III. La tormenta
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A mermaid tale by Andersen, adapted for A2
The Little Mermaid La sirenita
Hans Christian Andersen
This is not Hans Christian Andersen’s own text but a retelling of his tale in simpler Spanish, written by MovaReader for learners who already read in the past tenses. Its catalog level is A2: 9 chapters, about 5,500 words and 10 words in the average sentence. All the main episodes of the 1837 tale remain, from the Sea King’s palace and the five sisters who rise to the surface in turn to the sea witch’s house beyond the whirlpools.
- A2
- 5 451 words
- 1-2 hours
Will this text hold?
A1
Earlier
At A1 this will be hard going: the story runs in the past tenses, and the average sentence has 10 words, clearly more than the 6-7 of the A1 adaptations.
A1A2
This text
At A2 the tale is within reach: short sentences, past tenses you have already learned, and only now and then a future or a subjunctive in the witch’s speeches.
Check this passageB1
With room to spare
At B1 it is light reading for 1-2 hours, hardly needing a dictionary: a good warm-up before the full Spanish texts in the catalog, which start at B2.
Start readingThe verdict rests on sentence length and tense: 10 words per sentence on average, a story told in the pretérito indefinido and imperfecto, and in the grandmother’s and the witch’s speeches also the future and a few subjunctive forms (cuando cumplas, antes de que salga, como si pisaras). Long words, of 9 letters or more, are scarce: about one in 50, most often trescientos, since mermaids live three hundred years. That is close to Little Red Riding Hood at A1 (1.8% there, 2.0% here), so what sets this book apart from A1 is its sentences: the A1 adaptations run 6-7 words per sentence. The A2 adaptation of Don Quixote has the same 10 words per sentence, but there one word in 36 is long. Nothing gets harder or easier along the way: every one of the 9 chapters averages 9 to 11 words per sentence. Among the full Spanish texts in the catalog, Unamuno’s Mist has the shortest sentences, and it sits at B2: 13 words each, with every fourteenth word a long one. That puts The Little Mermaid at A2. This is the catalog’s assessment, not a certificate.
- 5 451
- words
- 10
- words in an average sentence
- 1-2
- hours of reading
MovaReader. Project Gutenberg
What it is about, without the ending
At the bottom of the sea, in a palace of coral and amber, lives the youngest of the Sea King’s six daughters. Quiet and thoughtful, she tends a round garden of red flowers and a marble statue of a young man, and listens to her grandmother’s stories about the human world, where flowers have a scent. When she turns fifteen she rises to the surface, sees a young prince on a ship and keeps him from drowning in a storm. From then on she dreams of people and of the immortal soul that mermaids lack, and she goes to the sea witch, who will give her legs but take her voice, and every step will hurt as if she were treading on knives. The prince takes the mute girl into his palace and keeps her close, yet he remembers another girl, from a temple, whom he believes to be the one who saved him. Whether the little mermaid wins his heart and a soul is not revealed here.
Compare two places
La sirenita
VI. La bruja del mar
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Choose an underlined word.
A storm in two past tenses
The imperfecto holds the background that goes on: las olas subían, el barco bajaba, a la sirenita le parecía un juego. The pretérito indefinido marks single blows: el palo mayor se partió, el barco cayó de lado, un rayo iluminó el mar. Empezó a crujir and empezó a entrar: empezar a with an infinitive means “to start doing something”. Lo había visto hundirse is the pluscuamperfecto: she had seen the prince go under before the moment the story has reached.
The witch’s promises
The witch talks about tomorrow in the futuro simple: nadarás, te sentarás, se partirá, dirán. After antes de que Spanish always uses the subjunctive: antes de que salga el sol, “before the sun rises”. Como si una espada te cortara and como si pisaras cuchillos: como si takes the past subjunctive, “as if a sword were cutting you”, “as if you were treading on knives”. Te la beberás has two pronouns side by side, te and la (the bebida): “you will drink it”.
Chapters
Translation while you read
The book stays free on every plan. Reader, €1 a month, removes the daily limit on words and sentences.
Reader
€1 a month
Reader comes in handy where the witch sets her terms in the future and the subjunctive: Cuando tengas forma humana, ya no podrás volver a ser sirena.
ReaderIf this book is not the one
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Before you read
Is this the original or a learner adaptation?
No, this is not Andersen’s text but MovaReader’s own retelling in simple Spanish. The source is Hans Christian Andersen’s tale Den lille Havfrue, published in Danish in 1837; the source link leads to its English translation on Project Gutenberg. What changed is the language and the length: short sentences in the past tenses, 10 words on average, 9 chapters and about 5,500 words, with the long descriptions of the undersea world cut down. The main episodes remain in their original order: the garden with the statue, the five sisters’ first trips to the surface, the storm at sea, the talk with the grandmother about the soul, the witch’s house, life in the prince’s palace. There are no names or scenes from later cartoons: as in Andersen, the heroine has no name. The catalog does not yet have the original or a full translation of this tale.
Is there an audiobook?
There is no recording of this tale: on MovaReader it exists as text only. Tap an unknown word to see its translation beside it; here those are often sea words such as ola, concha, perla or espuma.
Can I translate a whole sentence?
Translating a whole sentence is part of the Reader plan. Sentences here are short, 10 words on average, so you will mostly want it in the grandmother’s and the witch’s speeches, with their future tense and subjunctive: Mañana, antes de que salga el sol, nadarás con ella hasta la tierra. Single words, on the other hand, are translated on the free plan as well, until its daily limit runs out.
How many hours does it take?
The whole tale takes 1-2 hours at the pace of a reader who still looks up new words. A chapter averages about 600 words, or 6-10 minutes, so one fits easily into a short break.
Where does the text get easier?
The tale keeps one pace throughout, so no part of it is easier: the 9 chapters average between 9 and 11 words per sentence. Only the share of long words varies noticeably: in chapters II, III and VI about one word in 38 has 9 letters or more, and in chapter VII, “La niña muda”, only one in 74.
Will my place in the book be saved?
Yes, as long as you are signed in: your place in the tale and every word you tapped are kept for next time. From the contents on this page you can jump straight to any chapter, for example VI, “La bruja del mar”, where the little mermaid makes her way to the sea witch.