It was just as if all the stars of heaven were falling down upon her

"It was just as if all the stars of heaven were falling down upon her"

Honor Appleton (1879-1951)

c.1932

Illustration for Hans Christian Andersen's story, "The Little Mermaid" in Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales. London: Nelson, 1932. Facing p. 70.

This illustration shows the mermaid near the beginning of the story, enthralled by the firework celebrations on the prince's boat. It beautifully prefigures the ending, when rays of sunshine fall on the water, and she is taken up into the air to earn her immortal soul.

Scanned image and text by Jacqueline Banerjee

[This image may be used without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned the image and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one. ]