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The Fisherman and His Soul
...as
told by the witch to her daughter who tells it to her son the
Star-Child, who told it to his daughter, who told it to her
daughter the
Spanish Princess, who told it to her granddaughter, who is telling it
to her son Cyril...
One dark night a
fisherman was out alone in his boat when he felt a strong tug on his
nets. He pulled them in only to find a sleeping Mermaid, and
immediately fell in love with her. She woke up, frightened, and begged
him to let her go back to her family underwater. He let her go after
making her promise to come and sing for him whenever he called her.
Every night he came back in
his boat and called to her. She came up out of the water and sang of
sailors and fishermen, mermaids and mermen. The fisherman became more
and more enamored of the Mermaid. He begged her to marry him, but she
said she could not marry a man with a soul. If he would send away his
soul, she would love him. From that moment the fisherman was determined
to get rid of his soul.
He came to see me, a witch
living nearby, and told me of his love for the Mermaid, begging me to
tell him how to send his soul away. It was of no use to him while it
was at odds with his heart. He could not see his soul, or touch it, or
know it, so he didn't want it. I warned him that to do such a thing as
reject his soul was very dangerous, but I knew he was determined. I
told him to meet me the next night, when the moon was full. In order to
learn the secret of how to get rid of his soul, he must dance with me
on the top of the mountain under the moon.
The next night I let down
my long red hair and put on my beautiful dress of gold tissue. When the
fisherman came we danced with the other witches on the mountain. I held
his hands and spun him round and round, jumping up and down, the wind
whipping my hair and dress. Then it was time for us to leave and I had
not yet told him the secret. Finally I was the last one left and he was
clinging to my hands, determined not to let me go without me telling
him. I gave the fisherman a small knife and told him to stand on a high
rock by the sea with the moon behind him. Then he must cut off his
shadow from his feet, for it is not the shadow of his body but the body
of his soul. Then he would be free to love his Mermaid.
After he freed himself, the
fisherman's Soul asked that he give him his heart. Refusing, the
fisherman said that he could not love his Mermaid without his heart,
and he bid his Soul begone. The Soul said that he would return every
year and call to the fisherman. Then the fisherman dove into the sea
and was united with his Mermaid.
A year later the Soul
returned to the same place and called to the fisherman, who came up out
of the sea to hear of the Soul's journey. The Soul told him of his
journey to the East, where he traveled with a group of Tatars, rode
camels, fought dragons and wild peoples, and took a city hostage. There
the Soul found the Mirror of Wisdom, the only one of its kind, which
gives the possessor all knowledge and understanding. He had brought it
back for the fisherman. But the fisherman just laughed, saying that his
Love for the Mermaid was far better than any Wisdom, and he dove back
into the deep.
Another year passed
and the
Soul returned to the fisherman. This time he told of his journey to the
South, where he joined the Bedouins and lived in their cities. There he
bested the unbeatable Emperor, and was given in return the Ring of
Riches, worth more than all the wealth of all the kingdoms in the
world. The Soul offered this Ring to the fisherman in exchange for
leaving the sea and allowing them to reunite. The fisherman again
laughed, saying that his Love for the Mermaid was far better than all
the Riches in the world, and he dove back into the deep.
After the third year,
the
Soul returned and called to the fisherman. He told him of a dancer he
had seen in a city, whose face was veiled, but whose naked feet were
more beautiful than any face. The fisherman, thinking about the dancer,
realized that his Mermaid did not have feet, and he resolved to return
to land, briefly, and see this dancer. He got out of the water, and the
Soul climbed back into him. They set off to find the dancer. They
passed through city after city, not finding the dancer anywhere. The
fisherman grew more and more depraved as the heartless Soul directed
his actions. Finally, growing to hate himself and his evil, the
fisherman determined to cut his soul away again and return to his
Mermaid. But at this time the Soul told him that that would only work
once, and now he was forever joined with his soul and separated from
his love.
Heartbroken, the fisherman
returned to the seashore, calling day and night for his love to appear
again. She never answered and one day her beautiful cold body washed
ashore, dead. The fisherman ran to her and embraced the lifeless body,
weeping. Finally, unable to stand it any longer, his heart broke, and
his soul was let in. Reunited at last, the fisherman, body and soul,
cast himself into the sea, and met his lover in death.
----
"And that's the story of
the
fisherman, Cyril," his mother concluded. "It's a very frightening
story.
Now we are almost done with the history of this cloak, because the
witch had gotten it from her father, who was a king. The next story is
about him, and he was the maker of the cloak..."
Author's
Note: This story
was over 14,000 words long, so it needed lots of editing. Some of the
main things I cut out were the long descriptions of the Soul's various
adventures and travels. He describes them, and his companions, and
their surroundings. He was very heartless and cruel, driven only by his
desire to entice the fisherman to return to him. The other thing I left
out was that the fisherman, when trying to find out how to get rid of
his soul, first visits a priest, who tells him that what he is trying
to do is evil and dangerous, and refuses to help him. Then the
fisherman goes to the merchants, and tries to sell his soul to them.
They don't want his soul, but offer to buy his body as a servant to the
queen. Only after that does the fisherman remember the witch. While he
is dancing with the witches, there is a strange and mysterious man on
the mountain whom the witches worship. The fisherman is afraid of the
man, and he utters a prayer, which causes all the witches to fly away
screaming. The last major difference, besides the change to the witch's
perspective, was the ending. Wilde's story is much more detailed, with
the fisherman and his soul journeying for a long time, and then coming
back to the sea. Then after the fisherman and the mermaid die, the
priest comes out and curses the sea and buries them in an unmarked
grave. After beautiful flowers grow just over the grave, the priest
comes out and blesses the sea, and the flowers never grow there again.
Bibliography: "The
Fisherman and His Soul," by Oscar Wilde. From The House of Pomegranates, 1891.
web source: SurLaLane
Fairy Tales.
Image: The Mermaid. web source: ArtsyCraftsy.
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