/biz/ - Business & Finance

>>20726351
The best-known example of mermaids in literature is probably Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale, "The Little Mermaid", first published in 1837.[30] The title character, youngest of the Merman-king's daughters, must wait her turn to reach the age when she will be allowed to emerge from the sea and sit on a rock, there to observe the upper world. The mermaid falls in love with a human prince,[d] and also longs for an eternal soul like humans, despite the shorter life-span. The two cravings are intertwined: only by achieving true love will her soul bind with a human's and become everlasting. But the mermaid's fish-tail poses an insurmountable obstacle for enticing humans, and the sea-witch offers a potion to transform into human form, at a price (the mermaid's tongue and beautiful voice). The mermaid endures the excruciating pain of having human legs, and despite her inability to speak, almost succeeds in wedding the prince, but for a twist of fate.[e] The mermaid is doomed unless she stabs the prince with a magic knife before his marriage. But she does not have the resolve and dies the mermaid way, dissolving into foam.[105]

>>20709974
>mfw