So here's the thing about Oscar Wilde fairy tales - everyone expects "The Happy Prince" and gets blindsided when Wilde goes full dark-romantic-philosophical on them. I'd seen some people online saying the narration on this one sounds robotic, and honestly? I went in braced for the worst. But I think those complaints are a little unfair, and I also think this tiny audiobook deserves more attention from parents who want something... different.
I listened to this during Sophie's nap - the whole thing, start to finish, in one glorious 81-minute stretch. (She actually slept. I know. Mark it on the calendar.) And I'm glad I did it in one sitting because this story has a strange, dreamy quality that would've been harder to track if I'd chopped it up across three days of school drop-offs.
A Fairy Tale That Doesn't Care About Your Comfort Zone
The premise is wild even by Wilde standards: a fisherman catches a mermaid, falls desperately in love, and has to literally cut away his own soul to be with her because - per the story's logic - things without souls can enter the sea. So his soul just... wanders off. Has its own adventures. Encounters temptation after temptation and keeps coming back to the fisherman like, "Hey, I found something better than love," and the fisherman keeps saying no.
It's not a kids' story in the way we think of kids' stories now. There's no comic relief animal sidekick. The soul visits markets full of stolen goods, watches a girl dance with bare feet (Wilde spends a LOT of time describing that dancing girl, which - classic Oscar), and the ending is genuinely heartbreaking in a way that makes you sit in your driveway staring at nothing for a minute. I won't spoil it, but let's just say "happily ever after" is not how Wilde rolls here.
What struck me is how modern the central question feels. Can you separate who you are from what you love? What happens to the parts of yourself you abandon? I was not expecting an 1891 fairy tale to hit me in the chest like that while I sat cross-legged on my bed folding tiny socks.
Gregg Margarite - The Narration Debate
Okay, the narrator. People online are divided. Some say he sounds like a robot. Others defend him passionately, pointing out this is a free LibriVox recording and maybe we shouldn't expect Morgan Freeman for zero dollars.
Here's my honest take: Gregg Margarite reads this in a very steady, measured way. There's not a ton of vocal differentiation between the fisherman, the soul, the mermaid, the witch, and the priest (yes, there's a judgmental priest, because Wilde). You're not going to get dramatic whispers or a distinct mermaid voice that sounds like she lives underwater. It's one guy reading a story in a calm, consistent tone.
And for THIS particular story? It kind of works. Wilde's prose is already so ornate and lush - all those descriptions of ivory and amber and pomegranate seeds - that a flatter delivery actually lets the language do the heavy lifting instead of competing with it. I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it either. It's like a bedtime story read by a thoughtful uncle who maybe isn't super expressive but genuinely cares about getting the words right.
That said - if you need vocal fireworks or distinct character voices to stay engaged, this will test your patience. At 1.25x speed it clipped along fine for me, but I can see how at normal speed the steadiness might tip into monotone.
Actually, Read This TO Your Kids (Maybe)
Emma is seven, and I've been looking for fairy tales that aren't just princess-gets-rescued or sanitized Disney retreads. This one has real moral weight without being preachy. The fisherman chooses love over power, over beauty, over wealth - again and again - and the story doesn't reward him with a neat bow. It's the kind of thing that could spark a genuinely interesting bedtime conversation with an older kid. Though fair warning - I went down a similar rabbit hole of dark, emotionally heavy storytelling with Best Horror of the Year Volume 10, and that one is definitely not bringing the bedtime conversation anywhere near a seven-year-old. (Lucas at five? Probably not yet. He'd want to know if the mermaid has a pet fish.)
I wouldn't play this audiobook version for my kids though - not because of content, but because Margarite's delivery isn't animated enough to hold a child's attention. This is better as a solo listen, or as a script for reading aloud yourself with your own voices.
The 81-Minute Verdict From My Bedroom Floor
I finished this during nap time. High praise. It's not going to change your life, but it's a beautiful, sad, strange little story from one of the best writers who ever lived, and at 81 minutes it asks almost nothing of your schedule. The narration is serviceable - not great, not terrible, and absolutely fine for free. If you've only ever known Wilde from witty quotes on Pinterest, this will show you a completely different side of him. The kind that makes you feel things you weren't prepared to feel on a Tuesday afternoon.
Not groundbreaking, but sometimes you don't need groundbreaking. Sometimes you need a fairy tale that treats you like an adult.
Perfect for: parents who want something short and literary between the chaos. Skip if: you need dynamic narration to stay hooked, or you're looking for a light, happy listen. This one lingers.
