In November's issue, “Sexism in Fantasyland” by Maegan S. incorrectly depicts Hans Christian Andersen's “The Little Mermaid.” Maegan states, “The story ends just as the star-struck mermaid wants. The evil sea witch is defeated, Ariel's voice is restored, and the prince is hers.” In contrast, Andersen's tale instead says: “‘We have given our hair to the witch,' said they, ‘to obtain help for you, that you may not die tonight. She has given us a knife: here it is, see it is very sharp. Before the sun rises you must plunge it into the heart of the prince; when the warm blood falls upon your feet they will grow together again, and form into a fish's tail, and you will be once more a mermaid, and return to us to live out your three hundred years before you die and change into the salt sea foam. Haste, then; he or you must die before sunrise.'”

Maegan misrepresents Andersen's tale of lust and sacrifice, in which Ariel gives her life to spare the prince. Although Disney movies have adjusted the century-old tales of distressed princesses to fit the ideals of today, the originals remain just as bloody and abhorrent as ever.