The Little Mermaid

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNH_-AULu-8&w=640&h=360]

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xI5SDDH2Cvs&w=640&h=360]

The Little Mermaid (1837) is one that people are not so familiar with. When the Little Mermaid turns 15, she falls in love with a Prince. She asks the Sea Witch to give her legs in exchange for her tongue. She leaves the water in hopes of getting married with the Prince. But this does not happen and the Prince decides to marry another lady. However, if The Little Mermaid kills the Prince with the knife, she will be able to become a mermaid again. But when she stands in front of his bed, she couldn't bear to do so. When the sun rises, the Little Mermaid's body dissolves into foam and disappears into the sea.

In the song Baby Don't Cry, the Prince doesn't sleep. Instead he wakes up and asks her to kill him. "Don't hesitate, please take my heart. Love is a kind of light winkling. It is a mercy to close my eyes in the moonlight. Suppose me as a stranger, or fancy yourself actor. What we say are just lines of an opera. Baby don't cry tonight. When the dawn lights the skies, it will be as if nothing ever happened. You will never dissolve into foam for my love is with you forever. So baby don't cry."

I can't get over how beautiful this song is. I have really come to like this song a lot more after realising the story behind the lyrics and it has definitely allowed me to appreciate this version of The Little Mermaid. Although the Disney one is more well known, I really like this original version of the story. It was about love, but it showed that all stories end well, and not all endings are happily ever after. In the end The Little Mermaid turns into a spirit and is given the chance to gain an eternal soul. It was not a happy ending, nor was it a sad ending. It is an ending that pulls at your heartstrings and makes you wonder how something so beautifully heartbreaking can exist. Yet this song makes you wonder, what if the Prince had really awaken and said those words to The Little Mermaid. What would have happened? Each time I listen to this song, I just imagine the scene - the Prince pleading for The Little Mermaid to take this heart whilst she listens to him with eyes begging for him to stop. But it pains me even more to realise that in the end, The Prince did not actually wake up, and all the pain and tragedy was only felt by The Little Mermaid herself. Sigh, I'm such a loser when it comes to these things.