I agree; as was mentioned in other posts, many of the stories used by Disney have several different versions, and that is a result of the oral tradition that created the stories. Such wonderful stories wouldn't exist if storytellers throughout the years had not changed and adjusted the stories to fit their audience's needs. Disney movies are there to teach little moral lessons and tell a good story, which is not always bad. And besides, when making kid movies, like "The Little Mermaid", you can't leave in all the gory details. I haven't read the original story of the mermaid for a while, but I believe she has to kill the Prince in the end, and so she stabs him at the end. In some versions, she opts to kill herself instead of the prince. either way, it's gory and unpleasant. In fact, Disney often cuts out the suicides that come at the end of stories, like in "the hunchback of notre dame".