The Little Mermaid (Part 1) - A Classic Children's Audio Story For Bedtime

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if your biggest wish could come true! Well not always. This time we bring you part 1 of "The Little Mermaid" by Hans Christian Andersen. It's the story of a beautiful young mermaid who wanted, with all of her heart, to be human. But sacrifices had to be made! You can’t get something for nothing. This is the original story and it’s not the Disney version. It’s a wee bit darker!

There will be 3 parts, parts 2 and 3 will be uploaded soon.

Transcript

Hi,

This is Stefania.

Today we have the story of The Little Mermaid.

It's a short fairy tale written by Hans Christian Andersen.

This is the original version of The Little Mermaid,

So it's quite different from the Disney version.

There are some happy bits and some a bit sad bits.

Let's dive under the sea with The Little Mermaid and her family.

The Little Mermaid 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,

Movement of the water,

Causes them to stir as if they had life.

Fish 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 will be fit for the crown of a queen.

The Sea King had been a widower for many years,

And his aged mother kept house for him.

She was a very wise woman and exceedingly proud of her high birth.

On that account,

She wore twelve oysters on her tail,

While others,

Also of high rank,

Were only allowed to wear six.

She was,

However,

Deserving a very great praise,

Especially for her care of the little sea princesses,

Her granddaughters.

They were six beautiful children,

But the youngest was the prettiest of them all.

Her skin was as clear and delicate as a rose leaf,

And her eyes as blue as the deepest sea.

But like all the others,

She had no feet,

And her body ended in a fish's tail.

All day long they played in the great halls of the castle,

Or among the living flowers that grew out of the walls.

The large amber windows were open,

And the fish swam in,

Just as swallows fly into our houses when we open the windows,

Excepting that the fishes swam up to the princesses,

Ate out of their hands,

And allowed themselves to be stroked.

Outside the castle there was a beautiful garden in which grew bright red and dark blue flowers and blossoms like flames of fire.

The fruit glittered like gold,

And the leaves and stems waved to and fro continually.

The earth itself was of the finest sand,

But blue as the flames of burning sulfur.

Over everything lay a peculiar blue radiance,

As if it were surrounded by the air from above through which the blue sky shone instead of the dark depths of the sea.

In calm weather the sun could be seen looking like a purple flower with light streaming from the calyxes.

Each of the young princesses had a little plot of ground in the garden where she might dig and plant as she pleased.

One arranged her flower bed into the form of a whale.

Another thought it better to make hers like the figure of a little mermaid.

But that of the youngest was round like the sun,

And contained flowers as red as his rays at sunset.

She was a strange child,

Quiet and thoughtful,

And while her sisters would be delighted with the wonderful things which they obtained from their wrecks of vessels,

She cared for nothing but her pretty red flowers,

Like the sun,

Excepting a beautiful,

Marvel statue.

It was the representation of a handsome boy carved out of pure white stone which had fallen to the bottom of the sea from a wreck.

She planted by the statue a rose-colored weeping willow.

It grew splendidly,

And very soon hung its fresh branches over the statue almost down to the blue sands.

The shadow had a violet tint,

And waved to and fro like the branches.

It seemed as if the crown of the tree and the root were at play and trying to kiss each other.

Nothing gave her so much pleasure as to hear about the world above the sea.

She made her old grandmother tell her all she knew of the ships,

And of the towns,

The people,

And the animals.

To her it seemed most wonderful and beautiful to hear that the flowers of the land should have fragrance,

And not those below the sea,

That the trees of the forest should be green,

And that the fish among the trees could sing so sweetly that it was quite a pleasure to hear them.

Her grandmother called the little birds fishes,

Or she would not have understood her,

For she had never seen birds.

When you have reached your fifteenth year,

Said the grandmother,

You will have permission to rise up out of the sea,

To sit on the rocks in the moonlight while the great ships are sailing by,

And then you will see both forests and towns.

In the following year one of the sisters would be fifteen,

But as each was a year younger than the other,

The youngest would have to wait five years before her turn came to rise up from the bottom of the ocean and see the earth as we do.

However,

Each promised to tell the other what she saw on her first visit,

And what she thought the most beautiful,

For their grandmother could not tell them enough,

There were so many things on which they wanted information.

None of them longed so much for her turn to come as the youngest,

She who had the longest time to wait,

And who was so quiet and thoughtful.

Many nights she stood by the open window,

Looking up through the dark blue water and watching the fish as they splashed about with their fins and tails.

She could see the moon and stars shining faintly,

But through the water they looked larger than they do to our eyes.

When something like a black cloud passed between her and them,

She knew it was either a whale swimming over her head,

Or a ship full of human beings who never imagined that a pretty little mermaid was standing beneath them,

Holding out her hands towards the keel of their ship.

As soon as the eldest was fifteen,

She was allowed to rise to the surface of the ocean.

When she came back,

She had hundreds of things to talk about.

But the most beautiful,

She said,

Was to lie in the moonlight,

On a sandbank,

In the quiet sea,

Near the coast,

And to gaze on a large town nearby where the lights were twinkling like hundreds of stars,

To listen to the sounds of the music,

The noise of the carriages,

And the voices of the human beings,

And then to hear the merry bells peel out from the church steeples.

And because she could not go near all those wonderful things,

She longed for them more than ever.

Oh,

And did not the youngest sister listen eagerly to all these descriptions,

And afterwards,

When she stood at the open window,

Looking up through the dark blue water,

She thought of the great city,

With all its bustle and noise,

And even fancied.

Imagined,

She could hear the sound of the church bells down in the depths of the sea.

In another year,

The second sister received permission to rise to the surface of the water,

And to swim about where she pleased.

She rose just as the sun was setting,

And this,

She said,

Was the most beautiful sight of all.

The whole sky looked like gold,

While violet and rose-colored clouds,

Which she could not describe,

Floated over her,

And still,

More rapidly than the clouds,

Flew a large flock of wild swans toward the setting sun,

Looking like a long,

White veil across the sea.

She also swam towards the sun,

But it sunk into the waves,

And the rosy tents faded from the clouds and from the sea.

The third sister's turn followed.

She was the boldest of them all,

And she swam up a broad river that emptied itself into the sea.

On the banks she saw green hills covered with beautiful vines.

Palaces and castles peeked out from amid the proud trees of the forests.

She heard the birds singing,

And the rays of the sun were so powerful that she was obliged often to dive down under the water to cool her burning face.

In a narrow creek she found a whole troop of little human children,

Quite naked and sporting about in the water.

She wanted to play with them,

But they fled in a great fright,

And then a little black animal came to the water.

It was a dog,

But she did not know that,

For she had never before seen one.

This animal barked at her so terribly that she became frightened and rushed back to the open sea.

But she said she should never forget the beautiful forest,

The green hills,

And the pretty little children who could swim in the water although they had not fish's tails.

The fourth sister was more timid.

She remained in the midst of the sea,

But she said it was quite as beautiful there as nearer the land.

She could see for so many miles around her,

And the sky above looked like a bell of glass.

She had seen the ships,

But at such a great distance that they looked like seagulls.

The dolphins sported in the waves,

And the great whales sprouted water from their nostrils,

Till it seemed as if a hundred fountains were playing in every direction.

The fifth sister's birthday occurred in the winter.

So when her turn came,

She saw what others had not seen the first time they went up.

The sea looked quite green,

And large icebergs were floating about,

Each like a pearl,

She said,

But larger and loftier than the churches built by men.

They were of the most singular shapes and glittered like diamonds.

She had seated herself upon one of the largest,

And let the wind play with her long hair,

And she remarked that all the ships sailed by rapidly,

And steered as far away as they could from the iceberg,

As if they were afraid of it.

Towards evening,

As the sun went down,

Dark clouds covered the sky.

The thunder rolled and the lightning flashed,

And the red light glowed on the icebergs as they rocked and tossed on the heaving sea.

On all the ships the sails were reefed,

Folded,

With fear and trembling,

While she sat calmly on the floating iceberg,

Watching the blue lightning as it darted its forked flashes into the sea.

When first the sisters had permission to rise to the surface,

They were each delighted with the new and beautiful sights they saw,

But now,

As grown-up girls,

They could go when they pleased,

And they had become very indifferent about it.

They wished themselves back again in the water,

And after a month had passed,

They said it was much more beautiful down below and pleasanter to be at home.

Yet often,

In the evening hours,

The five sisters would twine their arms round each other and rise to the surface in a row.

They had more beautiful voices than any human being could have,

And before the approach of a storm,

And when they expected a ship would be lost,

They swam before the vessel and sang sweetly of the delight to be found in the depths of the sea,

And begging the sailors not to fear if they sank to the bottom.

But the sailors could not understand the song.

They took it for the howling of the wind,

And these things were never to be beautiful for them,

For if the ship sank,

The men were drowned,

And their dead bodies alone reached the palace of the sea king.

And that's it for part one of The Little Mermaid.

It ended a bit sad,

But it gets better in part two.

Until next time,

Bye for now.

Reviews

Great story watching 2 now!!

Lovely

Great ☺️

Beautiful 😍 🧜🏻‍♀️

Thank you so much! I LOVED this its the best mermaid 🧜🏻‍♀️ mediation anyone has ever made! I can’t wait for part 2!

-Hana

юото зооУалк

I really liked this it was such a good story I'm not really into the Little mermaid but this meditation made me like it ☺️☺️☺️☺️

It is my favourite movie as a kid!
Thank you for making all of these, I really enjoy them😊

1000000000000000000000000000000000000⭐️🌟🌟🌟✨✨🌟⭐️⭐️🌟🌟✨✨🌟⭐️⭐️⭐️🌟✨✨✨🌟⭐️🥰🥰😛⭐️⭐️⭐️🌟✨✨🌟⭐️⭐️🌟✨✨⭐️🌟🌟✨✨⭐️⭐️⭐️🌟🌟✨🌟⭐️🌟✨✨🌟⭐️🌟🌟🌟⭐️🌟✨🌟⭐️💕💕💕💕💕💕💕❤️❤️💕⭐️⭐️⭐️🌟✨🌟🌟🌟✨🌟🌟🌟⭐️⭐️🌟🌟⭐️🌟✨🌟⭐️🌟🌟love it⭐️🌟✨✨✨🌟⭐️⭐️🌟✨✨✨🌟🌟⭐️⭐️🌟✨✨🌟⭐️🌟⭐️🌟⭐️🌟✨✨🌟⭐️⭐️✨🌟⭐️⭐️⭐️✨✨✨

I can’t say really how it was as I gratefully slipped back into slumber after a few sentences then woke 5.40am. Thank you 🙏🏼

I LOVE MERMAIDS!!!!!!

I love 💕it so
much can you make a part 2 please. it made me think 🤔 of swimming 🏊‍♀️ in
Water and you make brilliant mediations I love 💕 them uspesuly the little mermaid 🧜‍♀️
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