Ursula's Story

A new perspective for the classic story of The Little Mermaid

It had been hundreds of years since Ursula’s kind had been allowed within Atlantis’ walls. Their use of magic had been outlawed, but still practiced, forcing their banishment and, because of their disobedience, the King‘s curse. The curse made it for every earth year, they were to age fifty years, but, with their use of magic, they could create a potion to regain their lost time.

 

Like her ancestors, Ursula lived in a cave found deep within a dispersed forest filled with wicked creatures. When entering her cave, dirty bottles lined gray, stone shelves, each one containing odd items, such as eel eyes and shark‘s blood. A cauldron rested on an ever-burning fire in the center of the rock room, and, not three feet to the right, sat a ball of solid crystal, gently lying in the basin of a great boulder. Silvery smoke swirled about inside of the thin crystal ball; it emitted a faint glow as a single ember would.

 

In two great sweeps of her tentacles, Ursula carried herself to the crystal ball and sat on a rock beside it. Her long tentacles and bodacious body represented that of a thirty-year-old, when she herself was only a mere seventeen years of age. The time came closer to drink the potion to put her back in her young body, which was why at the very moment she sat down in front of the crystal ball, waved her hand beside it and thought of the one she wanted to appear in it.

 

The smoke turned a deep red then the face of the human prince dissolved into the ball. Her deep blue eyes widened and she pressed her face closer to the crystal, firmly grasping the sides of it. She had been in love with the prince since her eyes first caught a glimpse of his pitch black hair, with eyes as dark as coal to match. She knew he would never accept her as she was now, more than twenty years his elder and she knew he could never live underwater with her as long as he remained a land dweller, but she had plans for both conditions.

 

She smirked knowing she would soon become a young and beautiful woman and join the prince on land with the assistance of two tricky potions. She swam over to the shelves and began pulling glass bottles, uncorking them and releasing drops of colored liquids into the bubbling cauldron. She watched it brew until finally summoning an empty bottle and filling it with the potion. A shimmering mist floated from the cauldron and into her bottle.

 

This particular potion would make the sky shoot blinding bolts of light and make the waves soar high above the prince’s boat and cause it to crash and sink to the bottom of the ocean. When she would see him in the water, she would swim to the surface, save him and take him to shore where she would quickly drink the potion and become human as well. When he sees it was her who saved him, he will fall in love with her, as she has been with him for many years, and they will marry. The mere thought of her plan caused her heart to quicken.

 

She swam the small vile to the surface and reopened it. The dark gray mist poured out of the bottle, and spread across the ocean as far as the eye could see before dispersing into the upper atmosphere. Clouds formed in the now black sky and bright flashes popped up throughout the them, followed by low grumbles in the distance. She stayed atop the surface until the waves pushed her below. She raced back to her cave and planted herself in front of her crystal ball and made the prince appear. He sat in a small, wooden boat and held it’s wheel so firmly that his knuckles were ghostly white. The waves crashed into the side of his boat and made it tip. Anytime now he would be thrown from his boat into the unforgiving waters and she would be the one to save him and win his heart.

 

When he was finally thrown, she grabbed the vile of potion and swam to save him, but when she arrived, she saw a streak of red heading towards shore with her prince. Ursula chased the streak of red to shore when her heart dropped. She swam behind a rock and watched as the Ariel, the daughter of a peasant, pulled her prince to shore, stroked her prince’s face, and saved her prince’s life. She looked closely and noticed her lips moving, she was speaking to him. Suddenly, his eyes flickered open and he sat up. Ariel backed away but stayed within an arms length of him. The prince seemed to be in a haze, perhaps not fully seeing who had saved him but hearing the voice.

 

Out of no where, more humans came spilling over the hillside, screaming at the prince, calling him Eric. It frightened Ariel and sent her diving into the sea and swimming towards the rocks Ursula lay behind. She quickly scooted into the water and swam back to her cave. Tears spilled from her eyes, joining the water surrounding her. She swam to the dusty bottles in the corner and swiped her hand across the bunch, crunching them into the side of the rock. She sat down and cupped her face in her hands. Her human potion would go bad in a week and she did not have the supplies to make another, plus her plan failed.

 

She unexpectedly heard a whisper from the opening of her cave. She turned her head and saw that red hair.

 

“He-hello? Your that sea witch, Ursula right? My name’s Ariel and I… I need a spell to…” Mumbled Ariel before being cut off by Ursula.

 

“To grow human ‘legs’ to be with the prince. I know what you want,” She sneered ferociously before a devious idea formed in her mind, “But, what would you be willing to give?”

 

“Anything! I have nothing to lose,” She told her.

“Even… your voice?” Ursula asked cunningly.

 

“My voice? How will I talk to the prince?” Ariel asked, twiddling her thumbs nervously.

“Surely a girl as beautiful as yourself knows the power of body language. A voice is only sound. There are other means of communication,” Ursula told her while shifting her hips from side to side.

“You only want my voice?” Ariel asked, gaining courage.

“Yes. It’s all I require,” She smirked.

Ariel nodded yes and, with that, Ursula produced a contract and thick, blue quill. Timidly, Ariel took the quill and signed her name on the line. Then, Ursula took back the quill and put it up to Ariel’s mouth and whispered, “Blow,” into her ear. Confused, Ariel took a breath and blew the tip of the quill. When she ran out of breath, she faced Ursula and opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. She clenched her throat, but Ursula only smiled and produced the vile she had made for herself. She emptied half of it into a small dip in a rock and added a few more ingredients from the shelf above it.

“I regret to inform you that I left out a vital piece of information. It will feel as though you’re walking upon sharp knives with every step you take with your newly formed legs and if you have not married the prince by the end of the week, when the sun’s morning light hits you, you will turn into sea foam,” Ursula explained, finishing the potion and handing it to her.

Ariel only eagerly seized the bottle and swam out of the cave. Ursula carefully took a hold of the blue quill and peeled back the feathers, revealing a thin, clear vile full of a whirling, gold vapor. She dropped what human potion she had left into the vile containing Ariel’s voice and placed it by the fire. It would take the better part of the week to combine the two and until it finished, she would do anything in her power to prevent the marriage of Ariel and her Eric.

 

. . .

 

When the potion had finally finished, she swam to the shore and drank it. She felt her tentacles shrinking and squirming until they merged together, forming two human legs. Her hair turned a deep black and her eyes turned a dark brown. Long, slender limbs replaced her usual slick, discolored arms and body. She stood up on her two shaky legs and wrapped herself in the human clothes she had taken from a recently wrecked ship.

She strode straight into the castle and asked for Prince Eric and, as she spoke his name, she noticed him staring at her from the balcony above, awestruck, with little Ariel by his side. He flew down the stairs to her side and clutched her hands in his.

 

“You’re the one who saved me,” He stated, his eyes locking with hers, “I recognize the voice.”

“Yes, I am,” Ursula told him in Ariel’s beautiful voice.

Ursula looked up to the balcony where Ariel leaned over the edge, hopelessly screaming in their direction, but to no avail. Ariel instantly knew it was Ursula and stuck by her like glue over the next week as she and Prince Eric became closer. By the end of the week, Eric took Ursula, Ariel and many friends on his boat and, right before sunrise, got down on one knee in front of the entire boat.

“It feels as though I can tell you anything, I trust you although it seems we just met, but I never want to lose you,” Eric took a deep breath and a twinkle of hopefulness sparkled in his eye, “Will you marry me?”

Ursula smiled, “I wish nothing but to marry you.”

With that, the sun’s rays streaked over the horizon and Ursula saw a streak of red fall over the railing. She walked to the edge and glanced into the water where she saw the light green color of fresh sea foam.

Author's Note

For a class. Intense critique is recommended:)

Reviews

[trainwreck]

This was a great new approach to The Little Mermaid. I hope you got an A on this!

[Weston R.]

I very much like your blend of HC Anderson's fairy tale and the Disney film. And not only did you blend these two together, but also brought in the twist of the hero/villain "flip." Instead of Ursula being a purely evil character, we obtain at least some type of sympathy for her. However, what I especially enjoyed was that, while Ursula is our protagonist, and even though we learn a motive for her actions, she doesn't become a "good guy," and Ariel doesn't become a "bad guy." In the end, Ursula remains a character with flaws.

That being said, while there is some good characterization here, I get a sense of a rushed ending, similar to what TheSweet stated. All of a sudden, the deal is struck, Ursula gets with the Prince, and we learn of Ariel's implied death--all in a relatively short passage compared to the rest of the story. I feel that a bit of fleshing out in the end would do this story well. But, once again, it is still a fantastic story--just one that could use a bit more "meat on its bones."

[Chris]

Perceptions are relevant - sometimes even evility is but a perception. Many "twists" on popular tales have been proposed and produced. Heroes and happy endings are in short supply.

I liked this one - not because of nicieties or meannesses but because "good" is a two-edged force sometimes with consequences.

Chris

[Short.Nerd]

This was amazing. I loved the twist on one of Disney's classic fairy tales. Absolutely amazing.

I like how we got Ursula's point of view in this. I've always been curious about the villian's perspective in all of Disney's movies. lol XD

I was hooked on to every word of this. It really was amazing. I hope you got a great grade on this. :) Keep up the awesome work.:)

[bookworm]

not bad, i like the way you un-disneyfied it al though the little mermiad in the original commits suicide.

[Serenity]

WOW!

[Calypso]

Good job!

[TheSweet]

I really liked this story. It's been a really long time since I've seen Little Mermaid, but I kinda want to re-watch it now :P

I thought the ending was quite sad, but it gives a very interesting view of events where the bad person is portrayed as innocent. It gives the reason for her wickedness and the end was an interesting turn of events, leaving you slightly guessing as to who the prince will marry.

The ending, though seems a little skimmed over, it moved over time very quickly and there was littler description of any events leading up. It might be an idea to add a couple of extra bits saying how Ursula became closer to the prince or that Ariel tried to stop them - just a few sentences could really fill in some gaps, and fill the story out.

Other than that, I really quite liked the description at the beginning of Ursula's layer and the whole idea of the story. Thanks for sharing.

[Coyote Poetry]

The story is very good. Could expand the meeting with the witch. They could have a interesting conversation. The ending was too quick. Add detail of dating and the feeling and the turmoil of Ariel. I enjoyed the tale. The ending is more real life. Thank you for a excellent story.
Coyote