by Friedrich Heinrich Karl de la Motte Fouqué
WHAT A PRETENTIOUS NAME.
But anyway, first book of the year is finished! It wasn’t very good, but there were some interesting and lovely bits.
As the title says, this is the story of Undine — a water-spirit changeling — and Huldbrand of Ringstetten, a total loser of a knight who can’t for the life of him — *snickers* — decide between two women.
It’s like The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen, I suppose, but unlike the Little Mermaid, Undine actually got married and the soul to go with it. THERE HAS TO BE A STORY OF THESE TWO COMMISERATING TOGETHER ABOUT THEIR LOT IN LIFE. But not written by people of certain ideological persuasion which I won’t name because people become so offended if you don’t share their ideological beliefs.
“If I have given her a soul,” he could not help saying to himself, “I have assuredly given her a better one than my own . . .”
Heh. Truer words never said, Huldbrand.
Undine was changed with the child of a poor fisherman and his wife, Bertalda. Undine was thus raised by the fisherman and Bertalda ended up being raised by a duke. Years later she unwittingly sends Huldbrand off to the forest where her parents and Undine live, as a sort of knightly challenge from a lady. He, being smitten with her and adhering to the knightly code, accepts. Aaaand then ends up in love with Undine and marries her, only for him to swing right back to Bertalda when, through certain circumstances, they’re living together in his castle.
Because of Huldbrand’s indecisiveness and massive loserdom, Undine eventually becomes a water-spirit again. A few — weeks? months? — later he marries Bertalda and by water-spirit laws, Undine comes to take his life and then becomes a spring around his grave in her grief.
Like? What is up with these water-maidens and their terrible taste in men?
As you can see, this is a very abbreviated review of the tale. I’ve said before that I’m not very good at these, ha ha! I probably won’t do very many of these. But you can get this for free from Gutenberg and it’s very short itself so I do recommend checking it out if you’re interested.
At last, if there is anything we can learn from fairy tales and myths, it’s that women don’t have souls until they’re married, and marriages between spirits and men never work out. Also, it’s always the woman who leaves.
Curious, that.
Hiraeth 