Immortal Soul

Aurora's head was spinning as she faced the riddle.

The Witch's Blessing only granted her speed in learning and memory; it seemed to offer little help when dealing with problems that required adaptability.

"This treasure can't be seen or touched. It must be something without substance!"

"A treasure without substance... Courage? Or perhaps other virtues like kindness?"

"No, that's not it. Merfolk possess those qualities too!"

Suddenly, Mermaid Princess Ariel's tightly furrowed brow relaxed, and she raised her hand.

"I, I know the answer!"

What? Ariel had actually guessed it.

Aurora was quite surprised. This quiet and refined Mermaid Princess was clearly not a learned sage.

Could it be that the answer to the riddle was something a normal human would find hard to imagine, but Mermaid Princess Ariel valued greatly because of her unique experiences?

"The answer, the answer is..." Ariel was about to shout out the answer.

"Stop!"

Unexpectedly, the Sea Hag scolded sharply, "Princess, this is a riddle for two human children. You are not allowed to answer or give them hints."

Ariel had no choice but to stop, her heart filled with anxiety.

She had come to accept these two human friends, worrying about their successes and failures! Aurora tried to offer an answer: "Love! Is the answer love? I mean, human love for merfolk."

She deliberately emphasized human love for merfolk, wasn't that something humans possessed that merfolk did not?

The blonde girl felt a surge of joy the moment she shouted out this answer.

Yes, love cannot be seen, yet it is praised in countless poems; it cannot be touched, yet it can be tainted and cleansed. Because love has no physical form, it is lighter than the wind and softer than the mist! At the same time, love is indeed a treasure more precious than gold, and because love can be recorded and passed down, it can endure through the ages, never fading away.

Besides, hadn't Ariel recently fallen in love with a human Prince?

"Human love for merfolk" was indeed something "I wouldn't think of immediately, but Mermaid Princess Ariel has been yearning for recently."

It fit! The Sea Hag was stunned.

After a few seconds, she announced emotionlessly, "Incorrect answer."

In an instant, Aurora suddenly understood, remembering the last line of the riddle: "This treasure is more important to the dead than to the living!"

Love did not meet that condition.

How was she supposed to answer this? Aurora frowned.

Just then, a clear and high-pitched boy's voice rang out: "The Immortal Soul."

The silver-haired boy, Rhine, who had not answered until now, suddenly raised his chin and repeated the answer word by word, "The eternal and Immortal Soul."

Ariel's mouth widened, her eyes first widening as she looked at Rhine, then breaking into a smile, relieved for her two new friends.

She knew that this human friend had answered correctly.

"Ah? What does that mean?" Aurora couldn't understand for a moment.

Did this answer fit the question? Rhine slowly explained, "The eternal and Immortal Soul is the answer to this riddle.

"No one can see the soul, but countless poems and articles praise it;

"No one can touch the soul, but the soul can be tainted and cleansed—we often say that vile teachings will taint the soul, while sacred scenes will cleanse it.

"The soul has no weight, so it is lighter than the wind; the soul's value is immeasurable, so it is more precious than gold.

"The soul is softer than the mist, but because it is eternally Immortal, it never fades away, even after ages.

"Most importantly, the Immortal Soul is, of course, more important to the dead than to the living! It is because the flesh will perish that the immortality of the soul has meaning."

After listening to Rhine's explanation, Aurora vaguely felt that something was not quite right.

Had the teacher deliberately ignored one of the riddle's premises?

"But, the riddle didn't say..." Aurora opened her mouth to ask the teacher, but Rhine seemed to know what she wanted to ask.

Rhine said calmly, "Yes, Aurora. As the riddle says, humans possess an Immortal Soul, while merfolk and other non-human intelligent beings do not."

The Mermaid Princess Ariel lowered her head to the side, not saying a word.

"Your answer is correct." The Sea Hag laughed, laughing loudly: "Human, I really didn't expect you to know. Even in this kingdom in the sea, only a few wise elders know this secret."

The old Sea Witch then said:

"Humans have much shorter lifespans than mermaids and other intelligent sea creatures.

"But what you humans possess, and what we do not, is that shining Immortal Soul.

"Some say that when the flesh dies, the Immortal Soul will fly to the clear sky, to the shining stars, and ascend to the kingdom of heaven; or, in particularly bad cases, it will fall infinitely, falling to the deepest part of the earth, lower than the seabed.

"In short, it goes to another world, a world that we can never see.

"Some also say that the Immortal Soul will return to the world and be reborn as a newborn.

"When an old person passes away, and their relatives cry for the first time, in some corner of the world, another baby will cry just as loudly. Death and new life are conjoined twin sisters, they always embrace each other tightly and never separate.

"Since the beginning of history, no one has truly died."

Speaking of this, the Sea Hag laughed a little madly:

"All of the above are just beautiful poems that you humans monopolize.

"And we, intelligent non-human beings, once we die, will only turn into a bubble, a pool of slime, disappearing without a trace.

"Because we are different from you, we do not have an Immortal Soul."

As expected... Rhine sighed inwardly.

Even though he already knew the answer, being in this situation was a completely different feeling.

In some adapted and simplified versions of The Little Mermaid story, or stories adapted and called Little Mermaid, the story between the Mermaid Princess and the Prince is just a love story that is easy for children to understand.

The Little Mermaid wants to become human because she admires the Prince.

She eventually sacrifices herself in the morning sun, turning into foam, and is seen as dying for love.

And this story officially ends with the Little Mermaid's body melting into foam in a poignant scene.

Born for love, die for love.

But in Hans Christian Andersen's writing, this story seems to have deeper theological connotations and religious allegories.

A crucial reason why the Little Mermaid wants to marry the Prince is that she is pursuing an Immortal Soul. She wants to obtain an Immortal Soul for herself by falling in love and marrying a human.

This religious connotation also extends to the end of the work: after turning into foam, the Little Mermaid seems to hear the voice of an angel and turns into a daughter of the sky.

The glory of God is hidden in the text of the story.

God... Rhine's thoughts were diverse.

He also noticed that the Sea Hag's description of the Immortal Soul was greatly different from the original!

In the original story, the "Immortal Soul" was only described as ascending to heaven.

But in the Sea Hag's description, although the wise men of the sea know of the existence of the "Immortal Soul," its destination is still a mystery.

It may ascend, it may fall, or it may even be reincarnated:

"When an old person passes away, and their relatives cry for the first time, in some corner of the world, another baby will cry just as loudly. Death and new life are conjoined twin sisters, they always embrace each other tightly and never separate."

Rhine was certain that this statement was not the same as the original, not even by a single word.

Its core connotation is also completely different from the ideas of Christian scholastic philosophy. It does not imply the existence of a single God, but is somewhat similar to the Buddhist reincarnation, diluting the original theological flavor.

Does this mean that in this fantasy world, "the human soul is eternally immortal" is just an objective natural law, no more special than "water flows from high to low" and "the Sun rises in the east and sets in the west"?

The immortal soul of humans is not a gift from God.

This magical fantasy world may not have an omniscient and omnipotent God!

Thinking of this, Rhine quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

The Sea Hag snorted coldly: "But don't forget, just solving the first riddle is meaningless, you still have to answer the next two questions."

"As expected of the price demanded by the Sea Hag!" The Mermaid Princess thought to herself, feeling a little uneasy:

After Rhine and Aurora, she would also have to pray to the Sea Hag to grow human legs, go to land, and be with the Prince.

So, what will the price be?

"Next is the second question, listen carefully, humans."

The Sea Hag shouted:

"Humans, you already know the answer to the first question: an Immortal Soul.

"So, tell me, how long is eternity?

"Is eternity a hundred years? A thousand years? Or ten thousand years? Clever humans, please tell me, the length of eternity."