Once upon a time there lived a kind, charming merman named Ariello

whose mother was Queen Tritina, ruler of the sea

Ariello was fascinated with humans and longed to live on land

One day, a beautiful young woman, Princess Erica, was out sailing in a terrible storm

and fell overboard!

Luckily, Ariello was watching nearby

He was able to return Erica safely to shore

For days after doing so, Erica was all he could think about

His evil and magical uncle Ursulo saw that Ariello's mind was elsewhere

After finding out what Ariello had been thinking about,

Ursulo made a deal with him: Ariello could be human for three days 

if he gave Ursulo his good looks 

If Erica hadn't kissed Ariello in three days, Ariello would have to be Ursulo's slave 

forever

Ariello agreed and was given legs (along with a snaggletooth, lots of warts,

greasy hair, dirty skin, and stinky breath)

When Ariello showed up at Erica's doorstep and asked for a place to stay,

Erica couldn't help but say yes; she has a very open heart 

Throughout the next three days, Ariello and Erica found out they had much in common

and found that they very much enjoyed being with each other

At 11 o' clock in the evening on the third day, Ariello knew that his time was almost up

He looked at his sweet, beautiful Erica and said, "I love you."

She looked back at him with large, bright eyes for an infinite moment...

and then,

she smiled

and said, "I love you, too."

And the couple leaned in and kissed passionately

and in that moment in time all was right in the universe because two souls

that were meant to be together had found each other at last

After a kiss that was so full of love and hope and dreams and passion, Erica leaned back

and saw that a handsome, loving boy with no snaggletooth was staring back at her

And they lived happily ever after.

The end.