The Little Mermaid:
Choose Your Own Adventure Version
“Far out in the ocean, where the water is as blue as the prettiest cornflower, and as clear as crystal, it is very, very deep; so deep, indeed, that no cable could fathom it: many church steeples, piled one upon another, would not reach from the ground beneath to the surface of the water above.
There dwell the Sea King and his subjects. We must not imagine that there is nothing at the bottom of the sea but bare yellow sand.
No, indeed; the most singular flowers and plants grow there; the leaves and stems of which are so pliant, that the slightest agitation of the water causes them to stir as if they had life. Fishes, both large and small, glide between the branches, as birds fly among the trees here upon land.
In the deepest spot of all, stands the castle of the Sea King. Its walls are built of coral, and the long, gothic windows are of the clearest amber. The roof is formed of shells, that open and close as the water flows over them. Their appearance is very beautiful, for in each lies a glittering pearl, which would be fit for the diadem of a queen."
-- Hans Christian Andersen
About
A Choose Your Own Adventure version of Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Mermaid."
Created for a Digital Publishing course.
Contact: [email protected]
It is a bright, calm day in the palace of the Sea King.
The Sea King, his mother, and five of his six daughters gather in the main entryway of the palace, waiting.
It's a special day for you, the sixth daughter of the Sea King. The little mermaid. Today is the day you have been anticipating for what feels like your entire life. Your fifteenth birthday: the day you can finally venture to the surface of the ocean and see what all your sisters have seen.
You have always been fascinated by the world above the ocean, pressing your grandmother for details about life there, about the people and animals, their ships that pass overhead and the towns they build on land. Your grandmother has never understood your obsession, but she always assured you that one day you would see it all for yourself. When each of the Sea King's daughters turn fifteen, they are permitted to journey to the surface of the ocean.
Your sisters had been fascinated too, at first. Your eldest sister had returned from the surface with tales of the beautiful town she had found nearby. You had been captivated by her description of the beautiful music and twinkling lights your sister had taken in from her perch on the rocky beach.
Your second sister had told of the beauty of the sunset, your third of the beauty of the sky. Your fourth sister had traveled to the surface during winter, and had returned with tales of the miles of ice and snow blanketing the land.
Your fifth sister had traveled upriver and found a group of human children. Though they had scattered when she tried to play, her descriptions of their tinkling laughter and tiny limbs had caught your attention for weeks. You remember comparing her story to the statue you keep in your part of the garden, separate from your sisters' tiny plots. The white marble statue of a boy, fallen from a shipwreck many years ago. He was long-limbed and handsome, where the children from your sister's story were small and chubby. You had spent hours and hours hovering around that statue, memorizing every detail, every difference between yourself and him.
Your sisters had quickly grown bored with the world above, admitting they preferred the sea after a few weeks of excitement. You know you won't be the same. It was your turn now, to experience the world of humans, and you are going to make the most of it.
You meet your family in the main entryway of the palace and say goodbye. They wave you off happily, your sisters shouting suggestions for exploration as you finally head towards the surface.
You swim quickly towards the surface, excitement bubbling up in your stomach. You want to see everything your sisters described, and more. You want to make the most of this day, the first day of your exploration.
When you break the surface, you see the beautiful reds and golds of the sunset your second sister had loved so much. You bask in the warmth and beauty of it for a few moments, before you look around and realize that, in the near distance there lies a ship, still in the water. Music from on board drifts towards you, and you wonder if there is some sort of celebration happening.
After a moment, the distant sound of bells echoes from the path you know leads towards the town your fifth sister found so fascinating, the town full of children and music and light.
You twist around in the water, trying to take it all in at once. In the far distance, in the opposite direction from the ship and the town, a strange haze of light appears on the horizon. You wonder what it could be.
As darkness approaches, you know you cannot see everything before you must return to the palace. You must make a decision.
What do you do?
You decide to approach the ship.
As darkness approaches, you see people lighting brightly colored lanterns all across the ship. The music grows louder and louder. As you grow closer to the side of the ship, you see men on board dancing to the music.
As you drift on the waves, you catch a glimpse of a crowd of finely dressed humans through the small glass windowpanes. One figure in particular catches your eye: a beautiful young prince, tall and dark-eyed. As you observe, you realize he seems to be the center of the festivities.
You continue to observe the young prince throughout the night, as the crew of the ship set off brightly sparkling rockets in celebration of him. You are startled at first, but keep close to the ship even as the lights slowly turn off and the music and loud laughter fade out.
Finally, as the sea groans with an impending storm, you follow the ship as it starts toward an unknown destination. A horrible storm is approaching, but your desire to see the prince just one more time pushes you to continue.
You follow as the storm grows stronger and stronger, as the ship begins to struggle through the waves and eventually begins to break apart. As lightning cracks through the sky, you see him: the young prince. He is sinking into the water, having fallen off a plank.
For a moment, you feel a spark of happiness and excitement: now that the prince has come into the water with you, perhaps you can meet him. Then you remember what your grandmother told you: humans cannot survive in the water the way you mermaids can. You realize the prince is in danger, and there is no one else to help.
What do you do?
You swim into the shipwreck and search among the debris for the prince. Finally, you find him, lying across a floating plank, unmoving.
You swim up to him and take hold of him, keeping him afloat through the night. You let yourself drift among the waves.
In the morning, the color has returned to his cheeks but he has not awoken. As morning lights up your surroundings you realize you have floated down the path to the nearby town.
You swim toward the shore, to a large white building you can see close to the beach. You pull the prince up onto the sand with you, a little ways away from a garden attached to the white building.
A few moments later, bells begin to ring inside the building. You recognize their sound, which echoed across the sea last night. A group of young human women come into the garden from the building, which you realize may be a church or convent.
Startled, you dart away from the shore and watch behind a rocky outcropping as a lone girl, with a long dark braid, breaks away from the group and hesitantly walks down the beach to where you left the prince.
She sees him unresponsive on the shore and rushes back to the building, returning with a group. You watch as the prince awakens, finally, gracing the girl with the dark braid a grateful smile.
You return to the sea. Consumed by your fascination with the prince, and the knowledge that he does not know you, you mope around the palace until your sisters force the story from you. Fortunately, one of your sisters know how to find the prince's castle, and after she shows you its location you spend many days drifting in the water, waiting for a glimpse of him.
You spend months wasting days waiting in the water outside his castle, until one day your grandmother grows frustrated with your absence and forces you to explain. When you do so, your grandmother advises you to let go of the memory of the prince.
"Humans do not live as long as we do," she says. "When we cease to exist, we become sea foam because we have no immortal souls. However, humans do; when they die, they rise into the sky and become children of the air. You will never be like them."
You ask her if there really is no way to gain a soul. She says there may be, if you were to gain the all-encompassing love of a human: a love more powerful than anything else.
You know there is no way to gain the prince's love as you are. You remember the human children's reaction when they saw your sister: fear. If you want to be with the prince, you must become like him.
What do you do?
You decide that there is nothing to be done. Your family is right; your infatuation with the world above you is not worth it.
You know you must move on. You return to the palace, with your sisters, and force yourself to feel as they do. The surface is no longer a place of excitement, but simply an occasional break from the world of the sea. You tend your garden, explore the depths, and find other ways to occupy your time.
It is hard at first, but after a long while you realize you have found a measure of happiness and peace in your life, the same way your sisters have. Though you have lost much, you know now that it is possible to move past it.
You sit in your garden, tending the bright red sea flowers you planted years and years ago. You can hear your sisters' laughter in the air, off in the distance. You are alone.
[THE END.]
The way to the sea witch's lair is barren and grey.
Before you can enter, you realize you must cross the mire, full of sea serpents that catch and crush whatever creatures are unlucky enough to pass too close. As you scurry past, you think you see, out of the corner of your eye, the skeleton of another mermaid, choked with sea serpents and raggedy sea vines.
You consider turning back, but then you see, in your mind, the prince's handsome face. You think of what life would be like with him, if you had a soul too. Your courage returns, and you cross the mire to find the sea witch in the open space outside of her little hut, as if she has been waiting for you.
"I know what you want, little mermaid," she says. "It's foolish of you. You want to get rid of your mermaid tail so that you can become human and get the prince to love you. You want to gain a soul."
"Yes," you say.
"You're in luck then," the witch says. "I can create a potion for you that will change your tail into what humans call legs. You must go to the surface at sunrise and drink it on the shore. Every step you take will feel as if you are walking on knives, but you will be the most graceful dancer any human has ever seen."
You open your mouth to agree, impatient, but the witch waves you off.
"Think carefully," she warns. "Once you take this potion, you can never return to being a mermaid. You will never return to your family. If the prince does not return your love, and instead marries another, the morning after his wedding you will dissolve into sea foam, as all mermaids do when they die."
"I will do it," you say, a little more hesitant, but the witch cuts you off yet again.
"And I must be paid as well, and I do not demand anything lightly. You have the sweetest singing voice of anyone in the sea. If you agree to take this potion, your voice will be mine as payment."
You hesitate. The sea witch asks much of you in return for this potion, and there is no guarantee you will get what you desire.
What do you do?
"Yes, I will do it," you say, and the sea witch gives you a menacing smile.
You watch in silence as the witch creates the potion in the clearing, pulling ingredients out seemingly nowhere and throwing them in the ominously boiling pot. Sea creatures with sharp teeth hover around her as she works.
Finally, she says the potion is done, and hands you a small bottle of it.
Then, as you try to steel yourself against the pain, the witch cuts off your tongue as payment, leaving you without a voice.
As the witch's laughter echoes behind you, you head back towards the palace, clutching the potion tightly. The lights of the palace are all dim, and you know your family is sleeping.
You wish to say goodbye, but know they would try to stop you. How would you even say goodbye, with no voice? You turn to leave the palace behind and see the garden where you and your sisters spent so many long days together. You want something to remember them by, but sunrise is approaching and you are afraid of running out of time.
What do you do?
Acting quickly, you rush through the garden and clip a flower from each of your sisters' little plots. You clutch them in your other hand as you rush to the surface and head towards prince's castle, reaching it just in time to settle on the shore and gulp down the potion.
The switch from tail to legs is painful. When you finally regain your senses, you realize that on the shore before you is the prince, asking you if you are all right.
You go to speak and realize you cannot. You nod, and he reaches for your hand.
"I will take you to the palace," he says, "if you have nowhere else to go."
That night, at dinner, the prince allows you to sit next to him. He is every bit as kind and charming as you had always imagined, and when you rise to dance with the other partygoers, the light of happiness in his eyes gives you hope.
As the months pass, you remain close to the prince, who seems to appreciate your presence and spends long days in the library, discussing literature and knowledge with you even though you cannot respond. You admire his intelligence, and his patience.
One night, as you sit on the balcony with him, you use a piece of paper to write a question to him, as you have so many times.
"Do you love me?"
The prince sighs as he reads it. "Yes," he says, but your heart sinks when you hear the reluctance in his voice.
"But I do not know if I love you the way you love me. I am sorry, but my heart belongs to a young maiden who saved my life many months ago. I may never see her again, and you have almost driven her out of my mind, but still. I cannot help but think of her."
You realize he means the girl who found him on the beach after you saved his life. Your heart sinks even further.
Months later, the prince comes to you in a hurry, saying his parents have arranged a marriage for him. He does not wish to do it, and says he would rather marry you. Hope blooms in your chest again, until the day comes that he meets the woman he must marry.
You accompany him, and within moments of seeing her face in the courtyard you know it is the woman on the beach the prince said he had fallen in love with.
The prince, overcome with joy, says he will marry her, and does not notice as you sink into despair throughout the wedding festivities.
The prince and his wife take the court onto a boat, to celebrate the way he had celebrated his birthday when you first met him so long ago. You accompany him, weighed down with thoughts of your impending death.
After everyone has gone to sleep, you sit on the deck of the ship alone and look into the water. All of a sudden, figures rise to the surface and you realize they are your sisters. They call your name, and reach to hand you something.
"Sister," they say. "We have never forgotten our love for you. We have sacrificed our long hair to the sea witch to help you return to the sea. If you take this dagger and kill the prince tonight, you will become a mermaid again and live the rest of your life where you belong, with us."
They disappear again and you are left holding the dagger.
What do you do?
You clutch the knife in your hand and decide you want to live, no matter what. You sneak through the ship toward where you know his room is, and slowly edge the door open without a sound.
You find him asleep in his bed, with his new wife asleep beside him. You stop to take in his face, one last time, before you walk to the bed and bring the knife down into his chest before you can convince yourself to stop.
You feel the change beginning as a tingle in your limbs as you stumble away from the bed, knowing the prince is dead. His wife startles awake, and upon taking in his blood form begins to scream. You run from the room, to the deck as the sun begins to rise. As the ship falls into chaos behind you, you toss yourself into the sea just in time.
Your sisters are waiting for you, just beneath the surface, and they herd you back to the palace as you force yourself not to look back. Your sisters cover for you as you refuse to tell your father or grandmother what has happened, and you return to your life in the sea with an empty hollow inside.
You know you have lost any chance you had at gaining a soul, and even in the sea you will never sing again.
[THE END.]
You clutch the knife in your hand for a moment, hesitant.
Then, knowing you cannot do it, you whisper an apology to your sisters and toss the knife into the sea as the sun begins to rise around you.
You do not wish to live badly enough to destroy the prince's happiness. You sit down on the deck and wait for what you know will happen. As the sun rises fully, you allow yourself to fall off the deck into the sea and feel yourself slowly dissolving.
You prepare for everything to fade away, but as you dissolve something strange happens. In the bright sunlight, you see beautiful transparent figures floating around you. Daughters of the air, as your grandmother had called them once. They take your hands and pull you towards the sky.
"Though you have no immortal soul," one of the daughters says, "through your good deeds you have earned the chance at one by becoming one of us. As a daughter of the air, if you spend 300 years with us you may finally gain a soul of your own."
You laugh as the daughters of the air take you away, leaving behind the ship with the prince and his wife, who search for you in vain. You finally feel as if you are at peace.
[THE END.]
Acting quickly, you rush through the garden and clip a flower from each of your sisters' little plots. You clutch them in your other hand as you rush to the surface and head towards prince's castle, reaching it just in time to settle on the shore and gulp down the potion.
The switch from tail to legs is painful. When you finally regain your senses, you realize that on the shore before you is the prince, asking you are all right.
You go to speak and realize you cannot. You nod, and he reaches for your hand.
"I will take you to the palace," he says, "if you have nowhere else to go."
That night, at dinner, the prince allows you to sit next to him. He is every bit as kind and charming as you had always imagined, and when you rise to dance with the other partygoers, the light of happiness in his eyes gives you hope.
As the months pass, you remain close to the prince, who seems to appreciate your presence and spends long days in the library, discussing literature and knowledge with you even though you cannot respond. You admire his intelligence, and his patience.
One night, as you sit on the balcony with him, you use a piece of paper to write a question to him, as you have so many times.
"Do you love me?"
The prince sighs as he reads it. "Yes," he says, but your heart sinks when you hear the reluctance in his voice.
"But I do not know if I love you the way you love me. I am sorry, but my heart belongs to a young maiden who saved my life many months ago. I may never see her again, and you have almost driven her out of my mind, but still. I cannot help but think of her."
You realize he means the girl who found him on the beach after you saved his life. Your heart sinks even further.
Months later, the prince comes to you in a hurry, saying his parents have arranged a marriage for him. He does not wish to do it, and says he would rather marry you. Hope blooms in your chest again, until the day comes that he meets the woman he must marry.
You accompany him, and within moments of seeing her face in the courtyard you know it is the woman on the beach the prince said he had fallen in love with.
The prince, overcome with joy, says he will marry her, and does not notice as you sink into despair throughout the wedding festivities.
The prince and his wife take the court onto a boat, to celebrate the way he had celebrated his birthday when you first met him so long ago. You accompany him, weighed down with thoughts of your impending death.
After everyone has gone to sleep, you sit on the deck of the ship alone and wait for sunrise.
[THE END.]
You decide to leave behind the ship to approach the town. You are eager to hear and see what your sister did, the music and the bustle of busy humans.
You swim down the pathway your sister had indicated until you get tired. You pass by buildings, but there is no shore to rest on so you must pass them by despite the haze of light you see and the distant murmur of voices.
Finally, as the sun disappears, you find a stretch of shoreline near a large white building with a beautiful garden. You are heading towards it and settling on the sand before you realize there was a human figure, nearly hidden in the darkness, already sitting on the sand not to far away from you. You startle, and move to hide your mermaid half behind an outcropping of rocks as the figure approaches.
"Hello?" the figure calls. It's a human girl, around your age. "I can see you!"
You freeze. You're afraid of being found out as a mermaid, but you feel the urge to talk to her, to see what a human is really like. She sounds friendly.
What do you do?
You decide to try talking back to the girl and get as close as you can while still hiding your tail in the water. She walks into the water towards you, seemingly unconcerned by your strangeness.
Though you remain at a slight distance from her, you strike up a conversation in the dimming light. You ask her about the town, and she explains all there is to see that is beyond your reach, with your mermaid tail. You listen in fascination, finding yourself drifting closer and closer. You like this girl. She's friendly, and funny, and just as interesting as all the humans in your daydreams always were.
She tells you that she is the princess of a nearby kingdom studying at the convent in the town. She indicates the white building behind her.
You realize you have been talking for nearly an hour at this point. You know you should go home, but you hesitate. You want to be her friend, but you know it will be complicated.
What do you do?
You cut the girl off midsentence.
"I have to tell you something," you say, drifting even closer. She comes toward you, further into the water. You think she is smililng.
"Yes, what is it?" she asks, and you pull yourself up onto the sand, in the shallow water next to her. You indicate your tail.
"I'm a mermaid," you say, hesitant but hopeful.
But the girl is already backing away.
"That's not possible," she says, sounding scared. "Mermaids don't come up to land. Unless they're trying to lure someone into the water with them."
"That's not what I'm doing! Please, I just want to talk to you," you say, but the girl has already run back towards the convent.
You watch her go, devastated, and wait until she has disappeared into the building to slip back into the water. Disheartened, you realize you must return to the sea. You have lost your chance to find something worthwhile on the surface.
You decide there is no reason to reveal yourself just yet. You are afraid she'll take it badly. Instead, you tell her you have to return home now, but you would like to return and talk to her again.
She laughs, and says that she will wait on the shore for you at sunset tomorrow night if you want to come back. You say yes, and wait for her to disappear inside the convent before you slip back into the sea.
Over the next few months, you return every night that you can, and usually the princess is waiting for you. Every night that you spend with her, you become more and more convinced that she is the love of your life. You have never met anyone as kind, or intelligent, as this princess, and you find yourself wishing you could find some way to really be with her.
Though you have never revealed yourself, the princess has never pushed you on your strange habits: the way you never fully leave the water, the way you never tell her specific details about where you're from or who your family is. You wonder if maybe she has guessed that you are a mermaid already. If she hasn't mentioned it, then maybe she doesn't mind?
But you know that, unless something changes, you will never be with her.
You remember, years ago, your grandmother scolding you for your infatuation with humans.
"Humans do not live as long as we do," she had said. "When we cease to exist, we become sea foam because we have no immortal souls. However, humans do; when they die, they rise into the sky and become children of the air. You will never be like them."
You had asked her then if there really was no way to gain a soul. She said there may be, if you gained the all-encompassing love of a human: a love more powerful than anything else.
That's what you want from the princess. All-encompassing love, the way you feel about her. If you had a soul, then you could be together, you're sure of it.
What do you do?
The way to the sea witch's lair is barren and grey.
Before you can enter, you realize you must cross the mire, full of sea serpents that catch and crush whatever creatures are unlucky enough to pass too close. As you scurry past, you think you see, out of the corner of your eye, the skeleton of another mermaid, choked with sea serpents and raggedy sea vines.
You consider turning back, but then you see, in your mind, the princess's beautiful face. You think of what life would be like with her, if you had a soul too. Your courage returns, and you cross the mire to find the sea witch in the open space outside of her little hut, as if she has been waiting for you.
"I know what you want, little mermaid," she says. "It's foolish of you. You want to get rid of your mermaid tail so that you can become human and get the princess to love you. You want to gain a soul."
"Yes," you say.
"You're in luck then," the witch says. "I can create a potion for you that will change your tail into what humans call legs. You must go to the surface at sunrise and drink it on the shore. Every step you take will feel as if you are walking on knives, but you will be the most graceful dancer any human has ever seen."
You open your mouth to agree, impatient, but the witch waves you off.
"Think carefully," she warns. "Once you take this potion, you can never return to being a mermaid. You will never return to your family. If the princess does not return your love, and instead marries another, the morning after her wedding you will dissolve into sea foam, as all mermaids do when they die."
"I will do it," you say, a little more hesitant, but the witch cuts you off yet again.
"And I must be paid as well, and I do not demand anything lightly. You have the sweetest singing voice of anyone in the sea. If you agree to take this potion, your voice will be mine as payment."
You hesitate. The sea witch asks much of you in return for this potion, and there is no guarantee you will get what you desire.
What do you do?
"Yes, I will do it," you say, and the sea witch gives you a menacing smile.
You watch in silence as the witch creates the potion in the clearing, pulling ingredients out seemingly nowhere and throwing them in the ominously boiling pot. Sea creatures with sharp teeth hover around her as she works.
Finally, she says the potion is done, and hands you a small bottle of it.
Then, as you try to steel yourself against the pain, the witch cuts off your tongue as payment, leaving you without a voice.
As the witch's laughter echoes behind you, you head back towards the palace, clutching the potion tightly. The lights of the palace are all dim, and you know your family is sleeping.
You wish to say goodbye, but know they would try to stop you. How would you even say goodbye, with no voice? You turn to leave the palace behind and see the garden where you and your sisters spent so many long days together. You want something to remember them by, but sunrise is approaching and you are afraid of running out of time.
What do you do?
Acting quickly, you rush through the garden and clip a flower from each of your sisters' little plots. You clutch them in your other hand as you rush to the surface and head towards the princess's convent, reaching it just in time to settle on the shore and gulp down the potion.
The switch from tail to legs is painful. When you finally regain your senses, you realize that on the shore before you is the princess, asking you if you are all right.
You go to speak and realize you cannot. You nod, and she reaches for your hand.
The women in charge of the convent set you up in the princess's room at her request, and when you are finally alone she says that she recognizes you. She asks why you haven't said anything yet, and after hesitating for a moment, you show her where the sea witch cut off your tongue. The princess is horrified, but when you wave off her questions she nods reluctantly.
"Okay, but you have to tell me what happened eventually," she says.
Over the next few months you become part of the convent, spending every day with the princess and becoming closer to her. The women of the convent teach you sign language, a way for you to communicate even without a voice. You and the princess spend many days in the library, looking over books full of things you have never seen before.
You begin to think you may really have a chance at winning her heart.
But one day, the princess comes to the library after breakfast looking troubled.
In sign language you ask her what is wrong, and she tells you that her family has sent word that they want her to leave the convent and get married.
"They would have done it even sooner," she says, "but the prince I was originally engaged to passed away somehow. Now they want me to just pack up and leave everything here to be with someone I've never met."
She's very upset, and you feel your heart sinking. If the princess marries someone else, your life will be over.
You try to think of something to say, but the princess continues.
"I have no choice but to leave the convent and travel to meet this prince. I'm sure if I meet him and then say no, then my parents will listen. But I have a favor to ask. Will you come with me?"
You can't give up yet. You say you will go with her.
You don't want to give up yet. You agree to go with the princess to meet this prince she must marry.
It takes a few days of travel, but finally you reach the prince's castle. When you meet him, you feel despair. The prince is beautiful, kind and friendly just like the princess. When he reaches his hand out to greet her, she smiles despite herself, and you realize there may not be a chance after all.
That night at dinner, the prince and princess seem taken with each other, chattering excitedly while you sigh into your food. The only thing that gives you hope is the occasional smile or glance the princess sends you.
After dinner, the prince and princess leave for a walk together and you wander to the other side of the castle, where there is a shoreline heading out to sea. You sit down in the shallow water and look out across the sea.
All of a sudden, figures rise to the surface and you realize they are your sisters. They call your name, and reach to hand you something.
"Sister," they say. "We have never forgotten our love for you. We have sacrificed our long hair to the sea witch to help you return to the sea. If you take this dagger and kill the princess tonight, before she can marry, you will become a mermaid again and live the rest of your life where you belong, with us."
They disappear again and you are left holding the dagger.
What do you do?
You know that by now, because darkness has fallen, the princess is asleep in your shared room. You head through the castle in darkness, clutching the dagger tightly.
When you reach your room, you take a deep breath and push the door open. You rush into the room, towards her sleeping figure, knowing if you slow down you will not be able to do it.
She does not wake up as you plunge the knife down, as her life fades away and you feel the magic taking hold. You know you must leave as quickly as you can.
You run out of the room and through the castle, as someone finally raises the alarm and lights flicker on. You reach the shoreline just as guards appear behind you, and they chase you into the water.
Your sisters are waiting for you, just beneath the surface, and they herd you back to the palace as you force yourself not to look back. Your sisters cover for you as you refuse to tell your father or grandmother what has happened, and you return to your life in the sea with an empty hollow inside.
You know you have lost any chance you had at gaining a soul, and even in the sea you will never sing again.
[THE END.]
You know that by now, because darkness has fallen, the princess is asleep in your shared room. You head through the castle in darkness.
When you reach your room, you take a deep breath and push the door open. You rush into the room, towards her sleeping figure, shaking her awake before you can convince yourself not to.
She is confused at first, but once she realizes your urgency she sits and reads the movements of your hands until you have explained everything, and you both sit in silence.
Finally, you use sign language to tell her you love her.
She smiles.
"I love you too," she says, and she kisses you.
"I don't want to marry this prince. All I have ever wanted, I found in that convent by the sea, and I think I would like to return there with you, no matter how my family feels about it. I have other sisters that could get married in my place."
The princess is determined, and they leave the prince's castle the next morning without saying goodbye. As you head back towards the convent, you feel something change, something that you cannot explain.
You feel more real, more present on the land as you sit beside the princess. You turn to her in the carriage and take her hand. You know her love must be true, that what you have just felt is what your grandmother called an immortal soul.
You have found happiness.
[THE END.]
Acting quickly, you rush through the garden and clip a flower from each of your sisters' little plots. You clutch them in your other hand as you rush to the surface and head towards the princess's convent, reaching it just in time to settle on the shore and gulp down the potion.
The switch from tail to legs is painful. When you finally regain your senses, you realize that on the shore before you is the princess, asking you if you are all right.
You go to speak and realize you cannot. You nod, and she reaches for your hand.
The women in charge of the convent set you up in the princess's room at her request, and when you are finally alone she says that she recognizes you. She asks why you haven't said anything yet, and after hesitating for a moment, you show her where the sea witch cut off your tongue. The princess is horrified, but when you wave off her questions she nods reluctantly.
"Okay, but you have to tell me what happened eventually," she says.
Over the next few months you become part of the convent, spending every day with the princess and becoming closer to her. The women of the convent teach you sign language, a way for you to communicate even without a voice. You and the princess spend many days in the library, looking over books full of things you have never seen before.
You begin to think you may really have a chance at winning her heart.
But one day, the princess comes to the library after breakfast looking troubled.
In sign language you ask her what is wrong, and she tells you that her family has sent word that they want her to leave the convent and get married.
"They would have done it even sooner," she says, "but the prince I was originally engaged to passed away somehow. Now they want me to just pack up and leave everything here to be with someone I've never met."
She's very upset, and you feel your heart sinking. If the princess marries someone else, your life will be over.
You try to think of something to say, but the princess continues.
"I have no choice but to leave the convent and travel to meet this prince. I'm sure if I meet him and then say no, then my parents will listen. But I have a favor to ask. Will you come with me?"
You can't give up yet. You say you will go with her.
You don't want to give up yet. You agree to go with the princess to meet this prince she must marry.
It takes a few days of travel, but finally you reach the prince's castle. When you meet him, you feel despair. The prince is beautiful, kind and friendly just like the princess. When he reaches his hand out to greet her, she smiles despite herself, and you realize there may not be a chance after all.
That night at dinner, the prince and princess seem taken with each other, chattering excitedly while you sigh into your food. The only thing that gives you hope is the occasional smile or glance the princess sends you.
After dinner, the prince and princess leave for a walk together and you wander to the other side of the castle, where there is a shoreline heading out to sea. You sit down in the shallow water and look out across the sea.
The princess seems happy with the prince. You know if you do nothing, she will marry him after all and then you will die.
What do you do?
You know that there is no way for you to stop this. The princess does not want to go against her family, and she had so easily gotten to know the prince. You can see how they will work well together in the future.
You sneak back through the castle to the room you are sharing with the princess. As she sleeps, unaware, you write her a quick note and leave it on her bedside table, telling her that you must leave now but that you want her to marry the prince and be happy.
You return to the sea, but not to your family. Your human body will not let you venture that deep into the sea now. You swim aimlessly, until one morning, just before sunrise, you feel something change and you know the princess must have taken your advice.
You know it is over now. You swim further out to sea and wait for sunrise to come.
[THE END.]
You follow the mysterious lights in the distance and come upon an island. In the darkness you cannot tell what is on the island past the shore, or even how large it is.
As you approach the shore you realize there is an old human woman wandering the coastline carrying a lantern. Though you were led here by a gathering of light, you realize the source of it all was this small lantern. The woman is singing, in a voice as beautiful as yours or one of your sisters', in way no human ever could.
She is wrapped in long flowing robes that somehow remind you of the flowing of a mermaid's tail in the open water. She intrigues you, and you find yourself drifting closer and closer to the shoreline. When you realize how close you are to being seen, you scramble behind a small outcropping of rocks, knocking a few over in your haste.
The woman immediately turns in your direction. In the light of her lantern, she appears to be smiling.
"I can hear you, little mermaid," she says. "Why don't you come out and say hello?"
What do you do?
You decide to approach the woman. You come to the shore and settle in the sand, where she walks over to you.
She sits down next to you and you begin to talk. Eventually, she explains that she is a witch. You mention you know one, the sea witch, and the woman says that is her sister. She says she has been living on this island for a very long time, and because she is lonely she could use some company. She wants you to come back tomorrow.
What do you do?
You say that you will come back to keep the old woman company.
Over the next few months, you return whenever you can to sit on the shore and listen to the woman's stories of life on the surface. She is very old, and has been many to places that you know you will never see. She talks about her magic sometimes, and though you do not understand you find yourself fascinated.
The island the woman lives on is beautiful, populated mostly by wildlife you usually cannot see from your place on the shore. You wish you could see it all.
Your family begins to grow suspicious of the long periods of time you spend away from home, especially when you lie about where you are going. You are afraid they will react badly to you spending time with a witch, because you know they hate and fear the witch that lives in the ocean.
You know this woman is different, but do not think your family will understand, so you say nothing.
Then, one day the woman meets you on the shore looking serious.
"I must ask you something very important," she says. "I am old, and I think I have seen enough of this life. Long ago, another witch told me that if I found someone to take my place as the witch of the land before I died, I would gain an immortal soul and move on to another place that I have never reached before. I have spent much time with you and I believe you are worthy of becoming the witch of the land in my place. If you do this, you will grow legs and be able to walk on land as I do, and go wherever you wish. Will you do it?"
What do you do?
You say that you will become the witch in the woman's place. You want to walk on land, to see all of the places the woman has mentioned in the many days you have spent together.
The woman says you must retrieve an object from her sister, the sea witch, in order to prove yourself worthy of taking her place. She says it is a vial of potion, and you will know it when you see it.
You tell her you will get the object after you say goodbye to your family, but the woman advises against visiting them.
"They are suspicious of witches, and may not react well to your story. You will become the witch of the land after this. I advise you to forget your life in the sea and leave it behind. It will be better that way."
You don't know if you agree, but you tell her you will go to get the object and return to the sea. When you do, you pause halfway between the sea witch's lair and your father's palace.
What do you do?
You decide to take the woman's advice and just go directly to the sea witch. She is right, there is nothing left for you in the sea.
You reach the sea witch's lair and enter hesitantly. Before you can enter, you realize you must cross the mire, full of sea serpents that catch and crush whatever creatures are unlucky enough to pass too close. As you scurry past, you think you see, out of the corner of your eye, the skeleton of another mermaid, choked with sea serpents and raggedy sea vines.
You consider turning back, but you know you have to continue. Your courage returns, and you cross the mire to find the sea witch in the open space outside of her little hut, as if she has been waiting for you.
"I know what you want, little mermaid," she says, smiling ominously. "I have no quarrel with my sister, so I will give you what you need for a small price. The point of this task is to make sure you are willing to make sacrifices, after all."
You think about it for a moment, but know that there is no other way to complete this task. You are afraid of what she will ask you, but you know it will be worth it in the end.
You say yes, and try not to run away when the witch says that the price she asks is your voice.
She cuts out your tongue and hands you the potion vial. She disappears back inside her hut and you slowly make your way out of her lair, towards the surface.
You think of saying goodbye to your family after all, but you think of your lost voice and know there would be no way to express what you want to tell them. Instead you return to the island, and when you reach shore you feel the change coming over you.
When you wake up on the shore sometime later, you have human legs where before there was a mermaid tail. The old woman is nowhere to be found, and you realize she must have moved on already.
You are alone, but as the sun rises and you feel its warmth, you realize that you could go anywhere you want to.
[THE END.]
You know it would be wrong of you not to say goodbye to your family, so you dart towards the palace, thinking you will just see them one more time before you leave them behind.
You find your sisters in the garden, talking quietly the way they had been when you left them after breakfast that morning. They crowd around when you tell them you have something to say, and listen in shocked silence as you spill the entire story.
When you finish, they talk all over each other, begging you to give it up and stay with them, but before you can argue with them another voice silences them.
"You must let her go. She's made up her mind, you see," your grandmother says from the palace entrance, smiling at you.
You smile back, seeing in her eyes that she understands you.
"We will come to visit you wherever you may be. We'll always be your family," your grandmother says.
She urges your sisters to accompany you to the sea witch's lair and they agree.
You reach the sea witch's lair and enter hesitantly. Before you can enter, you realize you must cross the mire, full of sea serpents that catch and crush whatever creatures are unlucky enough to pass too close. As you scurry past, you think you see, out of the corner of your eye, the skeleton of another mermaid, choked with sea serpents and raggedy sea vines.
You consider turning back, but your sisters crowd close around you and give you strength. Your courage returns, and you cross the mire to find the sea witch in the open space outside of her little hut, as if she has been waiting for you.
"I know what you want, little mermaid," she says, smiling ominously. "I have no quarrel with my sister, so I will give you what you need for a small price. The point of this task is to make sure you are willing to make sacrifices, after all."
You think about it for a moment, but know that there is no other way to complete this task. You are afraid of what she will ask you, but you know it will be worth it in the end.
You say yes, and try not to run away when the witch says that the price she asks is your voice.
Your sisters' voices rise in outrage, and they demand the sea witch ask for something else. The sea witch, having paid them no attention before, inspects them all with her beady eyes. Finally, she smiles.
"All right then," she says. "If your sisters will give to me their long, beautiful hair, I will give you the potion without taking your voice."
You urge your sisters not to do it, but they don't listen, telling you that hair grows back. They allow the sea witch to cut their hair with a dagger, and when she has gathered all the strands in her hands, your sisters pass the potion into your hands.
You leave, and after a tearful goodbye your sisters head back to the palace and you head for the surface. When you reach shore you feel the change coming over you.
When you wake up on the shore sometime later, you have human legs where before there was a mermaid tail. The old woman is nowhere to be found, and you realize she must have moved on already.
You are alone, but as the sun rises and you feel its warmth, you realize that you could go anywhere you want to.
[THE END.]