Facing the riddle, Aurora's head felt hot.
The Sea Witch's blessing only granted her speed in learning and memorizing; it seemed to offer little help when dealing with problems that required quick wit.
"This treasure cannot be seen or touched. It must be intangible!"
"An intangible treasure. Courage? Or perhaps other qualities like kindness?"
"No, that's not right. Mermaids have those qualities too!"
Suddenly, Princess Ariel's tightly furrowed brows smoothed out, and she raised her hand, saying:
"I, I know it!"
What? Ariel actually guessed it.
Aurora was very surprised: this quiet and elegant mermaid princess was clearly not a learned sage.
Could it be that the answer to the riddle was something that an ordinary human would find difficult to think of, but which Princess Ariel highly valued because of her special experience?
"The answer, the answer is…" Ariel was about to blurt out the answer.
"Stop!"
Unexpectedly, the Sea Hag reprimanded sharply:
"Princess, this riddle is for the two human children. You are not allowed to answer or prompt them."
Ariel had no choice but to stop speaking, her heart burning with anxiety.
She didn't know when it started, but she had already acknowledged these two human friends, and worried about their gains and losses!
Aurora tried to voice her answer:
"Love! Is the answer love? I mean, human love for mermaids."
She deliberately emphasized human love for mermaids, wouldn't that be something humans possess but mermaids do not?
The moment she blurted out this answer, a surge of joy filled the blonde girl's heart.
Yes, love cannot be seen, yet it is praised in countless poems; it cannot be touched, yet it can be polluted and cleansed. Because love has no physical form, it is lighter than wind and softer than 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 and never perish.
Moreover, hasn't Ariel recently fallen in love with a human prince?
"Human love for mermaids" was indeed something "I couldn't think of immediately, but Princess Ariel has recently been yearning for."
It matched!
The Sea Hag was stunned.
A few seconds later, she emotionlessly announced:
"Incorrect answer."
In an instant, Aurora suddenly realized, remembering the last line of the riddle:
"This treasure is more important to the dead than to the living!"
Love did not fit the condition.
How could she answer this? Aurora frowned.
Just then, a clear and resonant young man's voice rang out:
"An immortal soul."
Rhine, the silver-haired young man who had remained silent, suddenly lifted his chin and repeated the answer word by word:
"An eternal, immortal soul."
Ariel's mouth dropped open, first staring wide-eyed at Rhine, then breaking into a smile, letting out a sigh of relief for her two new friends.
She knew this human friend had answered correctly.
"Ah? What does that mean?" Aurora didn't immediately understand.
Did this answer fit the riddle's conditions?
Rhine slowly explained:
"An eternal, immortal soul is the answer to this riddle.
"No one can see the soul, yet countless poems and writings praise it;
"No one can touch the soul, yet the soul can be polluted and cleansed—we often say that vile teachings pollute the soul, while sacred scenes cleanse the soul.
"The soul has no weight, thus it is lighter than wind; the soul's value is immeasurable, thus it is more precious than gold.
"The soul is softer than mist, but because of its eternal immortality, even after enduring ages, it never perishes.
"Most importantly, an immortal soul is, of course, more important to the dead than to the living! It is precisely because the body perishes that the soul's immortality has meaning."
After listening to Rhine's explanation, Aurora vaguely felt that something wasn't quite right.
Did the teacher deliberately omit one of the riddle's lines?
"But, didn't the riddle say…" Aurora opened her mouth to ask the teacher, but Rhine seemed to already know what she wanted to ask.
Rhine calmly said:
"Yes, Aurora. As the riddle says, humans possess immortal souls, but mermaids and other non-human intelligent beings do not."
Princess Ariel, standing nearby, lowered her head and remained silent.
"Your answer is correct." The Sea Hag smiled, laughing loudly:
"Human, I truly didn't expect you to know. Even in this kingdom beneath the sea, only a few wise elders know this secret."
The aged Sea Witch continued:
"Human lifespans are much shorter than those of mermaids and other intelligent beings of the sea.
"But what you humans possess, and we do not, is that shining, immortal soul.
"Some say that when the body perishes, the immortal soul flies towards the clear sky, towards the shining stars, ascending into the heavenly kingdom; or, in particularly bad cases, it will fall endlessly, plunging deeper than the seabed, to the deepest part of the earth.
"In short, it goes to another world, a world we can never see.
"Others say that the immortal soul will return to the human world, reincarnated as a newborn.
"When an elder passes away, and their loved ones shed their first tears, in some corner of the world, another infant will let out an equally loud cry. Death and rebirth are conjoined twin sisters; they are always tightly embraced, never separated.
"Since the beginning of history, no one has truly died."
At this point, the Sea Hag's laughter became somewhat deranged:
"All of the above statements are merely beautiful poems exclusive to you humans.
"As for us, intelligent non-human beings, once we pass away, we will only turn into a mass of foam, a puddle of slime, vanishing without a trace.
"Because we are different from you; we do not have an immortal soul."
So that's how it is… Rhine sighed softly in his heart.
Even though he already knew this answer, being truly in this situation brought a completely different feeling.
In some simplified, adapted versions of "the little mermaid" story, or stories later called "the little mermaid," the tale between the mermaid princess and the prince is merely a love story easily understood by children.
the little mermaid, out of admiration for the prince, wanted to become human.
She ultimately sacrificed herself by turning into foam under the morning sun, which was seen as dying for love.
And this story officially ended with the tragic beauty of the little mermaid's body melting into foam.
Born for love, died for love.
But in Andersen's writing, this story seems to possess deeper theological connotations and religious allegories.
the little mermaid wanted to marry the prince, and a crucial reason was her pursuit of an immortal soul. She wanted to obtain an immortal soul 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 supposedly heard the voices of angels and became a daughter of the sky.
God's glory was hidden within the story's text.
God… Rhine's thoughts raced.
He also noticed a significant difference between the Sea Hag's account of the immortal soul and the original story's version!
In the original story, the "immortal soul" was only described as ascending to heaven.
However, in the Sea Hag's narration, even though the sea's wise ones knew of the "immortal soul's" existence, its destination remained a mystery.
It could ascend, descend, or even reincarnate:
"When an elder passes away, and their loved ones shed their first tears, in some corner of the world, another infant will let out an equally loud cry. Death and rebirth are conjoined twin sisters; they are always tightly embraced, never separated."
Rhine was certain that this statement did not share a single word with the original work.
Its core meaning was also completely different from the ideas of Christian scholastic philosophy, not implying the existence of a single, unique deity. Instead, it was somewhat similar to the Buddhist and Hinduism's concept of reincarnation, diluting the original theological flavor.
Does this suggest that in this fantasy world, "human souls are immortal" is merely 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 human soul is not a gift from a deity.
This fantasy magic world likely does not have an omniscient, omnipotent God!
Thinking this, Rhine quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
The Sea Hag snorted coldly:
"But don't forget, solving only the first riddle is meaningless; you still have to answer the next two questions."
"As expected, this is the price the Sea Hag demands!" Princess Ariel sighed inwardly, feeling a little uneasy:
After Rhine and Aurora, she also wanted to ask the Sea Hag for a wish, to grow human legs, go to land, and be with the prince.
So, what would her price be?
"Next is the second question. Listen carefully, human."
The Sea Hag said loudly:
"Humans, you already know the answer to the first riddle: the eternal, immortal soul.
"Now, tell me, how long is eternity?
"Is eternity a hundred years? Is it a thousand years? Or is it ten thousand years?
"Clever humans, please tell me the length of eternity."