01:19:05.720 --> 01:19:13.680 seen, especially recently, Hook wasn't in them. It was Peter Pan was 874 01:19:13.760 --> 01:19:23.439 this kind of like malevolent boy spirit that actually depicted a normal boy quite well. 875 01:19:25.000 --> 01:19:28.399 And I think in the original stories it was actually an infant boy too. 876 01:19:28.479 --> 01:19:33.560 But it's the classic things with kids. They're selfish, loving, but 877 01:19:33.720 --> 01:19:39.239 sometimes loving way too much, and they don't think about ramifications of their actions. 878 01:19:40.479 --> 01:19:45.079 This In the original stories, he wants people to be there and play 879 01:19:45.119 --> 01:19:50.399 with him, love him, show him affection, and they take Wendy. 880 01:19:50.520 --> 01:19:56.279 In the Darlings, the boys are there to add to their growing numbers, 881 01:19:56.800 --> 01:20:00.960 but Wendy is meant to be like a mother figure for them. The original 882 01:20:01.000 --> 01:20:06.840 stories are quite lovely, but they are long, so since we're already over 883 01:20:06.960 --> 01:20:12.960 an hour with us, I'm not going to read those. However, if 884 01:20:12.960 --> 01:20:16.039 you would like to hear some more stories, I am going to do a 885 01:20:16.039 --> 01:20:23.640 Patreon episode on this. We will talk about Frozen, the real story behind 886 01:20:23.680 --> 01:20:30.399 that, the Pied Piper, and Sleeping Beauty, So if you are interested 887 01:20:30.399 --> 01:20:35.680 in those, feel free to check out Patreon Shoes Boosing Tattoos. If not, 888 01:20:36.600 --> 01:20:42.720 you guys have four stories that We've just gone over about two hours worth 889 01:20:42.720 --> 01:20:46.439 of content. Hopefully I can get this all edited and out to you the 890 01:20:46.520 --> 01:20:53.399 same day. I'm hoping, but right now it's already noon, and usually 891 01:20:53.439 --> 01:20:58.880 I am like halfway into editing by now, so we shall see. I'm 892 01:20:58.920 --> 01:21:03.319 not going to read reviews for this one, since I did it in part 893 01:21:03.359 --> 01:21:10.319 one. I'm going to skip over reviews for this part two. If you 894 01:21:10.319 --> 01:21:13.279 want to get a hold of me, you can find me on social media 895 01:21:13.319 --> 01:21:17.439 of course, Shoes Boozing Tattoos, Facebook and instagram, sbt pod on Twitter, 896 01:21:18.399 --> 01:21:24.279 or you can send me an email Shoes Boozing Tattoos at gmail dot com. 897 01:21:24.319 --> 01:21:28.479 Thank you all so much for listening. I'll see you all later. 898 01:21:29.319 --> 01:21:45.199 Bye. I'll round if you followed down around. It's not out of space, 899 01:22:00.159 --> 01:22:09.960 no die, I said so, and the dough is no, I 900 01:22:10.039 --> 01:22:15.399 don't say it's so, and the daughter is not