Little mermaid
Far beneath the ocean waves, in the land of the merpeople, lived a lovely young mermaid named Ariel. Her home was an undersea palace. Although it was quite magnificent, she hardly ever spent time there. She preferred to go exploring with her little friend Flounder, the fish.
Ariel loved to collect objects from the world above the sea. She and Flounder would swim in and out of sunken ships, picking up whatever caught the Little Mermaid’s fancy.
Arial’s father, King Triton, ruled the undersea kingdom. He was very proud of Ariel’s many gifts, especially her beautiful singing voice. He had arranged to give a special concert to show his daughter’s wonderful talent to all the merfolk.
Ariel’s sisters sang to begin the concert. Then they sang a special song to introduce Ariel.
But Ariel wasn’t there!
Triton was not pleased. How could Ariel have forgotten to show up for her own debut?
As usual, Ariel was off exploring. She had found a sunken ship to play in and had forgotten all about the concert. By the time she returned home, the guests had left. Triton was so angry that he ordered Sebastian, a crab who was his court composer, to follow Ariel and to keep her out of trouble.
Later that day, Ariel slipped away again, with Sebastian following close behind. She hadn’t gone far when a huge shadow darkened the waters above.