Fathoms below the ocean's surface, in King Triton's kingdom, the sea was bubbling with excitement. All the merfolk and mackerel, sardine and salmon, swordfish and snappers swam as fast as their fins would carry them.

No one wanted to miss a single note of the special concert in King Triton's glittering palace.

They gathered in the great hall just as the sea horse announced the arrival of His Royal Highness King Triton. The court composer, Sebastian, tapped his baton and signaled the start of the music.

Six of King Triton's beautiful daughters began to sing as they swirled around the stage. There were Aquata, Andrina, Arista, Attina, Adella, and Alana. 

After they had introduced themselves, they turned to present their youngest sister for her musical solo.

All eyes turned to the giant oyster shell center stage. But when it opened, the star of Sebastian's show was missing!

"Ariel!" King Triton bellowed.

But the Little Mermaid didn't hear her father calling her. In fact, she had forgotten about the concert altogether. She had discovered a sunken ship, and couldn't wait to explore it for human treasures to add to her collection. "Isn't it fantastic?" Ariel exclaimed.

"Hurry up, Flounder!"

Ariel and Flounder began to swim through the shadowy ship.

"Have you ever seen anything so wonderful in your entire life?" Ariel gasped, finding a shiny silver fork on the floor.

"Yeah, it's great," Flounder answered nervously. "Now let's get out of here."

"Oh, Flounder," Ariel teased. "Don't be such a guppy."

But no sooner had she spoken than a loud CRUNCH sounded behind them. "Did you hear something?" Flounder asked nervously. He turned to find himself staring into the biggest, meanest, sharpest teeth he had ever seen.

"A shark! Swim!" the little fish cried.

The shark was only inches behind them when Ariel had an idea. She and Flounder squeezed through a hole in an old anchor, and the shark followed. Just as the clever little mermaid had planned, their enemy was too big to fit and got stuck.

"Hah!" bragged Flounder, wiggling his fins in the shark's face. "Take that, you big bully!"

With their treasure safely in hand, Ariel and Flounder swam to the surface to find Scuttle. The silly seagull was a self-proclaimed expert on human things, and he'd surely know what each object was.

"Hmmm," Scuttle murmured, staring at the fork from every angle.

"This is a dinglehopper," he said, combing his feathers with it.

"Humans use these babies to straighten their hair." Scuttle had just picked up an old pipe and was explaining how humans played beautiful music on those so-called "snarfblatts" when Ariel suddenly remembered her own music. "Oh my gosh--the concert!" she cried. "My father's gonna kill me!"

She thanked Scuttle for his help and dove back down beneath the waves, never suspecting that someone was watching her. "Yes, hurry home, Princess," laughed Ursula. The evil sea witch was hatching a plan.

"As a result of your careless behavior, the entire celebration was ruined," Triton scolded his youngest daughter.

"You went up to the surface again, didn't you?"

"I'm sixteen years old. I'm not a child!" Ariel protested. But it was no use. The King was furious. "As long as you live under my ocean, you'll obey my rules," he said, waving his mighty trident. "You are never to go to the surface again!"

Ariel swam away in tears.

"You don't think I was too hard on her, do you, Sebastian?" Triton sighed. He loved his daughter very much and hated to see her unhappy.

"Oh course not," Sebastian said, with a click of his claw.

"Teenagers! Give them an inch and they swim all over you! She needs constant supervision." His Majesty couldn't have agreed more--and appointed Sebastian to keep an eye on the headstrong princess.

Sebastian followed Ariel back to her secret grotto--and he couldn't believe what he saw inside.

The sunlight streaming down from the ocean's surface illuminated Ariel's amazing collection of human treasures. Up above, humans walked and skipped and ran and danced. How she wished she could be part of that world!

The Little Mermaid was daydreaming about having feet instead of fins when a ship sailed over her grotto. She swam to the surface to get a better look.

On board the ship, as part of a birthday celebration for Prince Eric, his faithful guardian, Sir Grimsby, was unveiling an enormous statue of the dashing prince.

As an embarrassed Eric looked at the statue, Ariel looked at Eric. "He's very handsome, isn't he?" she asked Scuttle.

Suddenly a burst of lightning startled the ship's crew to attention. "Hurricane a-comin'!" one of the sailors shouted.

The men began tugging with all their might on the ropes and chains, trying to secure the masts and sails.

But the winds were too strong and the waves too powerful. The ship crashed into the jagged rocks, and Prince Eric was swept into the sea and knocked unconscious. Ariel dove after the Prince, summoning her strength to pull him to the safety of the nearby shore.

"Is he dead?" she asked Scuttle sadly.

He placed his head against Eric's foot and listened hard. "I can't make out a heartbeat," the seagull replied. Moved by the handsome prince, Ariel sang to him sweetly. At the sound of her lovely voice, Eric's eyes fluttered open. Ariel dove back into the sea and watched from a distance as Sir Grimsby helped him back to the palace.

"We're gonna forget this whole thing ever happened," Sebastian insisted.

But Ariel couldn't forget her handsome prince, vowing to return to him someday.