Original: In Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid, it is said that mermaids forget that humans can not breathe underwater, while other stories say they drown men out of spite, while still other fables portray mermaids as benevolent toward men.
Simplified: In Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid, it is said that they forget that humans can not breathe underwater, while others say they drown men out of spite.