Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: legends

  • Ondine’s curse: You sleep, you die

    Trisha KesavanTamil Nadu, India In the 16th century, philosopher Paracelsus wrote about undines as nymphs that gained souls by marrying humans.1 According to German mythology, Ondine or Undine was a water nymph (de la Motte Fouque’s version) who married a knight, Huldbrand, and gained a soul, but would be doomed to die if he showed…