But
repeatedly as he said this to himself, he could not believe it for a
moment; a strange shudder passed through him; unable to utter a word,
he stared at the beautiful narrator with an immovable gaze. Undine
shook her head sorrowfully, drew a deep sigh, and then proceeded.
"Our condition would be far superior to that of you human beings--for
human beings we call ourselves, being similar to them in form and
culture--but there is one evil peculiar to us. We and our like in the
other elements vanish into dust and pass away, body and spirit,
so that not a vestige of us remains behind; and when you mortals
hereafter awake to a purer life we remain with the sand and the sparks
and the wind and the waves. Hence we have also no souls; the element
moves us and is often obedient to us while we live, though it scatters
us to dust when we die; and we are merry, without having aught to
grieve us--merry as the nightingales and little gold-fishes and other
pretty children of nature. But all beings aspire to be higher than
they are. Thus my father, who is a powerful water-prince in the
Mediterranean Sea, desired that his only daughter should become
possessed of a soul, even though she must then endure many of the
sufferings of those thus endowed. Such as we, however, can obtain a
soul only by the closest union of love with one of your human race.
I am now possessed of a soul, and my soul I owe you, my inexpressibly
beloved one, and it will ever thank you if you do not make my whole
life miserable.
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