When doing this weeks reading, I was very interested in the deception of Undine and her knight suitor Huldbrand. When the tale begins we get background into their relationships, and how it ends with Huldbrand leaving Undine for Bertalda, another human. This is the ending we get from the other version of the tale, but as I went on to read the start of the story it was different. Undine and Huldbrand did get married, he did not quite betray her in the same way. Except in this depiction of the tale Undine tells her new husband what she is, a mermaid adopted by humans, and he accepts her. One line that stood out to me was “All rose to meet her, and all stood with surprise, for the young wife seemed so strange to them and yet the same” (102). This quote is referring to Undine meeting her knew husbands friends and family- it seems- after they are married, so they were taken aback by her appearance. It is unclear why, but I believe that maybe it’s because of her being a mermaid and they can somehow sense or feel that she is different from them. It might not be apparent to the eye, but they can feel that Undine is the same as them but different as the same time. This stood out to me just because I think that if they had seen her mermaid form, they might be more astonished than repulsed. Another aspect of Undines story that intrigues me is her description of not having a soul because she is a mermaid. “Our condition would be far superior to that of other human beings – for human beings we call ourselves, being similar to them in form and culture,- but there is one evil peculiar to us……Hence we have no souls” (105). This was Undine describing why mermaids feel a connection to humans, or sometimes group themselves in the same categories. I thought this was an interesting connection between the two and how humans and mermaids have similarities. Undine describes her desire to have human experiences, a big part of why she fell in love with her human husband. the struggles she describes how the elements move her – mermaids- and they have no souls, is why she desires so much to have a connection with a human soul, like Huldbrand. Overall, I found her story to be quite sad, and I pity that her affection she craves so badly from the human world. Although she gained a soul by marrying and falling in love with her husband, it still seems bittersweet to me.