HEAL THE WORLD: The little mermaid story

Two eels watched Ariel swim away. The eels were the sea witch’s pets, and the sea witch could see Ariel through their eyes, using her magic powers. She watched Ariel from inside her cave, and began to think up some very evil plans.

Back at King Triton’s palace, Ariel was in big trouble. Both King Triton and Sebastian were very angry with her. Flounder tried to tell them that it wasn’t Ariel’s fault. “A shark was chasing us,” he said, “and then there was a seagull…”
This made King Triton even angrier. “You’ve been up to the surface!” he shouted. “You might have been seen by a human. Humans are dangerous! You will never go up to the surface again!”

Ariel swam away in tears. King Triton thought he might have been too harsh, so he sent Sebastian to keep an eye on Ariel. Sebastian followed Ariel and Flounder to a cave. This was Ariel's secret cave, and it was filled with human things she had found. Sebastian stared around. He couldn’t believe his eyes.

“It’s not fair,” Ariel said to Flounder. “Daddy doesn’t understand. How can a world which makes such amazing things be bad?”
Flounder tried to cheer Ariel up, but she was too gloomy. “I wish I could be human,” she sighed.
Then Sebastian spoke, making Ariel and Flounder jump. “Ariel! If your father knew about this place he would be furious!”

Just then, a shadow fell over the cave, as a huge ship sailed by overhead. Ariel forgot all about King Triton being angry, and swam quickly up to the surface to look. It was Prince Eric’s ship, and everyone on board was having a party for Eric’s birthday. Ariel watched Prince Eric playing his pipe. She thought he was very handsome.

“Happy birthday, Eric,” said Grimsby. His present to the prince was a huge statue of Eric himself. Eric pretended to like it because he was polite, but really he thought it looked silly. “I wanted it to be a wedding present,” Grimsby went on, but Eric said that he wasn’t going to get married until he found his one true love.

Lightning flashed suddenly, and a thunderstorm began to crash. A bolt of lightning hit the sail, and it burst into flames. The ship was on fire! Everybody got into a life-boat as the ship began to sink. Max barked – he was still stuck on the ship! Bravely, Prince Eric climbed back onto the burning ship to rescue Max. Max escaped safely, but then, before Prince Eric could get away, the ship exploded.

Ariel began to search for Prince Eric among the pieces of wood that had broken away from the ship. She was very scared that he might be hurt, but then she saw him clinging to a bit of wood. He had been knocked out. Ariel grabbed hold of Eric and began to pull him towards the shore. It was a very long swim.

Ariel dragged Eric onto the sand. He still hadn’t woken up. Ariel was afraid he might be dead, but then she saw that he was breathing. He opened his eyes a little. “I would give anything to live up in your world with you,” said Ariel, but before Eric could reply, Grimsby came down onto the beach with Max. Ariel jumped back into the sea, to hide.

“Let’s go home, Eric,” said Grimsby, helping Eric up. Eric looked around for Ariel, but she was gone. Feeling very weak, he let Grimsby help him back to the castle. Ariel watched him leave from on top of a rock. Now she wanted to be human more than ever. She was in love with Prince Eric.

Sebastian was very worried. He was trying to keep Ariel’s new secret from King Triton, but it was very hard. He decided to try and talk some sense into Ariel himself. All his underwater friends helped him to show Ariel how good life was under the sea. None of them noticed when Ariel and Flounder slipped quietly away.

Flounder took Ariel to her secret cave. “I’ve got a surprise for you,” he said. “Look!”
Ariel gasped. Standing in the middle of her secret cave was the statue of Prince Eric from the ship. “Oh, Flounder, it’s wonderful!” she cried.

Suddenly, Ariel noticed King Triton standing at the cave entrance. He looked very angry indeed. “Sebastian told me you rescued a human from drowning,” he said angrily.
“I love him!” Ariel said.
King Triton raised his trident and began to destroy everything in the cave. “Daddy, no!” cried Ariel. King Triton didn’t listen. At last, he pointed his trident at the statue of Prince Eric. It broke into a hundred pieces.

King Triton left, and Ariel began to cry. The sea witch’s eels, Flotsam and Jetsam, swam up to her. “We know somebody who can help you,” they said. “Somebody who can make your dreams come true. Come with us to Ursula, the sea witch.”
Ariel looked at the broken statue, and thought about how much she loved Eric. “All right,” she said. She followed them out of the cave.

Sebastian and Flounder saw her going towards Ursula’s cave, and they followed her. Ursula’s cave was full of little weed creatures that tried to pull at Ariel as she went by. Ursula told Ariel that she would turn her into a human for three days. If Prince Eric kissed her before sunset on the third day, she would stay human forever. “But,” said Ursula, “if he doesn’t kiss you, you turn back into a mermaid – and you belong to me.”

Ariel thought for a moment. “I don’t have anything to pay you with,” she said.
“You can give me your voice,” said Ursula.
Ariel was very afraid of Ursula, but she wanted to be human more than anything. So she agreed. Ursula made a spell to take her voice, and then she turned Ariel into a human. Sebastian and Flounder pulled Ariel quickly up to the surface, and then they began to help her to the shore.

On the beach, Ariel dressed herself in some rags. When Eric came along and saw Ariel, he stared. It was the girl who had rescued him from drowning! He went over to her and asked what her name was, but Ariel couldn’t answer because Ursula had taken her voice. Eric thought she couldn’t be the girl who had rescued him after all, but he helped Ariel walk to his palace so he could look after her.

Sebastian went with Ariel, in her pocket. While Ariel was having a bath, Sebastian got lost in the palace and found himself in the kitchen, where the chef was cooking lots of fish. He saw Sebastian and thought he was part of the food! He picked Sebastian up to put him in the pot, and Sebastian pinched him on the nose with his pincer. The chef began chasing Sebastian all around the kitchen!

Ariel sat down to dinner with Prince Eric and Grimsby. She had been given a pink dress to wear, and Eric thought she looked beautiful – even though she tried to brush her hair with her fork! He asked Ariel if she wanted to go on a tour of his kingdom with him the next day. Ariel nodded happily.

The next day, Eric took Ariel to see all the sights of his kingdom, and in the evening they went out in a rowing boat. It was just the two of them. Eric leaned forward to kiss Ariel, but just then the boat tipped over. Ariel and Eric both fell in the water. Eric helped Ariel up, but he didn’t try to kiss her again.

It was Flotsam and Jetsam who had tipped the boat over. Ursula was getting worried. She didn’t want Ariel to stay human forever – she wanted Ariel to belong to her. So she turned herself into a beautiful woman and put Ariel's voice inside a seashell necklace. She walked onto the beach and used Ariel’s voice to cast a spell on Eric.

When Ariel woke up the next day, she knew it was her last day of being human unless Eric kissed her. She jumped out of bed and ran downstairs to see him. But downstairs, Eric was standing with a strange woman on his arm. It was Ursula in disguise, and she had put a spell on Eric to make him love her! But Ariel didn’t know this. When she heard Eric say he was going to marry the woman by sunset, she ran back to her room, crying.

Not long before sunset, Eric’s wedding ship set off. Ariel was left behind. She knew he would never kiss her before sunset now. She had given up all hope when Scuttle came flying towards her. “It’s the sea witch!” he cried. “Eric is marrying the sea witch in disguise!” Ariel jumped into the sea at once, and Flounder helped her swim towards the ship.

The wedding had already started. Scuttle called together all Ariel’s fish and bird friends, and they all attacked the sea witch. Scuttle pecked off the seashell which carried Ariel’s voice, and it fell onto the deck and smashed. Just then, Ariel climbed up the side of the ship. Her voice rose out of the broken shell and went back into Ariel, where it belonged.

The spell was broken, and Eric realised what had been happening. He ran over to Ariel and was about to kiss her – but in that moment, the sun set. Ariel turned back into a mermaid, and Ursula dragged her back into the sea, laughing evilly.

“Ursula, stop!” said King Triton, appearing in front of them. Ursula smiled.
“Ariel is mine now,” she said, “but I’ll let her go if you agree to take her place.”
King Triton agreed. Ursula let Ariel go, and turned King Triton into one of her weed creatures. Then she took up his crown and trident. “Now I am the ruler of all the seas!” she cried.

Eric jumped into the sea and threw a harpoon at Ursula. She turned to shoot him with the trident, but Ariel pulled on her arm and she missed. Instead of hitting Eric, Ursula hit the eels, Flotsam and Jetsam, and they vanished in a flash of light. This made Ursula furious. Her rage seemed to make her swell… and swell… and swell… until she was a huge monster, bigger than Eric’s ship!

Ursula made a huge whirlpool that went all the way to the bottom of the ocean. The powerful current caught many old sunken wrecks, which rose to the surface. Ursula threw Ariel into the whirlpool. Ariel fell down and down until she hit the bottom, and the sea witch started shooting at her with the trident.

Eric climbed up onto one of the wrecks and took control of it. It rushed towards Ursula, and the broken mast stuck straight into her heart. Ursula screamed and fell down dead. King Triton turned back into himself in an instant, and all the other weed creatures turned into mermaids and mermen, too. They had been Ursula’s prisoners all along. Now everyone was free.

Prince Eric dragged himself to the shore and lay down on the sand. Ariel watched him from on top of a rock. They were all safe at last, but now she was a mermaid again, and they could never be together. But King Triton knew how much Ariel loved Eric, and he saw that Eric loved Ariel, too. So, with the power of his trident, he turned Ariel into a human again – this time, forever.

Ariel ran out of the sea towards Eric, and kissed him. They had their wedding on a ship, so all of Ariel’s family and friends could watch. It was time to say goodbye to them all. She kissed Flounder, waved to Sebastian and hugged her father. “I love you, Daddy,” she whispered.