Inspired in “The Fisherman and the Nymph” is a painting by Henri Lehmann from 1837.

It’s inspiration comes from ‘Der Fischer’, a short ballad by Goethe from 1779. The ballad is about a fisherman sitting on the bank fishing when a mermaid appears in front of him and lures him into … (read more)

Inspired in “The Fisherman and the Nymph” is a painting by Henri Lehmann from 1837.

It’s inspiration comes from ‘Der Fischer’, a short ballad by Goethe from 1779. The ballad is about a fisherman sitting on the bank fishing when a mermaid appears in front of him and lures him into the depths with song and words. The ballad goes...

The water roared, the water swelled,
a fisherman sat beside,
gazing calmly at his fishing line,
cool to his very heart.
And as he sits there and as he listens,
the waves split
and from the turbulent water
a watery woman bursts up

She sang to him, and spoke to him:
"Why do you lure my children
with your human wit and cunning,
up here to this deadly glow?
Ah, if you only knew how pleasant the tiny fish
find it below the surface,
you would come down, just as you are,
and you would be well for the first time

Does not the dear sun refresh itself
and the moon as well, in the sea
Do they not turn their faces, breathing the waves
and thus becoming doubly fair
Aren't you tempted by the deep sky,
the moist and transfiguring blue?
Aren't you tempted by your own face
shining in the eternal dew?"

The water roared, the water swelled,
and moistened his naked foot;
and his heart filled with the longing
that he felt at the greeting of his beloved.
She spoke to him, and sang to him;
then all was done for him;
half pulled by her and half sinking himself,
he went down and was never seen again.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Inspirado en "El pescador y la ninfa" , cuadro de Henri Lehmann de 1837.