Tuesday 10 March 2015

Den lille havfruen 2015

Modern day mermaid


“I know what you want,” said the sea witch; “it is very stupid of you, but you shall have your way, and it will bring you to sorrow, my pretty princess. You want to get rid of your fish’s tail, and to have two supports instead of it, like human beings on earth, so that the young prince may fall in love with you, and that you may have an immortal soul.” And then the witch laughed so loud and disgustingly, that the toad and the snakes fell to the ground, and lay there wriggling about.

“You are but just in time,” said the witch; “for after sunrise to-morrow I should not be able to help you till the end of another year. I will prepare a draught for you, with which you must swim to land tomorrow before sunrise, and sit down on the shore and drink it. Your tail will then disappear, and shrink up into what mankind calls legs, and you will feel great pain, as if a sword were passing through you. But all who see you will say that you are the prettiest little human being they ever saw. You will still have the same floating gracefulness of movement, and no dancer will ever tread so lightly; but at every step you take it will feel as if you were treading upon sharp knives, and that the blood must flow. If you will bear all this, I will help you.”

“Yes, I will,” said the little princess in a trembling voice, as she thought of the prince and the immortal soul.

“But think again,” said the witch; “for when once your shape has become like a human being, you can no more be a mermaid. You will never return through the water to your sisters, or to your father’s palace again; and if you do not win the love of the prince, so that he is willing to forget his father and mother for your sake, and to love you with his whole soul, and allow the priest to join your hands that you may be man and wife, then you will never have an immortal soul. The first morning after he marries another your heart will break, and you will become foam on the crest of the waves.”

- H.C. Andersen, The Little Mermaid

Alle kjenner vel til eventyret om den lille havfruen. Uansett om det er gjennom Disney sin versjon, eller fra det klassiske eventyret av H.C. Andersen. Den lille havfruen må vinne prinsen sitt hjerte og gifte seg med han, for da blir havfruen et menneske og får en evig sjel. Skulle hun derimot mislykkes, og prinsen gifter seg med en annen, vil den lille havfruen bli gjort om til sjøskum.

Jeg så dette turkisfargede skjørtet og fikk med en gang assosiasjoner til en moderne havfrue. Dette antrekket er det jeg ser for meg den lille havfruen ville hatt på seg i 2015. Fiskenettingtopp med bikini over, sko med fiskeskjell på, en veske laget av havets vakreste kamskjell, et turkisfarget skjørt og lilla havfruehår.

No comments:

Post a Comment