Ursula Literature

Ursula (poem)
Jen Hoffer

Ursula (short story)
Inés Alegre

When Ursula was completely sure that Ariel was out of earshot, she let out a tremendous cackle. Oh, how sweet her vengeance would be!

She’d been trying to find a way to get back at Triton for years. How dare he banish her! “A little magic never hurt anybody”, she muttered to herself every night. “What gave him the right to decide what was right and wrong?”. They were both equally powerful and respectable; the only notable difference was that he was a man and she a woman. Classic.

Then today, the most gullible of his daughters stumbled into her cave, asking for her help! It was simply too good to be true. As she put away all her potion ingredients, she reflected on the genius of her strategy: Ariel would inevitably fail to kiss her princeling (because who kisses someone who they’ve just met and who refuses to tell you their name?), she’d have to face the consequences, and her father, the ever-honourable Triton, would take her place, enabling Ursula to easily take the throne.

It’s not like any of his daughters would be any good at ruling; they were young and inexperienced, and far too preoccupied with singing and hair-brushing to rule a kingdom. The ocean would be in far better hands: hers.

And the pièce de résistance was the fact that Ariel had brought this upon herself. She had sought out the Sea Witch, despite probably being warned not to do so, and signed a contract without reading it through. 

“If one is willing to sign a contract without reading the fine prints then the consequences are entirely their own fault!” Ursula mused. 

There was a small chance that the girl would write to the prince and explain her situation; the fact that she had been able to sign her name indicated that she was literate, but deep down, Ursula knew that Ariel would be too preoccupied to even consider it. Ah, the thralls of young love! 

Triton would finally know what it felt like to have everything he cared about ripped from him. The mere thought of it curled her lips into a satisfied smile.

The Sea Witch's Vengeance (short story)
Linda M. Crate

Ursula remembered the palace. The castle had always been a place full of songs and mirth when her mother had been alive. She had even loved her brother Triton until he turned her into this monstrous creature. Once she was a mermaid, a beautiful one with long flowing silver hair and a purple fin. She had been elegant, thin, and had a musical voice that made everyone swoon over her.

She had always been more powerful than Triton, and the kingdom ought to be rightfully hers. She was the older sibling, after all. But with that triton in his hand he had taken everything from her. Everything but her power, of course. She was banished from the kingdom and forced to live in a cave where she had nursed two dying eels back to health.

No one spoke of her in the castle anymore, her pets informed her. Her name was a forbidden word.

Years later, after his wife had died, music was forbidden in the kingdom, too. Triton had never been good at facing his pain, but he had always been good at running from it. With his wife now dead she would have to make sure whatever revenge she took against him hurt and hurt him badly. She wanted him to feel as alone, unappreciated, and wounded as she had when he threw her out of what had once been their home.

Her mother had once warned her not to allow herself to be consumed with negativity. Her dark emotions had always been stronger, and her mother had reassured her that wasn't by any fault of her own, but she shouldn't let the darkness win. But what was wrong with the darkness? It was in the darkness that she often found her light. She knew her mother would tell her that she shouldn't want vengeance against Triton, but she and Triton had both inherited the rage and short temper of their father. But Ursula had also ascertained her mother's intelligence, cleverness, and magical power.

Ursula wondered what her mother would have thought of Triton banishing her from the castle just because she had wanted what was rightfully hers.

She had to watch what was going on in the kingdom through the use of a crystal ball.

Ursula had to look at what had been taken from her. Her once beautiful and brown skin that resembled her mother's was taken from her and transformed into an ugly shade of purple that she didn't like, her beautiful purple fin was now was split into five black tentacles (clearly math wasn't Triton's best subject if he thought an octopus had five tentacles). Oct ought to have told him eight tentacles. Her silver hair was short and she couldn't seem to grow it out no matter how much she tried.

If she had her way she would chop off that ugly beard from his smug face. Seeing Triton happy now filled her with rage, and a need to humiliate him and return back to her castle was the only thing that consumed her. She could let bygones be bygones and forgive as her mother would've likely wanted, but she had been cheated out of her kingdom. Her nieces would never know that she was their aunt, she would have no relationships with the merpeople she had once loved and cared about. Every single one of them had turned their backs on her and embraced Triton instead.

Ursula was going to take matters into her own tentacles. They were going to remember her name, they were going to rue the day that they all decided to turn on her. The day they decided to support Triton becoming king. She was a princess once, and she was meant to be queen! All because she had argued with Triton over her birthright she was a monster? Fine, if they wanted a monster that's what she was going to give them. She would let her dark feminine consume her completely until the sweet Princess Ursula she once was - was completely gone. She was Queen Ursula one day, and she was going to reclaim Atlantica for her own whether or not those idiot merfolk wanted it or not.

To be cast aside as this sea witch was an insult. Her name meant she-bear, and since she was in the sea and not on land she supposed she would have to be more like a shark. At any scent of blood, she would take it and tear the royal family apart until chaos was the only thing that remembered their names and she was the rightful ruler of the kingdom once more. Then she would exile Triton and his daughters, and she would feel nothing but pride and happiness in this feat.

Ah, to be in the castle once again...and to taste the grand feasts. To live off more than shrimp, sea weed stew, and anything stupid enough to crawl into her cave would be decadent.

"One day, my poopsies, you will see...I will take my place as the rightful owner of these seas, and all these little mermaids and mermen will be held to my mercy. And I will be known as something more than a sea witch keeping a garden in a sea cave," Ursula remarked, an evil cackle escaping her lips.

The thought of ruling over her kingdom sent chills through her spine. She supposed some might say that she was living up to her name of witch, but Triton was to blame for that. If they had wanted her to remain kind and contrite then they ought not have tried to take something that rightfully belonged to her. She glanced at the glass ball and observed Triton's family before banishing the image away. One way or another she was going to get her way. She didn't care if she had to wait for years, she would wait for the right moment and the right circumstances to strike. Even if it meant getting to her brother through one of his daughters.

The ocean would be hers.