Last night one of my kid cousins stayed at our place to sleep because her mom will be out of town for a day to attend a conference. It's been a while since we last saw each other and I missed this little cousin of mine, for she happens to be one of my favorites.
So I asked her what she wanted to do, and she said that she wanted to watch (for the nth time) the Disney film Little Mermaid. We all know already the story of this tale. It tells the story of one mermaid who fell in love with the male human whom she had saved, and in the quest to get his heart, forfeits her singing voice in order to get legs. Unlike in the movie version, however, where the two protagonists end up marrying, the mermaid in the novel that had been of the basis of the movie had a rather bleak ending. In Hans Christian Andersen's version, the mermaid fails to get the heart of the Prince. The Prince ends up marrying someone else, which also means the death of the mermaid.
The story, which has been told over and over again for many years, is obviously one of the gems of Danish literature. Andersen is considered to be one of Denmark's foremost writers, and the erection of the statue of The Little Mermaid in Copenhagen is testament to this. Today, the Little Mermaid is arguably the most popular attraction of the Danish capital.
I cannot give you much details about the country right now, for I have never been a visitor, but once I arrive there, I guess the Mermaid is the first one whom I will visit. The story of Andersen tells us that the Mermaid becomes a daughter of the air, and is assured of a human soul if she succeeds in making good deeds for the next 300 years. She has been waiting for nearly two centuries now. Can she wait for another century?
