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The Soul’s Heartless Journeys

Just as it said it would, the Fisherman’s Soul returns the next year and calls for the Fisherman.  The Fisherman comes and hears the Soul’s tale…

The Journey East

The Soul journeyed East and joined a caravan.  In one of the cities they enter, the Soul goes into the temple and demands to see the god of the city.  After a few attempts to show him “fake” idols, the priest takes him to what they truly worship: the Mirror of Wisdom.[1] 

Then the Soul says, “‘And I did a strange thing, but what I did matters not, for in a valley that is but a day’s journey from this place have I hidden the Mirror of Wisdom,” and begs the Fisherman to take him back, for wisdom’s sake.

“But the young Fisherman laughed.  ‘Love is better than Wisdom,’ he cried, ‘and the little Mermaid loves me.’”  With that, the Fisherman dives into the sea, and leaves the Soul. [2]

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The Sad Flight of the Fisherman’s Soul

The Fisherman follows the young Witch’s instructions and ends up entering into a gathering of witches in a clearing.  He fulfills his promise to the Witch – dancing with her wildly.

And then a man in black comes, whom the witches begin to worship.  The man is about to kneel before him, but “without knowing why he did it, he made on his breast the sign of the Cross, and called upon the holy name.”[1]  At that, the man and witches flee.

Funny how the man does not believe in Christ, and yet seeks protection from Him.

Anyway, the man catches the Witch before she flees and forces her to tell him how to separate his soul from his body.  She tells him that “what the men call the shadow of the body is not the shadow of the body, but is the body of the soul.  Stand on the seashore with thy back to the moon, and cut away from around thy feet thy shadow, which is thy soul’s body, and bid thy soul leave thee, and it will do so.’”[2]

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The Little Mermaid Longs for a Soul

“‘Why have not we an immortal soul?’ asked the little mermaid mournfully; ‘I would give gladly all the hundreds of years that I have to live, to be a human being only for one day, and to have the hope of knowing the happiness of that glorious world above the stars.’”[1]

Some scholars (especially those who delve into the psychology of tales) associate the Little Mermaid with lust.[2]  From what we’ve seen of the story so far, I would agree.  But knowing the rest of the story, it’s absolute hogwash.

You should not listen to such ignorant people.  In fact, you should be downright insulted.  Yes, the Little Mermaid idolizes the prince inappropriately.  But it is not lust that makes her go to the Sea Witch.

No.  It is something far more wonderful…

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The Little Mermaid’s Idol

I know in my last post I said I was going to do The Fisherman and His Soul.  However, when I started re-reading it to refresh my memory, I changed my mind and have decided to do it in chronological order.

The Little Mermaid was written in 1837, a little over 25 years after Undine; The Fisherman and His Soul was written in 1891, over 50 years after The Little Mermaid. The reason I had wanted to do The Fisherman and His Soul first was because I didn’t want anyone to forget noble Undine’s quest for a soul, as well as the kindly priest, which are so at odds with the characters in Oscar Wilde’s The Fisherman and His Soul.

But more importantly, I didn’t want to write about The Little Mermaid because everyone knows the story.

Well, parts of it.  I’d bet most don’t know the nobility of our Little Mermaid, nor the tragic twist at the end.  But the beginning is also full of “lessons” to explore about mermaids…and ourselves…

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