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The Fisherman and His Soul

“For her body I would give my soul, and for her love I would surrender heaven”[1] ~ The Fisherman to the Priest

That quote sums up the story (almost) perfectly.  It seems the antithesis of the other two “modern” mermaid tales we’ve looked at.  Using Undine and The Little Mermaid as a springboard, it twists them in an entirely unforeseen fashion.  At first, it is cause for indignation. But you’ll soon see the mournful need of it.   

The story begins with a young Fisherman catching a mermaid and falling in love with her.  She tells him “If only thou would’st send away thy soul, then could I love thee.”[2]   So, the Young Fisherman goes on a quest to rid himself of his soul.  

When I first read this, I was outraged at Oscar Wilde.  I felt he was purposefully belittling the previous stories.  Where Undine and the Little Mermaid desperately want souls, the fisherman desperately wishes to derive himself of his.  It was like a slap in the face to all those poor, lovely sea maidens who longed for salvation.

But it’s not.  It does deliver a slap in the face, but not to mermaids.  

Where Undine and The Little Mermaid say even mermaids can be saved, this story says they cannot – but only because Christians will not stoop to bring the Gospel to the forsaken.

Yes, it is a slap in the face to Christians.  And honestly, we need it…

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The End of Undine’s Tale

When the news of Huldbrand’s death breaks, Father Heilmann returns to the castle and comforts Bertalda.  However, it has almost no effect “upon her worldly thoughtless mind.”  She slanders and “[abuses] Undine as a murderess and sorceress.”  But the old fisherman “calmly said: ‘It could not be otherwise after all; Read more…

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Sorrowful Justice

I almost missed today’s “lesson.”  But Andrew pointed it out, and when he did, it was so poignant!  I just hope I can do it justice…

The Warning

Before his wedding to Bertalda, Hudlbrand has a lucid dream.  Swan-like creatures carry him to the Mediterranean, and he sees Undine under the waves.[1]

He sees Kuhleborn approach Undine.  They have an argument, and Kuhleborn reminds Undine that she is still “subject to the laws of” their “element.”  Just in case anyone had any doubt, he is explicit: if Huldbrand is “unfaithful” and marries Bertalda, then Undine is “duty bound to take away his life.”[2]

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The “Grief” of Huldbrand

“Leave her, Huldbrand!  Leave him, Bertalda!  He yet belongs to another; and do you not see grief for his lost wife still written on his pale cheek?  No bridegroom looks thus, and a voice tells me that if you do not leave him, you will never be happy.’ The three listeners felt in their innermost heart that Father Heilmann spoke the truth, but they would not believe it…”[1]

We all saw this coming: Huldbrand would take this opporuntity to marry Bertalda.  But, to be fair, at first Huldbrand “could do nothing but weep, and that as bitterly as the poor gentle Undine had wept when he had torn” the coral necklace from her hand.  Bertalda wept, too, “and they lived a long while quietly together at Castle Ringstetten, cherishing Undine’s memory, and almost wholly forgetful of their former attachment to each other.”[2]

Undine visited Huldbrand in his dreams, “caressing him tenderly and kindly, and then going away, weeping silently, so that when he awoke he often scarcely knew why his cheeks were so wet; whether they had been bathed with her tears, or merely his own?”[3]

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Undine’s Spirit Warfare

Undine, Huldbrand, and Bertalda embark down the Danube.  Immediately, Kuhleborn begins his “teasing tricks,” and Undine constantly has to “rebuke” the waves and winds “so that the pleasure of the little party was completely destroyed.”  Even their trusted servants begin to look at them “with suspicious glances.”

Rather than grateful, Huldbrand is resentful, developing an “animosity” toward his “mermaid” wife.  And he makes sure Undine knows it, too.

Poor Undine!  “Wearied with this exhibition of displeasure, and exhausted by the constant effort to frustrate Kuhleborn’s artifices,” she falls “into a deep slumber.”

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Undine’s Sorrows, God’s Sorrows

“Huldbrand’s heart began to turn from Undine to Bertalda” and “Bertalda more and more responded with ardent affection to the young knight….how Undine wept…”[1]

This sums up the state of Undine’s marriage.  It’s all the more tragic because Undine is so innocent and pure.  She would never have expected the cruelty of her friend and husband – indeed, it’s as if they had no souls.

To make matters worse, Uncle Kuhleborn repeatedly pays terrifying visits to them – especially Bertalda, who “had already several times been made ill with terror.”[2]  

The Last Straw

One day while Huldbrand is out, Undine gets her servants to place a large stone over the fountain in their courtyard.  This causes a tiff between her and Bertalda, for Bertalda claims she needs the water for her “complexion;”  but Undine “although gentle as usual, was more than usually firm.”[3]

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“Have you a Soul?”

“‘Have you a soul? Have you really a soul, Bertalda?’” ~ Undine to Bertalda[1]

The three reach the imperial city, and all are overjoyed to see them.  All except Bertalda, who “could feel nothing but grief.”  She had truly loved Huldbrand.  What’s more, it was evident to everyone (except Undine) that she had loved him…and he’d humiliated her by marrying another woman.[2]

But Bertalda “[reconciled] herself to circumstances, and lived on the most friendly terms with Undine.”[3]  Interestingly, there is genuine affection between them.  So great is their friendship that Undine suggests Bertalda come with them to Ringstetten, Huldbrand’s castle.  As they discuss this one evening, Kuhleborn comes out of the courtyard fountain and speaks with Undine privately.  This time, Undine does not spurn him.

Whatever he tells her makes her clap her hands with joy.  But she refuses to tell anyone – she wishes to reveal it at Bertalda’s “name-day” party in several days time…[4]

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The Changes in Undine

“My father, who is a powerful water-prince in the Mediterranean Sea, desired that his only daughter should become possessed of a soul, even though she must then endure many of the sufferings of those thus endowed….I am now possessed of a soul, and my soul thanks you. ”[1]

After Undine’s strange outburst, Father Heilmann, full of wise compassion, prays over her.  He then turns to Huldbrand, saying “‘So far as I can discover there is nothing of evil in her, but much indeed that is mysterious.’”[2]

But he needn’t have worried about Undine.  For indeed, she was completely changed…

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Undine’s Soul

‘There must be something beautiful, but at the same time extremely awful, about a soul….The soul must be a heavy burden…’”[1]

Last week we left Undine wild and lovely, and Huldbrand smitten.  Cut off from the rest of the world, the two soon fall in love, and the fisherman and his wife see them “as already united in marriage.”[2] And yet, they need a priest to make it official.  A priest showing up on their island seems impossible…and yet a priest unexpectedly knocks at their door one evening.[3]

Father Heilmann had set out toward the bishop to tell him of the “distress” of his monastery and surrounding villages because of the floods.  However, when trying to cross the raging river, the boat was capsized and he wound up on their newly formed island.[4]

Huldbrand doesn’t wait.  He suggests the priest marry himself and Undine.  And since everyone agrees, there’s no reason to delay!

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The Lovely (and Wild) Undine – Part 2

“She threw her arms round his neck, and drew him down beside her.”  Huldbrand let her, “embracing the beautiful girl and kissing her fervently.”[1]

“I will celebrate before the Lord.  I will become even more undignified than this” ~ 2 Samuel 6:21b-22a

Huldbrand rushes out to find Undine in the midst of the storm.  Undine calls out to him, and coyly reveals herself on “a little island formed by the flood.”  Huldbrand makes his way to her…and the quote above says it all.  

But the fisherman finds them, rebukes them, and begs them to come to the “mainland” – which is now an island itself, cut off from the world.[3]  Undine refuses, and sings of the stream going to the ocean. The old fisherman “wept bitterly at her song, but this did not seem to affect her.”  It touches Huldbrand’s heart though, and he carries her back.[4]

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