(Translated by Saya)
This is a cryptic story! :D
Once upon a time, a girl found a mermaid on a rocky seashore.
The mermaid was gravely injured, and the girl did not know how to help her.
"You can help me return to the sea," said the mermaid in a feeble voice.
The girl did as she was bid, and helped the mermaid go into the sea.
The mermaid regained her health soon after, and gave the girl a large amount of pearls as a token of gratitude for the girl's kindness.
Now there was a man who was watching all this from a hidden place.
The man waited until the girl left, sneaked up on the mermaid and killed her.
He then hacked some meat off her body and took it home so that he can partake of it with his daughter.
The reason he did this was because he had heard the rumour that the mermaid's meat had the power to bestow immortality on those who consumed it.**
The man's daughter suffered from a serious illness and had been told she did not have much time left to live.
Seventy years later, the girl who rescued the mermaid was living a life of abundance, having capitalised on the pearls the mermaid gave her.
The man and his daughter, on the other hand, were fated to suffer for eternity.
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** There is a legend in Japan about a nun, known as Yao-bikuni (å «çŸæ¯äžå°Œ), who ate a mermaid's meat and lived to be eight hundred years old. See Wikipedia for more details https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ningyo
This is a cryptic story! :D
Once upon a time, a girl found a mermaid on a rocky seashore.
The mermaid was gravely injured, and the girl did not know how to help her.
"You can help me return to the sea," said the mermaid in a feeble voice.
The girl did as she was bid, and helped the mermaid go into the sea.
The mermaid regained her health soon after, and gave the girl a large amount of pearls as a token of gratitude for the girl's kindness.
Now there was a man who was watching all this from a hidden place.
The man waited until the girl left, sneaked up on the mermaid and killed her.
He then hacked some meat off her body and took it home so that he can partake of it with his daughter.
The reason he did this was because he had heard the rumour that the mermaid's meat had the power to bestow immortality on those who consumed it.**
The man's daughter suffered from a serious illness and had been told she did not have much time left to live.
Seventy years later, the girl who rescued the mermaid was living a life of abundance, having capitalised on the pearls the mermaid gave her.
The man and his daughter, on the other hand, were fated to suffer for eternity.
---------------------------------------------------------------
** There is a legend in Japan about a nun, known as Yao-bikuni (å «çŸæ¯äžå°Œ), who ate a mermaid's meat and lived to be eight hundred years old. See Wikipedia for more details https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ningyo
Comments
So the mermaid meat DID make the man and his daughter immortal, but it doesn't give them good health, so they have to suffer through illness for eternity
It kinda reminds me of a fantasy book I once read, Elantris, where there was a race of magic/immortal people that couldn't die no matter what, but they never healed from their wounds. So any pain they ever felt was eternal. (it was grim, but it had a happy end)
I really liked to learn about Yao-bikuni though! I love this kind of historical tale.
Thanks a lot for this post! Take care and have a happy weekend
Gabriel, the Elantris book that you mentioned brought back to my mind the last season of Torchwood (the one that was set in the USA). That also has people worldwide suddenly being unable to die, and it´s a complete horror vision (heavily injured people suffering without any way to help them), also regarding the consequences (medicinal supplies running low) and the way governments deal with the situation (starting to intern sick people in camps ... and its gets worse from there). While that season, overall, was not very good (for various reasons), its premise was a powerful and very scary vision.
GeorgeVanMeter, Rumiko Takahashi´s Mermaid story was the first thing that came to my mind, too. I loved this story as much as I loved those manga. Come to think of it, perhaps someone who kills an intelligent human-like being, such as a Mermaid, to gain immortality already is a monster - the flesh only makes him take his true form. In this story, one could muster up some understanding for a desperate man trying to save his daughter, but since he ate from the flesh himself, his true motivation is open. Did he want to make sure it´s safe for his daughter to eat, or was there no other food available? Did he want to make sure he´d be there to look after his daughter if she was saved or was he merely selfish and wanted immortality for himself?
The daugther has to suffer for eternity, and the father has to watch her suffer for eternity. Pretty disturbing, innit?
Thank you <3 I hope you had a great weekend as I did! :D
I think if we were immortal, none of us would care to love or be creative!
I don't think anyone can be happy at the expense of suffering of other people/ creatures. Karma will catch up with you sooner or later.
actually, if they really do live forever, then it's very possible they'd live long enough for the daughter to acquire assistive technology, palliative medicine, or even a cure.