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Pisces
The Fish, interactive water, ruled by NeptuneFar out in the sea, where the water is clear as turquoise glass,
you can dream your way deep down to the realm of Poseidon, God of the
Oceans. Here the Piscean mer-people are quite at home swimming along the
currents. Here, in her underwater garden, planted with a coral weeping
willow and ruby iridescent sea anemones, lives "The Little Sea-Maid,"
immortalized by Hans Christian Andersen in his Fairy Tales and Wonder
Stories.She is a quiet, thoughtful child, gentle and melancholic, who sings
with the sweetest voice. She loves to hear stories about the world above
the sea. At fifteen, she is finally allowed to go there. The setting sun
makes the clouds glow like roses streaked with gold; the stars gleam bright
and beautiful in this higher world. On a ship, fireworks celebrate the
birthday of a young prince with shining black eyes. A sudden storm arises
and changes the party to tragedy. As the ship sinks, the sea-maid pulls the
prince to shore. She retreats back into the waves as a young girl
approaches. The sea-maid goes down home, but cannot forget the handsome
prince. Humans have immortal souls, her grandmother tells her, unlike
mer-people who live 300 years and then turn into sea foam. Oh, how she
wanted an eternal soul! But this could only be if a man were to love her
and marry her as soul mates.How can she find a way? She dares to swim through the black
whirlpool marsh to seek out the sea-witch in her cottage of bleached bones.
Yes, she could give the sea-princess legs to become human, but every step
would pierce like sharp knives. And if the prince should marry another, her
heart would break and she would turn into sea foam at sunrise. And her
price, cackled the witch, was the lovely, pure voice of the princess. Ready
to make any sacrifice, the little mermaid pays the price--her tongue is cut
out. Drinking the potion where the palace steps meet the sea, she swoons
from the pain, but when she awakes, the prince is there. He is charmed by
her beauty and grace, but he is to marry the princess that he believes
saved his life. She suffers that she is speechless to convey the truth.All night she gazes eastward, awaiting her death at the first
morning light. Her sisters appear with a dagger from the sea-witch. If she
kills the prince, she will finish out her mer-life. But she cannot. She
plunges into the sea, ready to give up her life and her hopes for
immortality rather than betray her love. Yet, as the sun rises, she is
still alive! Along the sunbeams come angels of the air that lift her into
the sky. As one of them, she can earn an immortality through doing good
deeds. Her longing for human love is not fulfilled, but her desire for an
eternal soul, for which she has suffered and endured much pain, has raised
her to heaven.Oh, Bright Star, you shine so near and yet so far.
How few know who you are. Fewer still try to reach you.
Even fewer become you.
--Hanuman Womenıs ChoirBack to Astro-Mythology Mainpage