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The Fisherman and His Soul

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The poem about a man that falls in love with a mermaid only to lose his soul. And how his soul must win him back again.

82 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1896

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About the author

Oscar Wilde

5,483 books38.8k followers
Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is best remembered for his epigrams and plays, his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, and his criminal conviction for gross indecency for homosexual acts.
Wilde's parents were Anglo-Irish intellectuals in Dublin. In his youth, Wilde learned to speak fluent French and German. At university, he read Greats; he demonstrated himself to be an exceptional classicist, first at Trinity College Dublin, then at Magdalen College, Oxford. He became associated with the emerging philosophy of aestheticism, led by two of his tutors, Walter Pater and John Ruskin. After university, Wilde moved to London into fashionable cultural and social circles.
Wilde tried his hand at various literary activities: he wrote a play, published a book of poems, lectured in the United States and Canada on "The English Renaissance" in art and interior decoration, and then returned to London where he lectured on his American travels and wrote reviews for various periodicals. Known for his biting wit, flamboyant dress and glittering conversational skill, Wilde became one of the best-known personalities of his day. At the turn of the 1890s, he refined his ideas about the supremacy of art in a series of dialogues and essays, and incorporated themes of decadence, duplicity, and beauty into what would be his only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890). Wilde returned to drama, writing Salome (1891) in French while in Paris, but it was refused a licence for England due to an absolute prohibition on the portrayal of Biblical subjects on the English stage. Undiscouraged, Wilde produced four society comedies in the early 1890s, which made him one of the most successful playwrights of late-Victorian London.
At the height of his fame and success, while An Ideal Husband (1895) and The Importance of Being Earnest (1895) were still being performed in London, Wilde issued a civil writ against John Sholto Douglas, the 9th Marquess of Queensberry for criminal libel. The Marquess was the father of Wilde's lover, Lord Alfred Douglas. The libel hearings unearthed evidence that caused Wilde to drop his charges and led to his own arrest and criminal prosecution for gross indecency with other males. The jury was unable to reach a verdict and so a retrial was ordered. In the second trial Wilde was convicted and sentenced to two years' hard labour, the maximum penalty, and was jailed from 1895 to 1897. During his last year in prison he wrote De Profundis (published posthumously in abridged form in 1905), a long letter that discusses his spiritual journey through his trials and is a dark counterpoint to his earlier philosophy of pleasure. On the day of his release, he caught the overnight steamer to France, never to return to Britain or Ireland. In France and Italy, he wrote his last work, The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898), a long poem commemorating the harsh rhythms of prison life.

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Displaying 1 - 30 of 329 reviews
Profile Image for Melina.
75 reviews74 followers
August 15, 2020
Με λίγα λόγια "Πρόσεχε τι εύχεσαι, γιατί μπορεί και να το αποκτήσεις"...

Διάβασε παραμύθια του Όσκαρ Γουάιλντ, μου είπαν. Θα σ' αρέσουν.
Μα παραμύθια;;; , απαντούσα.
ΚΙ ΟΜΩΣ!!!

Σαν ένας άνθρωπος που σε καθε δίλλημα επέλεγε πάντα τις εφήμερες ηδονές, ο Όσκαρ Γουάιλντ γράφει μια υπέροχη ιστορία όπου ένας νεαρός ψαράς δε διστάζει να πουλήσει την ψυχή του για να μπορέσει να ζήσει στο βυθό της θάλασσας με την αγαπημένη του γοργόνα. Όμως ύστερα δελεάζεται από τις απολαύσεις που του υπόσχεται η ψυχή του και αφήνει την αγαπημένη του αναζητώντας νέες περιπέτειες. Όταν επιστρέψει όμως τίποτα δε θα' ναι ίδιο.

Αυτό το παραμύθι δεν έχει όμορφο τέλος και δεν έζησαν αυτοί καλα. Η λύτρωση έρχεται από τον ανθρώπινο πόνο και τη μετάνοια.

Πώς μπορεί να γράψει κανείς ένα παραμύθι τέτοιας υψηλής λογοτεχνικής αξίας που να κρέμεσαι κυριολεκτικά από κάθε πρόταση και συνάμα τόσο πυκνό σε νοήματα; Μόνο ο Όσκαρ Γουάιλντ αυτά!!!
Profile Image for Cecily.
1,320 reviews5,331 followers
November 29, 2024
Wilde’s nested story echoes all sorts of myths and fairytales, giving it a charming familiarity, yet there’s a freshness, too, balanced by everything feeling loaded with symbolism (verbena for enchantment, pomegranates for temptation, a knife with green viper's skin on the handle, and lots of things in threes). A tale for all ages, and for the ages.

A young fisherman inadvertently catches a sleeping mermaid and, of course, is immediately smitten. But there’s a problem:
‘Thou hast a human soul,’ she answered. ‘If only thou wouldst send away thy soul, then could I love thee.’
Of what value is my soul to me? I cannot see it. I may not touch it. I do not know it… What doth my soul profit me, if it stand between me and the thing that I love?
The reader senses a Faustian pact coming.

There’s more to it.
What men call the shadow of the body is not the shadow of the body, but is the body of the soul.

Against advice, and with the help of a red-haired witch, the fisherman rids himself of his shadow.


Image: “In her hand she had a spray of wild hemlock that was blossoming.” Illustration by Jessie M King (Source)


The shadow goes exploring and returns each year to report on the drama of his travels and tries to entice the fisherman to unite again.
“From the East cometh everything that is wise.”
- “Love is better than Wisdom.”
“From the South cometh everything that is precious.”
- “Love is better than Riches.”
If you can believe in the fisherman’s love, it’s a powerful message. But rejecting one’s soul for love is heretical for many.

Quotes

• “Her hair was as a wet fleece of gold, and each separate hair as a thread of fine gold in a cup of glass. Her body was as white ivory, and her tail was of silver and pearl. Silver and pearl was her tail, and the green weeds of the sea coiled round it; and like sea-shells were her ears, and her lips were like sea-coral. The cold waves dashed over her cold breasts, and the salt glistened upon her eyelids.”

• “Love is better than wisdom, and more precious than riches, and fairer than the feet of the daughters of men. The fires cannot destroy it, nor can the waters quench it.”

• “She grew grey as a blossom of the Judas tree.”

• “And the black waves came hurrying to the shore, bearing with them a burden that was whiter than silver. White as the surf it was, and like a flower it tossed on the waves. And the surf took it from the waves, and the foam took it from the surf, and the shore received it, and lying at his feet the young Fisherman saw the body of the little Mermaid.”

• “But the beauty of the white flowers troubled him, and their odour was sweet in his nostrils, and there came another word into his lips, and he spake not of the wrath of God, but of the God whose name is Love.”


Image: “ White as the surf it was, and like a flower it tossed on the waves.” Illustration by Jessie M King (Source)


See also

• Wilde was an admirer of Hans Christian Andersen, who, unlike Wilde, was overtly Christian. In some ways, this is an inversion of HCA’s The Little Mermaid.

• However, I was also reminded of HCA’s The Shadow, which I reviewed HERE.

• Wilde dedicated this to HSH Alice, Princess of Monaco - a US-born princess long before Grace Kelly.

• I had to look up two words:

leman
Beloved, especially a secret lover.

monstrance
A vessel for displaying the consecrated bread of the Eucharist.


Short story club

I read this in Black Water: The Anthology of Fantastic Literature, by Alberto Manguel, from which I’m reading one story a week with The Short Story Club, starting 4 September 2023.

You can read this story HERE (22 pages).

You can join the group here.
Profile Image for Amr Mohamed.
914 reviews365 followers
June 3, 2019
يعني انا مضيع وقتي وقاعد بعمل دونلود لرواية وقلت معلش ده اوسكار وايلد بردو مش اي حد ..وطلعت قصة ضايعة
بتحكي عن ايه بقي الرواية خير الله ما اجعله خير

صياد شاب قاعد بيصطاد ونفسه يصطاد ان شا الله حتي ربع كيلو سبيط ... لقي الشبكة تقيلة قالك بس ده صيده زي الفل
هوبا لقي عروس البحر في الشبكة
طبعا شاب وكدا اكيد نفسه يتحرش بها ...عروس البحر صرخت اول ما مسكها ..وهو عايز يجري وماسكها وهو حالف ميت يمين ما يسيبها الا عند المأذون ..قالها طيب هسيبك بس باتفاق تيجي كل يوم الفجر تغني السمك يطلع اصطاده ...قالتله فل سيبني بقي عشان ارجع لبابا الملك عشان انا كدا اتأخرت وزمانه قلق

المهم جات كل يوم تغني السمك يطلع والصياد يصطاد وعيشه فل وكان قرب يفتح محل سمك ...
بعدها قالها انا بحبك وعايز اتجوزك ...قالتله مفيش الكلام ده يابا هو انا في كلية تجارة هتتقدملي عادي كدا
لأ افصل روحك عن جسمك الأول وتعالا كلم بابا

راح الصياد رايح لراهب يشوف ايه قصة فصل الروح ده..الراهب طبعا قاله ياد يا ابن الجزمه فصل روح ايه هو انتا شايفني كهربائي سلسيون ولا بتاع لحام يالا ياد من هنا عشان قربنا نقفل وهنرش
الواد قالك طب اعمل ايه...اروح لساحرة تشوفلي ام حل ..

قال للساحرة اديكي اي حاجة بس ابوس ايدك افصلي روحي
قالتله اعمل ايه بفلوسك انا أمر بس كل حاجة تتحول ذهب قالها طب انجزي عايزه ايه
قالتله ترقص معايا فوق التل...قالها بس كدا ده انتي هتلاقي تامر هجرس بيرقص معاكي
راح ولقي كذا ساحرة مستنية تقريبا راح كباريه التل مش فوق التل ورقص ومرة واحدة كدا قلق فقال اسم ربنا قام الساحرات جريوا وفلقوا وهو مسك الساحرة وقالها شوفي عليا النعمة ما سايبك الا لما تفصلي روحي
قالتله ابوس ايدك سيبني ..عشان تفصل روحك عن جسمك اقف قدام ظلك واقطعه بسكينه

راح وقف ادام ظله وعايز يقطعه...قوم ايه روحه طلعت كلمته قالتله تصدق انت عيل زبالة يعني بقالي معاك سنين وعايز تسيبني عشان تعيش في البحر ..ما احنا بنصيف معا بعض عادي
قالها ده ناهية الكلام واخفي بقي من وشي
قالتله الروح طيب هات قلبك ...قالها هو انا رايح كارفور ما انا عايز قلبي عشان احب بيه عروس البحر
طب هات حتي عشرين جنيه اركب بها لدار السلام انا مش هنا..راح منفضلها وقاطع الظل وطلعت الروح
والروح قالت انا كل سنة هجيلك هنا ..راح سايبها وضارب بلنص في قلب البحر عشان حبيبته واتجوزها

فات سنة والروح جت تنادي عليه ...قالها اؤمري ما انا عارفك روح زنانة .. قالتله علي رحلتها في السنة وانها في الاخر كسبت مرايا الحكمة فتعالي يا ابني معايا تاني وتبقي حكيم العالم قالها الحب اجدع من الحكمة

فات سنة تانية وجت الروح ..اتنرفز بقي قالها انا مش بصيف في بلطيم عشان كل شوية تيجي هنا...
الروح حكت له عن رحلة تانية وقالت جبت فيها ثروة هتبقي اغني واحد في العالم قالها الحب اجدع من الفلوس

فاتت سنة تالتة وجت الروح قالت له انا روحت مكان بقي لوز فيه بنات بترقص ورجليها باينة. .طبعا الصياد المنتن قلب الموضوع في دماغه قالك عروس البحر مراتي مبترقصش طيب انا هروح معاكي يوم بس وارجع

راحوا مدينة قالها هي ده المدينة الي فيها بنات بترقص فقالت لأ بس يالا نعدي من هنا ...دخلوا المدينة والروح وسوست له انه يسرق فسرق
طلع من المدينة قالها ليه بس كدا خليتني اسرق قالت له اتقل تاخد حاجة نضيفة

راحوا مدينة تانية قالها هاااا هيا ده ام المدينة قالت لأ بس نخش قالها ما احنا مش مأجرين بيجو يعني قالت خش بس واضرب العيل الصغير ده
راح زي الاهبل دخل وضرب العيل. .وزعل بردو وندم

ودخلوا مدينة تالتة والروح قالت له اقتل بقي ما ده اللي فاضل في الذنوب ولا تحب تغتصب لا قول لو عايز اغتصاب
راح قاتل واحد وطلع زعلان قوي وقالها انتي السبب في كل ده انتي الشر كله محسسني انه كان طالع يحج مش طالع يبص علي رجل بنت بترقص ..

وساب الروح وقالها انا هفصلك تاني.. قالت الروح مفيش يابا الكلام ده ..هو انا فاضية للمخمطة ده مينفعش غير مرة واحدة
ورجع تاني للبحر ينادي علي مراته طبعا مردتش علي اللي جابوه ..ما هو سابها عشان واحدة بترقص..ده لو متوجز كلب البحر مش عروس البحر مكنش عبره تاني

قعد سنة ينادي عليها مردتش والروح جنبه تحاول تقنعه بأي شر عشان يتحرك ...مفيش ..قالت طب اقنعه بالخير قوم يابني نتبرع لمؤسسة رسالة ..رمضان قرب مفيش بردو لازق في مكانه
لحد ما البحر حدفله مراته ميته فقعد جنبها والروح تقوله يا ابني يالا بينا نجري من هنا البحر جاي مش عارف جاي ازاي ما علينا

بس فعلا البحر جه والواد غرق ومات والروح زمانها دلوقتي سهرانة في شارع الهرم وبتقولك احسن ده عيل متخلف قاعد سنة في البحر ينادي علي حبيبته لما جاله تسلخات من الشمس

بس كدا هيا ده الرواية طبعا مش هقبل اي كلام ان الرواية تقصد الروح والخير والشر والجو ده
اي كلام في اي رواية ..
نجمة بجدارة وعن استحقاق
وطبعا سؤال مهم الرواية اسمها الاصلي صياد السمك وروحه ترجمتها ازاي سمفونية البحر تقريبا المترجم حس انها رايحه خالص من اوسكار فقالك سمفونية مش فارقه
4 reviews
February 2, 2013
There are two tradegies in life:
One is not getting the things you want and the other getting the things you want.
Profile Image for PattyMacDotComma.
1,776 reviews1,057 followers
November 29, 2024
3.5★
‘What d’ye lack? What d’ye lack? Tell me thy desire, and I will give it thee, and thou shalt pay me a price, pretty boy, thou shalt pay me a price.’


A young fisherman has been casting his nets every evening, and one night, what should he find in his haul but a beautiful mermaid. She comes to sing to him every evening, but he cannot touch her – she dives away.

“And one evening he called to her, and said: ‘Little Mermaid, little Mermaid, I love thee. Take me for thy bridegroom, for I love thee.’

But the Mermaid shook her head. ‘Thou hast a human soul,’ she answered. ‘If only thou wouldst send away thy soul, then could I love thee.’

And the young Fisherman said to himself, ‘Of what use is my soul to me? I cannot see it. I may not touch it. I do not know it. Surely I will send it away from me, and much gladness shall be mine.’


Surely, it should be easy, but it isn’t. His soul seems to be no use to anyone else, but he hears of a little witch who might be interested, and it is she who says the opening words above, ending with ‘thou shalt pay me a price’.

He reveals his great love and his dilemma, that he must send his soul away if he is to have his bride.

“The Witch grew pale, and shuddered, and hid her face in her blue mantle. ‘Pretty boy, pretty boy,’ she muttered, ‘that is a terrible thing to do.’

But she strikes a bargain with him and shows him how to cut his shadow off where it joins his feet – his soul is in his shadow. This sounds very straightforward, but the soul tells the fisherman that he wants the heart as well. How can the soul go out in the world without a heart? Of course, the fisherman must keep his heart, so off the soul goes, heartless.

Meanwhile, the witch isn’t happy. Back in her cave, she burns vervain and looks at herself through the smoke in a mirror.

“And after a time she clenched her hands in anger. ‘He should have been mine,’ she muttered, ‘I am as fair as she is.’

The fisherman goes through with the separation, keeping his heart, and is happy with his mermaid, but the soul returns every year to describe the wondrous sights he’s seen around the world, adding temptingly – come with me!

Eventually, the soul tricks the fisherman into joining together body and soul for a one-day trek, which turns out to be … let’s just say, it was not what the fisherman was expecting.

I knew there would be no happily ever after, but Wilde tells the story with such a poetic, fable-like style, that I enjoyed it anyway. There is a lot of colourful detail and description which I have not alluded to. I bet there are some beautifully illustrated editions of this.

It’s one of the many stories in A House of Pomegranates, a collection of stories by Oscar Wilde, which is in the public domain and available to download at Project Gutenberg in many formats: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/873

Thanks to the The Short Story Club for suggesting this one.
Profile Image for Obied Alahmed.
246 reviews167 followers
August 10, 2018
المبالغة في أي شيء تفقده أهميته

وهذا ما وقعت فيه الرواية فقد بالغ الكاتب جدا بالخيال حتى فقدت القصة جمالها


Profile Image for Kathleen.
Author 1 book264 followers
November 7, 2024
A gorgeous story, with enchanting imagery.

“Vermilion-finned and with eyes of bossy gold, the tunnies went by in shoals, but he heeded them not. His spear lay by his side unused, and his baskets of plaited osier were empty. With lips parted, and eyes dim with wonder, he sat idle in his boat and listened, listening till the sea-mists crept round him, and the wandering moon stained his brown limbs with silver.”

What is the connection between heart and soul? We know Wilde suffered greatly due to other people’s ideas of these concepts. Here he gives us a story about the different sides of soul, and what might be needed to nurture it.

“What men call the shadow of the body is not the shadow of the body, but is the body of the soul.”

A perfect read during a difficult time, a time when I’ve been wondering what causes the soul, of an individual or entity, to go awry, and what might be needed to restore it to health.
Profile Image for Connie  G.
2,143 reviews710 followers
November 5, 2024
The fisherman falls in love with a mermaid that he captured in his nets. She's beautiful with a sweet song, and the fisherman wants to spend his life with her. But that is not possible unless the fisherman loses his soul since the sea folks don't have souls. After getting some help from a witch and the devil, the fisherman joins the mermaid, and his soul wanders off to experience the exotic world.

There are more complications to come. Without a heart, the soul finds that wisdom, wealth, dancing girls, and evil will not make one happy. It's a heart filled with deep love that brings true happiness. The rich writing and the fairytale quality of the story made this an entertaining read.

I read "The Fisherman and His Soul" with the Short Story Club. It's in the anthology "Black Water."
Profile Image for Jesica Sabrina Canto.
Author 27 books396 followers
March 21, 2021
Es la primera vez que leo a este autor. Aunque el escritor es considerado un clásico, esta obra no me gustó. La historia podría resultar interesante, pero el modo en que está narrado, mediante descripción enumerativa constante, me resulta denso y aburrido.
Profile Image for Omar Kassem.
606 reviews190 followers
February 16, 2023
اول قراءة لأوسكار وايلد ، رواية سمفونية البحر ، هذه النوفيلا الصادرة في نهايات القرن التاسع عشر..الشبيهة بحكايات الف ليلة وليلة حيث الحب بين شخصين ليسا من طرفين أو طائفتين مختلفتين وإنما من عالمين مختلفين تمامًا ، المعاناة مع هذا الحب..الأجواء السحرية المدهشة للسفر والترحال ورؤية الأقوام الاخرى ، وحوش..كنوز..أساطير..و بحار..
الكتاب لليافعين إلا ان فيه فكرة مهمة وتعني سائر البشر ، الصراع الأزلي بين العقل والقلب وكيف يمكن ان توازن بينهما كيلا تخسر الاثنين سويًا!
Profile Image for Guardiana Saturno.
16 reviews3 followers
November 10, 2025
Merecedor indiscutible de una lectura en voz alta (la de mi madre, por supuesto) y por las noches, antes de dormir, este texto. Una nostalgia terrible de aquellos tiempos en que me narraban cuento tras cuento (porque fanática literaria desde la cuna).
Un libro bellísimo de Wilde que elegí para un reto en el que me pedían temática preferida. Y acá una eterna amante de las sirenas y el mundo acuático.
Pero no me deslumbró tanto el argumento como las palabras elegidas por el autor. El relato presenta esa mística fantástica de los cuentos de hadas. Elementos y seres mágicos protagonistas de escenas de ensueño, frases repetitivas como invocaciones a la infancia.
"¿Qué necesitas? ¿Qué necesitas? Dime tu deseo y yo te lo concederé. Pero me tendrás que pagar su precio, hermoso joven, me tendrás que pagar su precio". La bruja da esperanzas al pescador de encontrar la manera para vivir en las profundidades del mar, junto a su amada sirenita para siempre. ¿Será muy alto el precio?
Profile Image for Gary.
1,022 reviews257 followers
June 18, 2021
For the love of a mermaid, a young fisherman sends his soul away, after enlisting the aid of a young witch.

The soul travels the world to many exotic locations, using extraordinary powers to gather treasures together. But because the soul was sent away without a heart it became cruel and twisted, and when it re-entered the fisherman, it makes him do evil things.

Written in a rich poetic style reminiscent of Coleridge's Kubla Kahn, it is part of Oscar Wilde's anthology of fairy tales called " A House of Pomegranates". Could Tolkien and CS Lewis have been influenced by this phenomenal work?

Perhaps the message of this tale is that the soul must never be separated from the heart.
Profile Image for Dimitris.
456 reviews
June 25, 2020
Όσκαρ Ουάιλντ, άρα πέντε αστεράκια.
Profile Image for El.
1,355 reviews491 followers
July 4, 2012
Love love love.

The fisherman falls in love with a mermaid, but is unable to marry her because he cannot live underwater with her so long as he has his soul. He investigates a variety of different ways to get rid of his soul, and when he finally is able to do so, the soul comes back periodically to tell him of its adventures, trying to tempt the fisherman into reuniting with it. Ultimately the fisherman does become tempted by the offer to see a dancer (remember mermaids have no legs), thinking he could just come back to his leg-less love when they're done. Unbeknownst to him, once reunited with his soul, he wouldn't be able to return to his love.

This was fantastic.
Profile Image for Eduard Gafton.
413 reviews55 followers
February 2, 2015
Read as part of "The Collected Works of Oscar Wilde"



In her Hand she had a Spray of Wild Hemlock that was Blossoming



And Lo! The City lay at my Feet for it is in a Valley



I had Never seen Anyone so Pale



The Soul in the Watered Gardens of Seven Terraces



Her Face was Veiled with a Veil of Gauze but her Feet were Naked



White as the Surf it was and Like a Flower it Tossed on the Wave



Illustrations of Jessie Marion King, cca 1915.

Profile Image for Noor.
358 reviews141 followers
May 22, 2023
قصة انسلاخ الروح عن الجسد ، تلك الروح التي نراها هنا القوة الشريرة التي ما إن تفرض سيطرتها على المادة الحاوية عليها حتى تنشد مبتغاها فتصرف المرء نحو الرذيلة و تعظمها و تُحقر ما من شأنه ان يعينه على أمر تلك الروح و مطامعها ...
لقد وضع أوسكار وايلد في هذه القصة الروح بمصاف الشر و الجسد بمصاف الخير ..! السؤال هنا هل الروح هي استعارة عن الشر أم هو نتيجة حتمية لها ،خلفها تكمن ما هو صالح و ما هو طالح ؟ و اذا انفصلت أجسادنا عن ارواحنا ، فمن المحرك لنا و أيهما نحن الجسد أم الروح ؟ فإن كانت المادة هي سلاح الإنسان فما هي مادة الضمير و ما هي مادة العقل ؟!
يعيب القصة كثرة الأخطاء الإملائية و الأخطاء المطبعية فيها و سوء ترجمتها و عدم تدقيقها و ان أدعت دار النشر وجود مدقق و مراجع لها حتى أنني كنت مضطرة لإعادة الفقرات و تصحيحها مرارا ... يُرجى من دور النشر استيعاب المسؤولية التي تقع على عاتقها و احترام القارئ
Profile Image for Mohammed Salah.
179 reviews38 followers
May 7, 2017
اغواء الروح (النفس) بالخير والشر هى أمر محتم
لكن لابد من وجود قلب حتى يتسنى للإنسان أن يرحم إذا هناك ظلم وإجحاف
وأن يكرم إذا كان هناك من يحتاج
وأن يغلفه بالحب فهو وقود القلب والحياة

إقتباسات

عظيمة كانت قوة حبه التي معه!
سيد العالم هو الألم؛ فلا يفلت من شبكته أحد!

مريرة مريرة كانت سعادته
ومليئا بمسرة غريبة كان ألمه
Profile Image for ліда лісова.
358 reviews94 followers
July 31, 2024
чувака згубили ніжки 💃

дякую стасіневичу за згадку у якомусь із випусків запаху слова, мрію про екранізацію тарантінича
Profile Image for Liam O'Leary.
553 reviews144 followers
October 4, 2025
I'm reading Oscar Wilde's collected works at the moment (short stories at the moment).This is one of my favourite short stories. I think this is Wilde's best story I've read so far. Almost as powerful as The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas by Ursula LeGuin, it captures a major moral dilemma.

As others have mentioned, this is a twist on The Little Mermaid (she's even called this at one point), where a fisherman gives up his soul to love a mermaid, but is tempted by the embittered soul by a promise of lust that leads to regret. Very melodramatic, like Romeo & Juliet without the annoyance of disorganization causing the tragedy.

The mermaid may symbolize both romantic love and the love that religious faith can be. The message may not be appealing to some religious believers who could interpret on face value the representation Soul as "the soul/spirit", rather than man's limited conscience without God, and the mermaid as a beautiful woman rather than a devotional love or spiritual foundation. Many have taken queer readings from this too, and there's complexity here that intentionally evades clear explanation as clearly Wilde is metaphysically and poetically exploring multiple things at once here but all in the same time showing loss of devotion leads to regret. Truly floored by this one, I will be thinking about it for a while.
Profile Image for Yassmeen Altaif.
899 reviews86 followers
June 20, 2016
The book is suitable for children's and adults

The language of the book is very easy, you can read it if you are excellent or good in English

Love, what's is the love?
Fisherman love mermaid and he is give up his soul, and his soul live without heart the what happens to this soul is become bad

The end of the story is very good with the priest.

From this small story I learned more things about love and soul, and now I have more stories in my mind to tell in the future to the children's.
Profile Image for PHOENIX.
176 reviews93 followers
May 10, 2017
شاعرية أخلاقية .. مليئة بالعبر و الجمال .
الأولى لوايلد و لكنها ليست الأخيرة .. إن شاء المولى تعالى .
Profile Image for Sarah.
279 reviews77 followers
October 11, 2023
This story is incredible. One of my library borrows, and I was blown away by it. One of the best short stories ever. I read in book form in or around 2015.
Profile Image for Iwanna.
9 reviews
July 28, 2020
"Η αγάπη είναι καλύτερη απ'τα Πλούτη, έκραξε, κι η μικρή Γοργόνα μ'αγαπα."
Profile Image for Hany Adeeb.
Author 7 books161 followers
January 5, 2020

رحلة لها درس واحد و عظيم برغم اسلوب القصة
الحب اقوى و لكن قرارات الانسان الغبية و ربما فهمه الخاطئ عن محبة الله
يجعله ينحمق و يبتعد عن الحياة ليعيش حياة تعيسة
لكن المحبة في قلب الصياد البأس دفعته للموت غير النافع
فهو يخسر حياته.. يرفض مساعدة الناس من اجل الحب

هذه ليست محبة حقيقية لانها تجعله يعيش لذاته.. يخسر روحه لانه احب محبة باطلة.. نعم الحب جميل و لكنه يجب ان يقودنا للامر الصالح.. الا و هو معرفة الله و مخافته

لقد طلب الساحرة و هل هذا يشفي اعماقه
لقد ضرب و سرق

هل هي ثمار الحب ان يغدر و يدوس الاخرين
Profile Image for José Cruz Parker.
299 reviews44 followers
December 17, 2019
When Wilde was about to die, he embraced Catholicism. I mention this because The Fisherman and His Soul is full of christian imagery and allusions. The most obvious ones are the temptations of Jesus in the desert. The Sabbath, on the other hand, reminded of Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown. Not quite on Hawthorne's level, Oscar Wilde was nevertheless an incredibly good writer of short stories and tales.

The Fisherman and His Soul is reminiscent of The Happy Prince (it has the same structure and use of repetition), albeit the former is much more complex and quite darker than the latter. For being a man known for his hedonistic lifestyle and philosophy, Oscar Wilde wrote very profound things. I've never understood why Dorian Grey is his most famous work; his plays and short stories (not to mentions his dialogues) are much, much better.



Profile Image for Halina Hetman.
1,229 reviews23 followers
December 20, 2023
Я так вражена! Одна з найпрекрасніших авторських казок, що я читала. Описи всіх цих див та подорожей були неймовірно яскраві й близькі мені. Основна лінія сюжету - глибока й ніжна, змушує задуматися над багатьма матеріями, від вірності до релігії, від прощення до свободи.
Остаток дня я проведу, уявляючи собі як би виглядали ілюстрації до цієї казки від різних художників, яких я люблю. Прекрасний подарунок на Різдво своїй фантазії.
Profile Image for K. Anna Kraft.
1,175 reviews38 followers
June 13, 2016
I arranged my thoughts into a haiku as best as I could:

"Even when for love,
One can't cut their life in two
And maintain it so. "
Profile Image for Steph.
226 reviews35 followers
December 28, 2016
I'm starting to really enjoy reading Oscar Wilde he might be my new favourite just found a website with all his short stories and poems and slowly going through them. It is amazing reading
Profile Image for Omnia Alsayed.
150 reviews55 followers
June 26, 2017
الحب افضل من الحكمة .. واثمن من الغنى .. وأجمل من اقدام الراقصات ..❤💜
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