The Little Mermaid

Oh hey. Wanna fall in love?

This week, let's look at the Little Mermaid. I mean the story written by Hans Christian Anderson, found here. It's a bit longer than most fairy tales, but I'll wait while you read it.
Love is a funny thing. Anderson spent most of his life pining for someone and that shows through in his stories. In this one, the mermaid falls in love with a man who considers her like a sister and they are never together the way she wants them to be. Poor little princess.

In this story we learn that if you give up everything for someone, you might not end up with them. I'm not sure if the little mermaid considers a shot at having a soul better than getting to live with and love her prince. Or even if she considers spending 300 years to earn a soul better than turning to foam on the sea. I can see why Disney changed the story when they made it into a movie. It's not a happy ending, but it's not as sad as it could have been, I suppose.

We also learn that communication is incredibly important and that if you're going to pin your hopes on loving someone, you'd better be sure they aren't in love with someone else first.