FAIRY TALE PARADE "Mermaid"

Is she an unselfish heroine...or a vile, vituperative villainess?

Don't answer until you read the final panel!

If I'm reading the last page correctly, Merla has possessed Princess Rhea's body, either suppressing or destroying the girl's mind!

Wow!

Not what Hans Christian Andersen had in mind!

Scripter Gaylord DuBois rewrote the ending, which had the Mermaid not killing the Prince, then turning into sea foam at dawn, allowing the Prince and Princess to live happily ever after while the Mermaid went to her eternal rest!
This never-reprinted story from Dell's Fairy Tale Parade #7 (1943), illustrated by Arthur E Jameson, is but the first of a long line of rewrites, culminating in the latest adaptation...

Disney's the Little Mermaid

...which strays (in typical Disney fashion) even farther from the original fairy tale, more so than the animated 1989 film which it is based upon!