Water spirit
In short: A supernatural figure associated with a river, lake or sea.
Character
How does it work in the tale?
The Viennese Danube Maiden belongs to a specific river. In Andersen’s Little Mermaid, passage between the sea and the human world shapes the heroine’s choices. Read both with an eye to the choices their waters make possible.
How do you describe birds under the sea?
In Andersen’s Little Mermaid, the grandmother calls birds fish. Her granddaughter has never seen a bird, so she uses a word the girl already knows. The mermaid can visit the surface when she turns fifteen. Until then, she pieces together the world above from her grandmother’s comparisons and her sisters’ accounts.