The mermaid's desire to leave the water becomes overwhelming. She goes to a sea witch, who gives her a potion and tells her that when she drinks it, her fins will turn into legs. But every step she takes will be filled with pain, as if she were treading upon sharp knives. And yet, does anderson's mermaid get to marry the prince? No, she doesn't. The prince ends up marrying another woman, and the mermaid melts into foam. As jack zipes puts it, most of anderson's characters wind up his metaphors for his own suffering he never felt what he would consider true happiness.