Once upon a time there was a mermaid named Ariel. She had beautiful long red hair and emerald green eyes that sparkled in the light of the sea. She was almost the definition of perfect, but she couldn’t talk.

Ariel was born mute and couldn’t make a sound with her mouth if her life depended on it. This upset her father King Triton. He loved music, singing, and parties that had endless nights of dancing. Ariel however could only participate in the dancing.

One day Ariel and her friend Flounder were playing tag when they saw bright flashing lights above the water. They decided to swim close to shore and check out what was going on. Once they got up to the shore they heard loud music and saw dancing. A party was going on at the palace.

Ariel took in the view of the vibrant lights but was suddenly attracted to a man she had spotted on the balcony. He had long jet black hair and a very cute face. Her eyes were stuck on him. Flounder looked over to Ariel and started to tap his fin on her arm. When he had tapped a couple times and she didn’t react he started yelling “ARIEL, ARIEL.” She finally snapped out of her daze and her and Flounder resumed playing tag.

The next couple of days Ariel would swim up and poked her head above the water, to see if she could get a look at the man she had seen a couple nights before. “I would do anything to meet him, or to touch him, or to talk to him,” she thought. A sign of defeat fell over her because she knew those things would never happen. She got one more look, then went back under water to her family.

 “ARIEL, where have you been” King Triton Exclaimed. She answered back in sign language saying,“Father I was just playing with Flounder.” “Unexceptable, I needed you home one hour ago to finish the final touches for the party tonight,” King Triton said. Ariel had forgotten about the big family party and felt terrible. Her and King Triton fought back in forth for a short time, but finally he came to the conclusion that Ariel was band from the family party.  

Ariel was very angry that her father wasn’t allowing her to go to the party. So angry that on that same night she decided to swim away. Ariel hadn’t gotten to far from home before she ran into Ursula’s Lair, the Serpentine. Ursula was a tricky sea witch, or so she had heard. As she passed by she heard beautiful voices coming from the inside of the layer. She couldn’t resist. She swam inside to see what was going on.

She passed through gardens of eals and cold steam until Ursula suddenly grabbed her, and took Ariel to her head quarters. Ursula asked Ariel why she was here. Ariel replied with her hands saying that her and her father had been fighting all the time and she wanted to go far away. As far away as going to live and be human.  

After what seemed like countless hours of talking Ursula proposed an idea to Ariel. Ursula said to Ariel that she could give her a voice and legs to see the man Ariel kept going on and on about. Ariel expressed that she would like this very much, and that she would give Ursula all the sand dollars she had to make this happen. However, Ursula didn’t want Ariel's sand dollars, she wanted her long red hair.

 At first Ariel pulled back and grabbed her hair. She motioned that she didn’t want to be bald. “No dear, I will give you hair on your head, I just need your color of hair,” Ursula said. Ariel agreed to this deal and signed a contract. Ursula took her hair and replaced it with a soft blonde, gave her the voice she that drew her into the layer, and gave her a pair of legs. 

Ursula shot Ariel up to shore. When Ariel hit the land it made a loud THUMP. “Ouch”, she said. “Oh my gosh! I can talk,” she said happily. After a few seconds of Ariel making noises she decided to get up and try to walk. She was wobbly at first but after some practice she got the hang of it. Shortly after this Ariel heard voices, and decided to follow them. Around a large rock she discovered two maids from the palace.

 She was about to speak up when she remembered she didn’t have any garments for where her mermaid tale used to be. She quickly grabbed a tarp that was washed up on the shore and wrapped it around her. Doing so the maids noticed her and signaled her to come to them. They looked her up and down and led her back to the palace to clean up. 

The palace maids gave Ariel a bath, something she had never experienced before. After that they brushed her hair and put her into some nice clothes. After this they escorted her to the dinning room where she met the man she had been waiting for. The moment they exchanged looks they knew that they were in love.