If she's aware of the differences than she shouldn't have brought the original version in the first place. They sell Disney's The LIttle Mermaid in book form already. If that's the version they want presented to the class, that's the version that should have been brought in. Also your story seems somewhat flawed because the sentence "Oh it's fine the big lion is just sleeping I'm sure he's not dead" doesn't in any way imply the parent is upset so it makes no sense to say that it is because the parent is upset that the child is crying. Especially since you also started that with the fact that the child was already sniffling. That sounds like the kid was going to cry either way and her mother's response had nothing to do with it. Plus I've seen tons of young kids burst into tears at the Mufasa death scene while their parents show zero reaction to it at all. It's just an upsetting scene that will always effect some more than others. The same way that some younger children are terrified by the villains in Disney movies but other children are amused by or barely register their existence. It's no difference than the way some adults will be fully sobbing while watching Soldiers returning home videos on youtube and other's will just say "Well that's nice".

Except for that it was the mum who was almost crying. And yes some kids react differently, but Disney movies are kind of designed around not letting them dwell into one emotion for too long. So, just saying, emotionally micro-managing your kids is not necessary and usually only serves to project your own feelings onto them. (and I kinda know zero other kids who found that scene upsetting, but mass hysteria is a thing, so one of them starts, the others follow, again, more a reflection of the emotions around them than their own, much of what happened in class). So comparing their reactions to adults reaction to a situation they can emphasize with (like soldier return videos, whatever that has to do with an animated movie) is kind of useless, since, you know, they are adults and possess the necessary skills to put themselves into someone else's shoes.

I agree.... I don't know about you... but my mind went straight into the gutter....

*you’re

No, I'd say the idiot is the person who brought the original The Little Mermaid to the preschool rather than simply buying a copy of the Disney's The Little Mermaid in book form which very much exists. If you hand someone a book and tell them to read it, you should assume they are going to read the book they were presented with and not read parts of the book and fill in the rest with their own version.

Why buying Disney stories when there are much better children stories out there?

The final frontier...

I think I

If i remember right the mermaid turns foam washed up on the shore. Dunno how reliable that is, i’ve never read it, just heard that’s how it ends

It's a little more complicated than the mermaid simply becoming sea foam. The mermaid gives up her tongue and voice to the sea witch (who actually warns the mermaid that having legs will hurt like hell) for a potion that will make her human. There is no time limit on the potion, but if she fails to earn the prince's love, and he marries someone else she will die of a broken heart and turn into seafoam upon the waves. The prince loves her--but more as a sister as he believes that a temple maiden that he saw after the mermaid brought him to shore rescued him and loves her instead. She (the temple maiden) turns out to be the very princess that the prince is betrothed to and they wed. The mermaid's sisters come to her with a knife they got from the sea witch in exchange for their long hair. If she stabs the prince on his wedding night, she'll become a mermaid again--she refuses to do so and kisses him and his wife goodbye before throwing herself and the knife off the ship into the waves. She dissolves into seafoam, but becomes a daughter of the air, because she strove to obtain an immortal soul. She now has a chance to earn that soul by doing good deeds to mankind for 300 years before finally getting to go to Heaven. Truthfully, Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tales were often deep, philosophical, religious and disturbing. I'm just thankful OP didn't decide to read "The Red Shoes" afterwards. (That is one of Andersen's REALLY messed up stories and makes the Little Mermaid look downright tame)

I remember a segment on QI where they discussed how Hans Christian Andersen wrote "the Little Mermaid" (and made the story so depressing) because he was gay and in love with a married man who he knew he could never have. He wrote "the Little Mermaid" during this period of heartbreak and bitterness. Not 100% sure how true it is but it's very interesting nonetheless.

Not really. One assumes that the book the preschool leader (in this case an intern) handed them is what they want read aloud to the students. If what they had wanted was for the OP to present the Disney Version of The Little Mermaid than she should have brought the book Disney's The Little Mermaid, which very much exists as I have owned it myself, gifted it to people, and seen on shop shelves, and not the original fairy tale which may be distressing for younger listeners.