But isn't that the original mermaid myth? Soulless creatures luring others to their doom.

(I never liked that bit of The Little Mermaid. A thousand years of servitude to earn a soul? That just really bothered me. Grant you I'm not christian to begin with so the all-consuming drive to earn a spot in 'heaven' didn't really click either, but what am I supposed to think of the posited deity in that story who creates a whole species without souls, gives them the awareness of their lack, and then punishes them for not having them?!)

Three hundred

And it's called an immortal soul, so there may be a difference between a mortal soul and an immortal one

If they glide into a kid's room and the kid is being good, their smile knocks off a year
If the kid is being bad, every tear shed adds a day

Somewhere I saw someone mentioning the mermaid having to kill the chick, but my book says her sisters told her to kill the prince

I've only ever seen a version where she's supposed to kill the prince, too.

I never noticed that caveat before! Now I'm curious about the difference between mortal souls and immortal souls. Have you come across the phrase elsewhere at all?

Only in Little Mermaid
As I recall, the soul isn't even mentioned in The Snow Queen, much less his short stories

-shuffles through-
She does talk with her old grandmother about moving onto dry land and immortal soul and soul are both mentioned, tho the drop of immortal seems to be less a significant difference and more one less word said

Mortal soul doesn't even come up, seeing as that was a guess lol

I've only heard the 'immortal soul' personally.
But yeah, 300-1000 years of servitude seems a little intense for me. lol.

I'm not sure what my favorite mythical creature is.
I really like kappas. I like the creepy original ones. But I super love the cutsie ones! So adorable!

your two avatars look like they just came back from a themed party!
Are you both trying to match the douhgnight color scheme for this year?

Being a breeze for 300 years could be good, could be bad

I am. Soon enough I'll be dropping a lot of the extra items and just Doughnight

Moi, the version I read, her sisters gave up their hair to get her an enchanted dagger. It could save her if she used it to kill the prince, but she can't do it, and so she throws herself back into her beloved sea and turns into seafoam and -surprise!- she gets an after-death "chance", but it means spending 1000 years (give or take) of servitude earning a soul. Which is supposed to be a happy ending. Which convinced me the author was from a very dour lot.

Mine matches yours in all but the years of what what said