Elizabeth Reay - Fairy Tale Summary

The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen

This summary's a bit long but I think it explains it nicely:

The Little Mermaid lives far out to sea with her sea-king father, her grandmother, and her older sisters. Eventually the Little Mermaid becomes of age to visit the surface and falls in love with a human prince she sees. She saves him from drowning in a ship wreck and brings him to a nearby shore in front of a temple, where he is found by a temple maiden. After this, the Little Mermaid asks her grandmother about humans. She responds that humans have a much shorter life than the merfolks' 300 year lifespan. However, humans have an eternal soul that goes up to Heaven after they die, whereas merfolk turn into sea foam and cease to exist. Soon, the Little Mermaid goes to the Sea Witch in order to be with the Prince. The Sea Witch says if she is able to win the Prince's love, she will gain an eternal soul. The sea witch agrees to make her a potion that will turn her fins into legs, but every step will feel like she is walking on sharp swords and her feet will bleed terribly. Additionally, if the Prince marries another, the morning after his wedding, she will die and turn into sea foam. The price for the potion is the Little Mermaid's tongue, because she has the most intoxicating voice in the sea realm. The Little Mermaid agrees and the Sea Witch gives her the potion. She goes to the Prince's palace and drinks the potion and wakes up a human. The Prince takes her in and is quite fond of her and she is happy with him despite every step feeling like she is being cut by sharp swords. Eventually, the Prince must marry a princess from a neighboring kingdom. Though he and the Little Mermaid both think he would not marry a stranger, the princess is revealed to be the girl from the temple who discovered him on the shore after the Little Mermaid rescued him and left him there. The Prince is thrilled to see her, believing her to be the one who rescued him. The two are married immediately, and they board a ship home. On the ship, the Little Mermaid realizes that this is her last night on earth and remembers with sorrow all that she had given up for the Prince. Her sisters then appear and they tell her that they have sold their hair to the Sea Witch in exchange for a magic knife. If she kills the Prince with it, she will become a mermaid again. The Little Mermaid cannot bring herself to do so, and throws herself over the deck, prepared to die. However, because of her self sacrifice, she does not die and instead she becomes a "Daughter of the Air." Another Daughter of the Air tells her that she will gain an eternal soul through 300 years worth of good deeds. When a child is bad, the Daughters of the Air shed tears, for each tear a day is added to their time on earth, but when a child is good, a Daughter of the Air smiles, and a year is taken off from her time on earth, and will eventually go to heaven.