汉斯·克里斯汀·安徒生 （1805-1875），丹麦19世纪童话作家，被誉为“世界儿童文学的太阳”。安徒生的代表作有《小锡兵》、《海的女儿》、《拇指姑娘》、《卖火柴的小女孩》、《丑小鸭》、《皇帝的新装》等。
《海的女儿》故事结尾没有中国式的凄美，它是美好的，感人的。美人鱼没有听从巫婆的劝告，心甘情愿第二天天一亮就化作海浪，按常理，故事讲到这里就结束了，但是没有，安徒生赋予美人鱼更伟大的事业，将灵魂升华到整个宇宙万物，向人们诠释了一个道理，只要热情、坚强、毅力的事物，不论是大海、空气、云，还是风和雨，都有灵魂，从故事中，给人类的启示：缺乏热情、无坚强毅力的人，是一个没有灵魂的人。
以下是薄荷阅读MintReading配图
以下英文原著《海的女儿》结束篇分享--
…Pulling back the bright red curtain of the Prince’s sleeping-place, the little sea-girl saw the beautiful Princess with her head resting on the Prince’s heart.
Bent over the bed, she gave his head a kiss, and took a look at the sky in which the red light was getting brighter and brighter;
then, after a quick look at the sharp knife, her eyes again became fixed on the Prince，who was saying the name of his Princess softly in his sleep.
She only was in his thoughts.
For a minute the knife was shaking in the hand of the little sea-girl;
then she sent it far away from her into the waves;
the water became red where it went in, and the drops which came up had the look of blood.
Slowly, she took one more look at the Prince, and then gave a jump from the ship into the sea, and had the feeling that her body was changing into a wave’s white top.
The sun came up over the sea, and its warm rays came down on the cold white wave-top which was the little sea-girl, who no longer had the feeling that she was going to her end.
She saw the bright sun, and all round her there seemed to be hundreds of bright and beautiful beings made of air;
she was able to see through them the white sails of the ships and the red clouds in the sky;
their talk was like sweet music, but so soft that men had no power of hearing it, because they had no power of seeing the beings themselves.
The little sea-girl saw that she had a body like theirs, and that she was getting higher and higher out of the sea.
“Where am I?” she said, and the sound of her voice was very soft, like the voice of those who were with her; no music on earth was like it.
“Among the daughters of the air,” was the answer of one of them, “a sea-girl has not a soul,
and it is not possible for her to get one if she does not have the love of an earth-man.
Her future is forever dependent on the power of another.
But the daughters of the air, though they have not a soul, are able by their good acts to make one for themselves.
We go on our wings to warm countries and make cold the burning air which is death to men overcome by disease.
We take with us the sweet smell of flowers which makes them well again.
After three hundred years, if in that time we have been working to do all the good in our power,
we get a soul and take part in the happy existence of men.
You, poor little sea-girl, have made an attempt with all your heart to do as we are doing;
you have gone through pain without turning back, and made yourself our equal by your good acts;
and now, by going on for three hundred years in the same way, you may get a soul.”
Lifting her happy eyes in the direction of the sun, the little sea-girl had the feeling that they were becoming wet for the first time.
On the ship all was motion and noise; she saw the Prince and his beautiful Princess looking for her;
their eyes were fixed sadly on the white wave-tops as if they were conscious she had sent herself into the waves.
Unseen, she gave a kiss to the Princess, a smile to the Prince, and then went up with the other daughters of the air to the high red clouds.
“After three hundred years, we will come into the Happy Land,” said she.
“And we may even get there before then,” said one of those with her softly.
“Unseen we are able to go into the houses of men, where there are boys and girls,
and for every day on which we come across a good boy or girl, who gives pleasure to his or her father and mother and has a right to their love, our time of waiting is made shorter.
The boys and girls are not conscious when we go through the room that we give a smile of pleasure at their good behavior, because we are able to take one year off our three hundred years.
But when we see a bad boy or girl we are sad and our eyes become wet, and for every drop which comes from our eyes a day is put on to the time of our waiting.”
--- 20180325下午
