'The Little Mermaid' is a Big Fish in a small world.

I always dreamed of lying in the bathtub and finding my legs being transformed into a fish tail.That scene with Daryl Hannah in 'Splash' was fantasy come true. How often as a child did I long to find a mermaid in the ocean, or just be one.

'The Little Mermaid' by Hans Christian Anderson was published in 1836. It still resonates today. I loath the Disney version, as it turned the beauty of the narrative into pulp. Am sure you are all aware of this famous story of unrequited love. Yet, it deals with far greater themes in life.

Mermaids according to the original story live for three hundred years. But, they do not possess a soul. Humans on the other hand do. But, only live for ninety years at best. This is important information. So, don't forget it.

The little mermaid longs for the prince and an eternal soul. These two are inextricably entwined. In exchange for legs her tongue is sliced off. She is mute. To walk is agony. She has only one chance to gain a soul by receiving the love of the prince whom she rescued after his ship sank in a storm. However, on waking on the sand the prince thinks he was rescued by another human. The mermaid having to return to the sea, to seek the witch who would transform her identity.

If the prince loves her then in that first kiss his soul will flow into her body. However, the prince loves the woman he saw upon waking. A princess from another kingdom. And, mute, the mermaid is unable to express her love, or the sacrifice she made seeking it. A rather selfess act.

Her sisters appear one night as the mermaid heals the pain in her feet in the ocean. Their beautiful long hair has been cut off in exchange for a knife. She is told she must kill the prince or die. She cannot do it and dissolves as foam in the ocean from which she emerged.

The daughters of the air rescue her saying that she can become one of them because she strove with all her heart to gain an eternal soul. So, for three hundred years she did good deeds. She was the cool breeze that eased a mans journey across a desert and other such elusive poetic things. Only then would she rise up to the kingdom of God. And, so she did at last.

Disney does not mention the greater love she acquires. Nor does that version describe a spiritual journey that transforms the mermaid into an heroic seeker of 'Truth'. In that version she gets her man, a major yawn.

Hans Christian Anderson was fascinated by mutability and changes in identity. The mermaid figure defines that. She is drawn to the ineffable in life, the unknown, the forbidden in life, which her for is the land. Perhaps, for us that is a spiritual dimension as apposed to a religious one. She displays immense courage and sacrifice in order to explore the world beyond her own. In her loss she gains her eternal soul. In her loss she gains the world.

There is a little known part of the tale in which she dresses as a boy to horse back ride across the country with the prince. He disguises her as his page boy. Here the theme of gender transformation is used to highlight her desire to change in order to seek what she is looking for in life. The author was fascinated by such chameleon like abilities in order to experience the world in multifaceted ways.

As a child this idea of becoming something else resonated with me to blend and fit in. The mermaid existed between two worlds. I projected my self onto her journey. I drew that story over and over for many years. Understanding her was my way of understanding myself as a child. Being mixed race in a black and white orientated society served to highlight that. Sensing always that there existed an energy that transcended day to day reality was also apparent to me, even then. The mermaid is a lone figure , perplexed by her place in the world, mute and not heard. There is comfort in this story.The mermaid meets her destiny because she had the courage to leave the safety of the 'harbor'.

There is poem I read at nineteen by Rainer Maria Rilke, that I keep in my wallet to this day. It reminds me of the mermaids journey. I knew at nineteen it would be mine. It still speaks to me. Rilke was a bohemian Austrian poet, considered one of the greatest German poets. He focused on the difficulty to connect to the ineffable, the divine, in an age of disbelief and anxiety. The latter being quite familiar to us today with the political fear mongering we are subject to in the media.The poem is from the 'Duino Elegies' written between 1910-1919. It is called "Dove That Ventured Outside":

"Dove that ventured outside,  flying far from the dovecote:
housed and protected again,  one with the day, the night
knows what serenity is ,  for she has felt her wings
pass through all distance and fear   in the course of her wanderings

The doves that remained at home,  never exposed to loss,
innocent and secure,    cannot know tenderness:
only the won back heart    can ever be satisfied : free,
through all it has given up,   to rejoice in its mastery.

Being arches itself     over the vast abyss.
Ah the ball that we dared,   that we hurled into infinite space,
does'nt it fill our hands  differently with its return;
heavier by the weight   of where it has been."

This poem remains an endless revelation to me all these years later and the mermaid still touches my heart. It is a tale of transcendence and love opened the door to gain it. By the way, I still want a tail- splash!.

Peace


Edmund Dulac - 1882-1953.French artist.He illustrated 'The Little Mermaid'.