"At first they were friends but HCA got... intense about his feelings. Leading up to EC's wedding, HCA starts writing these love letters" "HCA writes to EC: "My sentiments for you are those of a woman. The femininity of my nature and our friendship must remain a mystery." "(This is where | stop feeling comfortable using male pronouns for Hans Christian Andersen)" "Collin for his part expressed regret he couldn't reciprocate Andersen's feelings." "The situation escalated to the point that HCA was basically disinvited from EC's wedding and didn't find out the deets till the day before" "The reason apparently being that Andersen had written a song to perform for Collin at his wedding. Girl. Nooooooooooooo." "Anyway, HCA starts writing The Little Mermaid at the same time." "The original is the tale of a young mermaid who wants desperately to gain a human soul & discovers the love of a man is how to do it" "She lets her tongue be cut out in exchange for feet that bleed when she walks. All so she can get on land, get a man & therefore a soul." "The prince treats her like a pet. She sleeps curled up outside his door. He marries someone else, she jumps into the sea & turns into foam."
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