There was a real Little Mermaid?

(Well, that's what it seemed that you were saying!)

I'd be interested in hearing (though perhaps pegkerr would rather we did it elsewhere) your generalizations. IMHO, a new and different version of a fantasy/myth-based fictional story, an admittedly fictionalized version of historical events, and a purportedly accurate (to the extent it can possibly be known) story of historical events are very different critters.