“Drunk with Love.” The Turnip Princess: and other newly discovered fairy tales, Franz Xaver von Schönwerth, New York: Penguin Books, 2015, pp. 132-134.

Tale Summary

There was once a castellan who had never married because he had once dreamed of such a lovely and charming woman that he had never found her equal on earth. One day, while on a journey, he found lodging in a small garden house, and while strolling around came upon a well. On the surface of the water was the image of the woman from his dream. When he walked back to the house he found the beautiful woman standing before him, and he immediately asked for her hand in marriage. She stayed with him through the night, and the next morning told him that his kind was not like hers, but she would remain with him as long as he did not ask her where she came from. They lived happily together for a while and had seven children, but when their youngest boy turned twenty-five, the woman told her husband that she was really a mermaid and that she promised to return her seventh child to the water after twenty-five years passed, as it was the only way to save the other six children. The couple decided to send their son away, and warned him to stay away from the water, but one day he decided to set sail on a ship in order to impress a young girl, and when the waters turned rough he fell in. He found himself in the arms of a beautiful mermaid, and fell under the spell of her beauty. The mermaid told him that his mother would be invited to see him once a month, and he would then be permitted to stick his face above the water. After some time the young man forgot all about his mother, and only thought to visit after his wife gave birth to a boy, but by this time it was no longer allowed.  He had seven children, and when the youngest was born he could no longer restrain himself and rose up to the surface. He saw a girl who had just been married and looked exactly like his sister, but learned that she was his sister's daughter. When he stuck his head above water he was recognized, and quickly he disappeared in a pool of blood. One day his mother was strolling through the garden and found his corpse at the fountain. She knew what had happened, and grabbed the body and jumped down the well with it. The young man's wife, the mermaid, was allowed to remain young and beautiful for another three hundred years after she drowned her seventh son.