It is told that one day in the depths of the sea, there lived a king named Tariton, and Tariton was the king of the sea fishes, beloved by all sea creatures, except one evil fairy named Orsola.
The king had six beautiful mermaid princesses, and the youngest of them, Arial, was the most beautiful, brilliant, and stunning among them, and she was beloved by all sea creatures. The reason for this was her beautiful voice, as Arial loved to sing with her beautiful voice, and the fishes would gather around her to enjoy her beautiful voice.
Arial’s grandmother always told her beautiful stories, and the mermaids would tell stories that beautify the earth and what it contains of stars, flowers, and beautiful and wondrous things. Therefore, Arial always wished that she could travel to the surface, and she told her father her wish, but the king refused harshly. So Arial pleaded with her father to allow her to ascend. Therefore, they agreed that he would allow her to ascend when she reached the age of fifteen.
Arial contemplated about that day when she saw the sky, and on the day of her fifteenth birthday, her grandfather the king gave her a beautiful cake. After the cake, Arial told her parents she wanted to fulfill her wish and go to the surface. He told her her father that he agreed, but she had to learn she was a daughter of the sea and that the surface of the earth was dangerous for fairies.
Arial didn’t hesitate for a moment and ascended quickly to the surface. There she saw the sun for the first time. Arial loved ascending to the roof every day, and one day she saw a ship, and heard inside it a voice of music and celebrations. She went to the ship to watch the celebration, and there Arial saw the prince for the first time. She fell in love with him at first sight, and she followed the ship in happiness. Suddenly, a severe storm occurred, overturning the ship forcefully. The ship began to move with the wind, then sank, and everyone on it drowned. Arial was following the ship to learn what happened to her. She found the prince she had seen in the ship drowning in the sea, so she hastened to him and saved his life to the shore.
Arial rejoiced at this youth, and began to rejoice with her beautiful voice. When he awoke, he rejoiced with her voice and his fairy’s beautiful voice. He left Arial and went quickly back to the shore, but the prince didn’t see her because she was a fairy.
Arial stayed all night contemplating by the shore, and while she was sitting there, she thought she would return again to meet that youth, for this youth was the son of the city’s king, and he lived in a palace on the shore. He would come out every morning to walk on the shore for him to meet the girl who saved him.
An idea occurred to Arial, she went to the evil fairy Orsola, because she was a sorceress and asked her to turn her into a human so she could live on land. Orsola agreed, but threatened to take Arial’s beautiful voice from her. And Arial agreed to Orsola to take her beautiful voice, so she turned her into a human and took her voice and went to the palace to trick the prince.
When the king Tariton knew what had happened to his little daughter, he went quickly to the shore and seized his little daughter after she had loved Orsola. The king’s guards seized the evil fairy and restored his daughter’s voice.
Arial apologized to her parents for what she had done, but she felt sad because she loved the prince. She asked the prince from King Tariton to let her go to him. The king agreed and turned Arial into a human, and the prince married and lived in happiness.