In 2011, thirty-seven listed retail franchises sold at least one-hundred million dollars worth of Disney Princess related items. and four franchises made over one billion in sales. In addition, Disney Princess retail is the number one most sold in all of the Disney franchises. Today you will hear about three specific princesses, Ariel, Cinderella and Belle; you will also learn about their history, the lessons they teach and their origins. First, we will talk about their history in the Disney franchise. The Little Mermaid was an animated film released in 1989 by Walt Disney. It was planned as one of Disney’s first feature films, and was adapted as a musical around 2007. It is commonly referred to as the “film that brought Broadway into cartoons”.…show more content… Originally written in Denmark around 1837 by a Danish man named Hans Christian Andersen was The Little Mermaid, from which sprung Princess Ariel, However, in the original text, Ariel does not live happily ever after and ends up dying and turning into seafoam while her spirit goes up into the “Kingdom of God”. Cinderella also comes from European descent. The first recorded Cinderella variation was Greek and called “Rhodopis”. Although, in the original version Cinderella is a Greek courtesan not an enslaved step-daughter, they both marry into royalty--just in this case her prince happened to be an Egyptian King. Also, the tale of the girl trying to be found using a shoe, traces back to the original version as well. Finally, is Belle’s origin, France. Beauty and the Beast, commonly known as Belle et la Bête was originally written by French novelist Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont in 1756. In this version, Belle has two wicked sisters and her father does not get lost in the woods on the way to showcase his invention, but while finding his daughters gifts. Although like most translations, Belle does become the Mistress of the beast’s castle. Unlike most French fairy-tales, Beauty and the Beast is one of the extreme few that ends happily. All of the princesses come from early Europe, however it is interesting to see how much the tales differ in their