Ursula’s End — An Intertextual Piece
By: Grace H
Tags: Disney, The Princess And The Frog, Intertextuality, Suspense, Little Mermaid

It was a beautiful, sunny, spring afternoon with a slight breeze at the edge of the ocean, and Ariel, The Little (not-so) Mermaid with fiery red hair and beautiful icy blue eyes, was sitting beside the water with her brand new legs and a burning wish to be reunited with her one true love, Prince Eric. Just minutes earlier, Ariel had made a deal with the evil sea sorceress, Ursula. This deal clearly stated that Ariel could have legs to go and find the handsome prince, Eric, to get the kiss of her dreams, but, if Ariel could not get her kiss in just 3 days, then she was to get banished to Ursula’s jail for eternity! (Or, until she decided a little mermaid would go quite well in her newest magic potion). So, Ariel set off towards Prince Eric’s castle.

Evening came, and as Ariel stumbled through the wicked woods, she came upon the grand castle. It was a giant, sandy coloured building with brick red accents on the windows, doors, and flags. There was a big, dark, wooden double door in the very centre of the front wall with two fish-shaped knockers. It was an intimidating building for Ariel, who was standing out front looking up at it. But despite the frightening aura of the castle, the little mermaid gathered courage and knocked on the door, and it opened to reveal two tall, intimidating, strong guards who were blocking her way.

“What might you be doing here?” questioned the larger guard, as he peered down on Ariel.

“I would like to see Prince Eric,” Ariel replied confidently, “I’m a friend of his.”

“I see,” grumbled the smaller of the guards, “And who might you be?”.

Ariel sighed, it wasn’t supposed to take her this long, she needed that kiss already!

“My name is Ariel. Ask Eric, he’s sure to remember me.” The guards stared at her for a long time before the guard who first spoke to her turned and walked up a flight of stairs, presumably to go and find the prince himself. The smaller guard stood around awkwardly for a second, before turning around and swiftly following the first guard. Great, Ariel thought to herself. Now my time is running out, and I have nobody to talk… She didn’t have time to finish her thought before the guards returned, followed by Eric, and a medium height, muscley man with fair skin whom she had never met.

“This is Ariel,” growled the first guard to Eric, “says she knows you”. Eric stared at Ariel for a long while before he spoke.

“Yeah, I remember you,” Eric said to Ariel, “you’re the one who saved me the other day”. Ariel nodded, delighted that he remembered her.

“May I come in, I’ve nowhere to live,” asked Ariel politely.

“Of course,” replied Eric quickly, “come along, I’m sure we can find you a room.”

After a few minutes of searching, Eric and his friend found an empty room in the castle.

“This is your room miss,” announced Eric’s mystery friend, “I’m Ivan, by the way”. Well, Ariel thought to herself, There’s that mystery solved.

“Thank you, again” Ariel said gratefully to Ivan and Eric.

“Anytime,” said Ivan with a grin, “You are the hero, after all”.

Ariel smiled coyly, she liked being a hero. She chucked her things in drawers and set up her bed, it was starting to get late.

At dinner that night, Ariel was trying to get Eric’s attention, but he had to talk to his father about the fencing tournament that was to be held the next day. Instead, Ariel found herself becoming closer with Ivan, the prince’s best friend and right-hand man. Ariel learned that she and Ivan had more in common than she thought, and he was a very good listener. On multiple occasions, she had almost slipped an important secret like her deal with Ursula, or her mermaid background to Ivan.

“Is everything okay?” asked Ivan with a concerned expression.

“Yes,” replied Ariel, trying not to give anything away, “everything’s fine”.

That dinner party, she learned a lot about Ivan, such as the fact that he’s only known Eric for 9 months, his parents live in another country and they abandoned him at a young age, and he loves snakes and he has 3 of them.

“So,” Ivan started, “you know pretty much everything about me, I want to know something about you”.

“Hmm, I haven’t got a very interesting life,” Ariel began, she couldn’t tell Ivan the truth, “I used to live far away but I moved here last month, and then I saved Eric and now I’m here, I guess”.

“You’re lying, I can tell,” started Ivan, “tell me your real story”.

Maybe I should, he seems trustworthy enough. Plus, I haven’t been able to tell anyone yet. Ariel thought.

“Fine, I’ll tell you,” said Ariel, “but not here”. She couldn’t tell her life story in front of everyone!

“Okay, meet me in the gardens at midnight” Ivan whispered, then he got up and headed to his room.

Should I go, or should I not go? Ariel debated. Fine, I’ll go. She got up, thanked the King and Queen for dinner, and went up to her room for a good night’s rest before her adventure with Ivan that was to come.

Ding Dong, Ding Dong. The bells signalling midnight woke Ariel up. Excitedly anticipating her meet up with Ivan, she got out of bed and got ready to leave her room. She snuck out of her bedroom into the quiet corridors of the castle. She crept down the hall and the stairs, keeping her hand on the rail the whole time. Arriving upon the castle gates, Ariel slowly opened the door and stepped outside. It was a 5-minute walk to the gardens, and the whole time Ariel was debating running back up to her room. What if he tells Eric… Ariel thought. No, he wouldn’t do that. Next thing Ariel knew, she had arrived at the garden.

“Evening” Ivan said from the shadows.

“Barely,” replied Ariel, laughing a little, “it’s midnight, and freezing!”

“Well then, you’d better get started telling me all these secrets” Ivan said with a smile.

Ariel told him everything that night. How she was really a mermaid, her father was king of the sea, her troubles with the sea witch Ursula, and even her deal to get Eric’s kiss. Ivan listened the whole time, nodding and laughing at the right times.

“Wow,” Ivan said when she was finished, “then you’d better get that kiss”. Crap! Ariel thought, she had forgotten about the kiss!

“I don’t know how that’s going to happen, I only have two days and I’ve barely spoken to him” Ariel said sadly.

“You know what,” Ivan said thoughtfully, “I haven’t told you everything about me either”.

What do you mean? Not everything?

“Okay, elaborate” Ariel said, confused. Ivan pulled out a doll.

“I have these powers, I can shapeshift, do magic, and,” he pointed to the doll, “I have voodoo powers”. Voodoo? Powers? Ariel was confused.

“Why are you telling me this?” Ariel asked, she was starting to not like this Ivan guy as much.

“Because,” Ivan paused for effect, “I could defeat Ursula, so that you don’t get banished to the dungeons”.

“No, no. You don’t need to do that” Ariel began, but by the time she had finished, Ivan was gone. You forgot to tell me you could teleport. Ariel thought sarcastically.

That night, after their talk. Ivan started to morph. His skin turned to a dusty brown, his hair vanished, and he grew. A lot. Suddenly, Ivan was not Ivan anymore. He was Dr Facilier, the evil genius who had turned a man into a frog and had scammed and killed thousands. Dr Facilier had been going undercover as Ivan, a nice boy from a horrible background. The goal? To steal the royal family’s money. But, now he had a new goal, to get his hands on these magic potions that he had heard so much about from Ariel. All he knew was that a sea witch called Ursula was guarding these potions. He clasped his hands together and when he opened them, a tiny cotton doll with purple tentacles and a big, sly grin emerged. It was a voodoo doll. With this, he could do whatever he wanted to Ursula. This is because whatever he did to the doll happened to the victim. He grinned. This was going to be easy. He thought.

A short while later, Dr Facilier had reached the edge of the water. He didn’t waste a second before morphing again into a giant, purple squid. As he dove into the water, he made a plan of action: to get Ursula to trade with him, she gets powers and all she needs to do is let him stay in her home for the night. Of course, Dr Facilier had no intent on giving Ursula anything at all, he wanted to sneak the potions out in the middle of the night. He just wanted her power. Before he knew it, he had arrived at Ursula’s lair. He knocked 3 times on the green and purple door before a voice shouted from inside.

“Who is it?!” said an unknown female voice, presumably Ursula.

“My name is Facilier, I’ve come to offer a very tempting deal”

The door was then opened by Ursula, a short, purple little woman with octopus-like tentacles. She looked intrigued.

“What sort of deal?” Ursula asked, confused. Dr Facilier explained that he wanted to give her powers that she could use to do whatever she wanted, whether it be bad or good. He said that he saw greatness in her and he wanted them to be partners in crime. He could see her considering this.

“What do you want in return?” She asked him, as she had snapped back to reality.

“See, I have nowhere to live,” he started, he was trying to look convincing, “would I be able to spend just tonight here?” Ursula looked him up and down before nodding and opening the door to him. Perfect, Ursula thought, this man is foolish, thinking he will give me powers just for stay, I will lock him in my dungeon and force the powers from him! Now all she had to do was wait.

That night, as Dr Facilier went to sleep in a seashell bed, Ursula sprung into action. Her plan was to banish him and steal from him. Of course, Facilier had been waiting too, he was ready to sneak out with a bag of loot. As Ursula entered the room of Facilier, she noticed something odd. Well, well, well. Time to get my hands on this idio- wait, Ursula thought as she threw the bedcovers off, no way. This rascal’s tricked me! Ursula was furious. Nobody had ever tried to outsmart her before! She was going to catch this man if it was the last thing she did. Alas, as she stormed out of the room, there he was, standing in her hallway with a glass of water.

“I’m sorry,” Facilier said, “I just needed a drink” How stupid of me, of course he wasn’t trying to cross me. Ursula thought, guiltily. She couldn’t have been more wrong.

The next morning, Facilier was ready to put his own plan into action, having Ursula’s failed. He had realised the previous night just how smart she actually was, and his plan was fraught with danger, but well worth it if it worked. He packed his little bag full of potions and recipes and headed out. He greeted the witch and told her that he had enjoyed his stay and was ready to leave. Okay, Facilier thought, now all I have to do is get out that door and then I’m free. But, it wasn’t so easy. Facilier seemed to have forgotten that Ursula had her eye on him, because he was being careless, and just trying to get out quickly. She doesn’t even know that I’m sneaking her potions out, right under her big nose! Facilier thought with glee. Ursula, however, was not unknowing. She had sensed that he was up to no good. Suspicious, she watched him very carefully. Just as she thought that maybe he wasn’t a bad person, he slipped on a cushion that had been left on the floor and hit the ground with a bang. His backpack fell on the ground also, except instead of the expected thud, there was a smashing noise. Ursula whipped her head around to face the noise, and saw Facilier on the ground looking shocked, and his backpack, also on the ground, leaking various strange looking liquids. Ursula realised that these were no ordinary liquids, they were her potions, in Facilier’s bag! She looked back at Facilier, only to see him running towards the front door.

“No!” Ursula roared as Facilier tried to run. She fired a web of black tentacles to grab him from her hands. He blocked this, ducking and firing a curse back at her. They glared at each other for a split second before an idea dawned on Facilier. He pulled out the voodoo doll with triumph. Unfortunately for him, Ursula had just thrown a potion at him. It hit the doll instead, which then shrivelled up and turned to dust. What am I going to do now? Facilier thought in despair. He wasn’t out of moves, and he had one last trick up his sleeve. He reached into his pocket while still dodging Ursula’s temper tantrum, and pulled out a small stone. He had never used this stone on somebody before and he was a little nervous, but he had to defeat the sorceress. For himself, but also for Ariel, who he was sure Ursula had probably forgotten about by now. He hurled the stone at her, and hitting her left foot, Ursula was sent to another world.

“What’s going on?” Ursula yelled in fury as she spiralled out of Facilier and Ariel’s life forever.

Ursula was gone, to never be seen by Facilier or Ariel ever again. Facilier floated back up to the surface where, to his surprise, he was greeted by Eric. Facilier was scared of what the prince might do to him, now that he knew what Facilier was really doing.

“So, Ivan,” Eric started sarcastically, “good to see you”

“Look, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have tricked you” Facilier said, truly feeling sorry for what he had done. Eric was very forgiving, and he cautioned Facilier with a warning. Facilier was relieved beyond measure, but he was also a little sad that he would never see Eric or Ariel ever again. He had to return to New Orleans, where he still had his lifelong goal of becoming the richest man in the world. Now, I’ll be unstoppable. Facilier thought as he pulled one last potion out of his pocket, a potion to cease all feelings of love, pity, sadness, or regret. Now, nothing will stop him. He chuckled to himself as he walked back to the edge of the ocean, and, with the swish of his cane, he was gone.