THE LITTLE MERMAID

Many years ago, there lived a Sea King who ruled the Coral Island beneath the sea. The King ruled the Coral Island beneath the sea. The King had five lovely daughters. All the Princesses were happy, except the youngest Mermaid. She always kept herself moody and never smiled.

The Little Mermaid often swam to the upper sea and used to spend most of her time enjoying the sight of the blue skies, shining yellow sun, green trees and mountains of the land. She would be unhappy one she returned back to the Coral palace. She loved the natural beauty of the land above the sea than the palace. She very much wanted to be as a human-being.

She never felt happy with the many forms of natural things of the sea world. The elder Princess and the King tried to amuse and keep the Mermaid happy. The sisters told her many interesting stories and played funny games with her. The King presented his pretty Mermaid daughter with varieties of play things to make her smile. But they failed in their attempt, for, the Little Princess never smiled even once.

One day, late in the night, the Little Mermaid left her palace and swam to the sea shore. That night turned to be pitch dark and stormy, with thunderous clouds in the skies. All of a sudden, there was a brilliant flash of lightning in which she saw a ship caught in the storm and a person beside the ship struggling across the tidal waves and shouting for help! Little Mermaid wanted to help him.

The Mermaid quickly swam fast and rescued the young man and with great difficulty brought him to the shore. To her surprise, he was a handsome youth with royal looks. The Little Mermaid fell in love with him without her knowledge. At the same time, she saw another beautiful girl appearing there all of a sudden. The Little Mermaid slipped into the waters and swam to her palace.

After a while, the young man opened his eyes and was surprised to find a pretty young lady sitting near him. he thought that she saved him from drowning. He was very much gratified with her kindness and beauty. On introduction, they found each other belonging to different royal families. The pretty lady took him to her palace, where from she had watched the events.

Here, poor Little Mermaid kept on brooding about the young man whom she loved very much. She took the help of the royal witch and said, with your magic tricks, "Please help me to get rid of this ugly fish tail I very much like to walk and dance like any other human on earth." The witch, with her wizard tricks, could understand the mind of the Little Princess.

After a pause of meditation, she turned to the Little Mermaid and said, "My pretty girl! I can make your wish come true. But, you can only walk and dance, but not talk. Will you agree for that?" Having no alternative, the Little Princess agreed for the sake of her love. Soon she was changed to a charming lady with legs and was neatly dressed.

Little Mermaid set her journey in search of the young man. She had no knowledge of his place, but was determined to find him. Roaming and roaming, one day, she was passing through a big mansion, where a grand function was going on. She wanted to attend the function, but the guards would not allow her, for she was a stranger. She could not express her wish as she could not talk.

Helplessly, she stood at the gates keenly listening to the melodious tunes of music from inside. Deeply involved in the rhythms, she started dancing. She danced beautifully that the guards were impressed and let her go inside.

Once she entered the palace, She was so much delighted that she went on dancing and dancing looking out for the young man. She entered the banquet hall, and there he sat on the royal throne. She knew that he was the crown Prince of the kingdom. She danced with much more delight in good belief that he would identify her, for, she saved his life. She was upset to see a beautifully Princess grandly dressed sitting beside him.

A little later, the Prince stood up to make an announcement. he addressed the gathering and said, "Hello, Ladies and Gentlemen! I am very happy to announce to you that the lady sitting beside me saved my life while I was caught up in the sea storm. I am so much grateful to her that I am going to marry her in a grand function soon."

Poor Little Mermaid! With a thunderbolt of the Prince's announcement, she ran madly to the sea shore, with tears rolling down her cheeks. Coming to terms that she had no where to go but to live underwater forever, she went back to the Coral Palace.

With the help of the witch, the Little Mermaid was again in her original form and tried to find happiness in the company of her loving father and her sisters.