The Little Mermaid

Andersen’s original mermaid story, told gently in English and Persian

Many children know the movie; fewer know Hans Christian Andersen’s story. The Little Mermaid follows the original: a grandmother’s tales of flowers, forests and singing birds, a wait until the fifteenth birthday, and a first look at a ship full of music, lights and fireworks. When a storm breaks the ship apart, the little mermaid carries the prince to safety and then quietly returns to the spot where she left him, again and again.

The sea witch’s warning that her new legs will hurt as if swords were cutting her is kept, and so is the sadness of the prince marrying someone else. The ending is gentle: the little mermaid joins the daughters of the air and spreads kindness in the world. The story is told in short passages, in English and in Persian, set beside full-color pictures.

At a glance

Inside the story

A sample from the book

From the opening pages, in the book’s Persian:

The English is our translation of these lines; the book has its own English passage on the same page.

Reading it together

1. Read the story in English first, so the ending does not catch your child by surprise.
2. Read it again in Persian, pointing to words like ماه (mâh, moon) and دریا (daryâ, sea).
3. Talk about how this ending is different from the movie, and which one your child prefers.
4. Practice the letters of ماه and دریا with the free Farsi alphabet lessons.

Who this book is for

Use it with

• The Steadfast Tin Soldier: another bittersweet Andersen tale.
• Farsi Children Books Bundle: the full bilingual kids library.

Common questions