Usher of the D'Urbervilles - Fairytale

Based on Tess of the D'Urbervilles, by Thomas Hardy.

There lived a young man in the isle of Orkney, who came from a poor family of fish-mongerers, who, although he lived in dire poverty, was wealthy in compassion, and every day his parents would send him to the sea to fish. The boy bore the name of Usher, and he possessed so much deep love and awe for nature that, every time he caught fish, he could not bear to kill them, and his father beat him severely for it. “You stupid boy!” his father would shout as he laid the stick into his son’s back, “If you don’t kill the fish, we will all starve, and so will you!”

So Usher, after nearly a year of beatings day in and day out, began to harden his heart, and grew to hate his father, as well as his mother, as she did nothing to help him, but rather sat and sighed heavily in time with the screams of her son and the descending of the stick on his bloody flesh. With each new stinging weal and scar reopened, the bitterness of Usher grew, but despite his prays for an end to his suffering, matters only grew worse: the gentleman landlord, in debt, demanded that Usher and his family pay increased rent, or be driven from the land.

One day, when he was out on the shore, in anger and anguish, he cried out, “I wish that I should become a gentleman, rich and with a beautiful wife, so that I shall never have to suffer again!”

As if in answer to his prayers, as he passed by a rock, Usher saw a lovely woman sun-bathing nearby all alone, naked and seemingly unaware of Usher’s presence, and the youth also noticed a seal-skin lying near his feet by chance. At once Usher realized that the sealskin must belong to the woman, and that she was a selkie, a seal in the water, but a woman on land, and viewing the lovely young maiden, lust overcame him.

“Here is my chance!” he said to himself, “Soon she shall return to the sea, so I haven’t much time. I must steal her skin, so that I might get a beautiful wife. No other woman would marry me, for I am too poor, and ugly with all these scars.”

So Usher took the seal-skin, and no sooner had he snatched up the skin, then the selkie gave a shriek of surprise and fright, and in an instant she had come upon him, and said with a wail, “Please, kind sir, return my sealskin! Without it, I cannot return to my home, the sea!” But Usher replied, “No, I shan’t. If you want your sealskin back, you will marry me and become my wife.”

“Kind sir,” the selkie pleaded, “I have come because of you. Your sorrow and grief drew me to the shores, and the fish have whispered to me of your great compassion, and your suffering because of it. If you will only return my sealskin, I shall guarantee you shall live a long life, grow in riches, and a son and heir who will make you name legendary.”

“Bah!” Usher snorted, “I do not believe you. How could that possibly come true? I am a poor and ugly fish-mongerer, and no woman would marry me, let alone bear me a child. No, I shall keep your sealskin, and I will have you for my wife.”

“Very well!” the selkie cried, “Because you have been kind to my brethren, you shall have your wish. But be warned, you will regret your unkindness to me.”

So Usher brought home the beautiful maiden, married her within a fortnight, and sure enough, the money began to come: the day after he discovered the selkie maiden, and went to fish, rather than bringing back an empty net, his net was so full of gold and jewels that his boat nearly broke. That night, his family celebrated, and Usher was single-handedly able to pay the landlord, and became so rich that he soon became well known throughout Scotland, and bought an estate in England.

The selkie’s third and final promise was fulfilled when, within the year, she bore Usher a son and heir, whom she named Alec, “For he shall aid his father in the fulfillment in his wish,” said she, but fell barren afterwards.

So Usher, now having received everything he ever dreamed of, took on the name of an old noble family, D’Urberville, a grand name that he passed on to his ‘noble’ son, who was to be raised to be a ‘gentleman’ and a ‘lord’. But the one thing Usher had not was a happy marriage: his wife, although timelessly beautiful, was listless and ghostlike; but Usher cared not for his wife’s welfare, only that she remained lovely and youthful even as they both aged, and pleasured him each night.

The only thing that seemed to rouse her from her trance was a precious few times, when she would appear to hear a noise although there was naught but silence, pause, and say with a wistful sigh, “My home calls to me. Oh, how I wish I could go back.”

Her words frightened Usher, and he made sure to hide her seal-skin wherever he could from her, terrified that, should she find it and return to the sea, that everything that she had promised him would disappear, and he would once again become poor, and a wailing new mouth to feed as well.

But his selkie wife, despite her search, never could find her hidden sealskin, and each night she would weep bitterly, and call out for her child; but Usher, fearful of his wife’s intentions, stole Alec away at birth and gave him to a hired nurse and governess to raise – and made both swear never to tell Alec about his mother, nor even mention such.

So Alec, as his father intended, was raised to be a gentleman, and especially took to horseback-riding; in appearance, he was everything his father was not, and all the ladies in town would swoon when he rode by, but Alec was not interested in any of them. One day, while visiting his father’s estate, he saw a beautiful woman appear on the balcony and stare off in the direction of the sea, and was instantly taken by her loveliness.

Riding furiously back to his country home, Alec inquired of his governess, “Who is the woman in my father’s estate? I did not know he had a wife.”

The governess, seized with fright should she break her oath, lied, “Oh, he does not. It is probably some lady he invited over for a party. He does love parties, as you know.” Alec, never having been lied to before, believed her, and yet could not help but think of the beautiful woman. The more he recalled her loveliness, the more feverishly he fell in love with her, and often went on furious rides in the country-side to try and ease his mind and body, to no avail.

“I must have her as my wife!” Alec cried out one night, while pacing in his room, “She is young and probably rich if she attends Father’s parties, and I am a handsome, rich young bachelor. Surely she could not refuse me!”

To be continued…