Deep beneath the sea lived a little mermaid named Ariel. She loved exploring her underwater home with her friend flounder but dreamed of living on land as a human.

When she and Flounder found a strange forked object, they swam to the surface to find Scuttle the seagull.

“It’s a dinglehopper!” he proclaimed.

Ariel’s father was King Triton, ruler of the sea. He thought humans were dangerous.

When he learned that Ariel had been to the surface, he forbade her to ever go again! Then he asked Sebastian the crab to keep an eye on her.

But Ariel continued to go to the surface. One night, a terrible storm swept across the sea. Ariel and Flounder watched as a prince fell off a huge ship. “I must save him!” she cried.

Ariel pulled Prince Eric to shore and sang to him. Then she swam away. Prince Eric only caught a glimpse of Ariel's face, but he knew he would remember her beautiful voice forever.

Desperate to see Prince Eric again, Ariel agreed to give her voice to the evil sea witch Ursula. With bigger plans in mind, Ursula cast a spell...

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..and turned Ariel into a human! Even worse, she would belong to the sea witch forever! Ariel loved being with the prince in the human world, but the two had not yet kissed.

Worried that Prince Eric was falling in love with Ariel, Ursula transformed herself into the beautiful Vanessa. She was going to make the prince fall in love with her instead.