THE MERMAID - A children's tale told by H C Andersen: Baba Indaba’s Children's Stories - Issue 396

By Hans Christian Andersen

ISSN: 2397-9607 Issue 396
In this 396th issue of the Baba Indaba’s Children's Stories series, Baba Indaba narrates the Mexican legend, "THE MERMAID” by H. C. Andersen.

You may be wondering why this book is titled “The Mermaid” and not “The Little Mermaid?””The Mermaid” is the original title and, it is thought, was only changed to the more poetic sounding “The Little Mermaid” after the author’s death in 1875. Because this is a translation of the original version, we have retained the original title, however, the story is essentially the same.

The Little Mermaid dwells in an underwater kingdom with her widowed father (the sea king or Mer-King), her dowager grandmother, and her five older sisters, each of whom had been born one year apart. When a mermaid turns fifteen, she is permitted to swim to the surface for the first time to glimpse the world above, and when the sisters become old enough, each of them visits the upper world one at a time every year. As each returns, the Little Mermaid listens longingly to their various descriptions of the world inhabited by human beings.
When the Little Mermaid's turn comes, she rises up to the surface, watches a birthday celebration being held on a ship in honor of a handsome prince, and falls in love with him from a safe distance. A violent storm hits, sinking the boat, and the Little Mermaid saves the prince from drowning. She delivers him unconscious to the shore near a temple. Here, she waits until a young woman from the temple and her ladies in waiting find him. To her dismay, the prince never sees the Little Mermaid or even realizes that it was she who had originally saved his life.

The Little Mermaid becomes melancholy and asks her grandmother if humans can live forever. She is told yes, but that once she becomes a human, she will never be able to return to the sea. Only her father can grant her wish. Her Father is astounded at her request and furiously refuses. Even though she tries hard, she cannot forget the prince.

Well, what happened next you ask? Did the mermaid princess find a way of joining her prince? Even if she did have her wish granted, how would she find the prince in the world above? To find the answers to these questions, and others you may have, you will have to download and read this story to find out for yourself!

Baba Indaba is a fictitious Zulu storyteller who narrates children's stories from around the world. Baba Indaba translates as "Father of Stories".

Each issue also has a "WHERE IN THE WORLD - LOOK IT UP" section, where young readers are challenged to look up a place on a map somewhere in the world. The place, town or city is relevant to the story. HINT - use Google maps.

Buy any of the 390+ Baba Indaba Children’s Stories on Google Play using the URL listed in the book.
ALSO INCLUDES LINKS TO DOWNLOAD 8 FREE STORIES

33% of the profit from the sale of this book will be donated to charities.
 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Abela Publishing
• Release date: Aug 12, 2017
• ISBN: 9788822811141

Hans Christian Andersen

Hans Christian Andersen (1805 - 1875) was a Danish author and poet, most famous for his fairy tales. Among his best-known stories are The Snow Queen, The Little Mermaid, Thumbelina, The Little Match Girl, The Ugly Duckling and The Red Shoes. During Andersen's lifetime he was feted by royalty and acclaimed for having brought joy to children across Europe. His fairy tales have been translated into over 150 languages and continue to be published in millions of copies all over the world and inspired many other works.

Book preview

THE MERMAID

A Fairy Tale By H. C. Andersen

Illustrated by Edmund Dulac

Baba Indaba Children’s Stories

Published By

Abela Publishing, London

2017

THE MERMAID

Typographical arrangement of this edition

©Abela Publishing 2017

This book may not be reproduced in its current format

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Abela Publishing,

London, United Kingdom

2017

Baba Indaba Children’s Stories

ISSN 2397-9607

Issue 396

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Website:

www.AbelaPublishing.com

An Introduction to Baba Indaba

Baba Indaba, pronounced Baaba Indaaba, lived in Africa a long-long time ago. Indeed, this story was first told by Baba Indaba to the British settlers over 250 years ago in a place on the South East Coast of Africa called Zululand, which is now in a country now called South Africa.

In turn the British settlers wrote these stories down and they were brought back to England on sailing ships. From England they were in turn spread to all corners of the old British Empire, and then to the world.

In olden times the Zulu’s did not have computers, or iPhones, or paper, or even pens and pencils. So, someone was assigned to be the Wenxoxi Indaba (Wensosi Indaaba) – the Storyteller. It was his, or her, job to memorise all the tribe’s history, stories and folklore, which had been passed down from generation to generation for thousands of years. So, from the time he was a young boy, Baba Indaba had been apprenticed to the tribe’s Wenxoxi Indaba to learn the stories. Every day the Wenxoxi Indaba would narrate the stories and Baba Indaba would have to recite the story back to the Wenxoxi Indaba, word for word. In this manner he learned the stories of the Zulu nation.

In time the Wenxoxi Indaba grew old and when he could no longer see or hear, Baba Indaba became the next in a long line of Wenxoxi Indabas. So fond were the children of him that they continued to call him Baba Indaba – the Father of Stories.

When the British arrived in South Africa, he made it his job to also learn their stories. He did this by going to work at the docks at the Point in Port Natal at a place the Zulu people call Ethekwene (Eh-tek-weh-nee). Here he spoke to many sailors and ships captains. Captains of ships that sailed to the far reaches of the British Empire – Canada, Australia, India, Mauritius, the Caribbean and beyond.

He became so well known that ship’s crew would bring him a