> I wonder if the original German is equally ambiguous...
The translation is good and authentic. Those who can read Low German[1] can compare the slightly different versions here[2]. In their comments[3 (German)], the brothers Grimm state that the storyline of a woman who pushes her husband for too much is ages old and known in many cultures. They have picked the richest German version.
If a Straussian reading is needed, then it should be considered that a Low German story from a coastal - hence Protestant - region rates the pope higher than the king.
[1] Low German was a way of getting crap[4] past the radar for the Grimms. Compared to the Juniper Tree[5] (Van den Machandelboom - Low German, again), this fairy tale is harmless.
[4] What he translates as "filthy shack" is literally a "pissing pot", i.e. a chamber pot. He seems to have a hard time telling it as it is. Maybe, the Straussian reading makes sense.
In the New Testament, Jesus had a lot to say about wealth and power being bad. This feels like a reference to all that.
In my head, all that Sunday school I had internalized as a kid makes me think, "This is not the kind of church Jesus would preach at" when I see a really nice church where wealthy people attend.
Some Christians talk about "mammonites" or "the cult of mammon":
Old too: But the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel; they said, “No! but we are determined to have a king over us, so that we also may be like other nations, and that our king may govern us and go out before us and fight our battles.”
I don't think it's as simple as "wealth and power being bad". More that
- wealth and power are not reliable proxies for favor and righteousness (as many in Jesus's day thought)
- wealth and power come with unique temptations
Jesus also said "make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings" and there's a bunch of proverbs that talk about how the diligent prosper.
The punchline left me wondering why the wife didn't simply ask for something else after being returned to the filthy shack. Had she finally found contentment or enlightenment? Did the flounder finally call time?
Maybe she spent a near-eternity in agony with all that power and responsibility, and wished it all away. "Genie...er, Fish, make me an all-powerful fish!!!"
But I'm really not sure what to make of the ending.
> "Oh," he said, "she wants to become like God."
> "Go home. She is sitting in her filthy shack again."
This is ambiguous. The flounder simply acknowledges a change in state without saying whether he actually fulfilled the request or not.
If he rejected the request, then it's a tale about checking ambition, trying to be like God, etc.
But if he accepted the request? Then it's advancing a very different idea of what God is like.
I wonder if the original German is equally ambiguous...
EDIT: I suppose she's not making the sun and moon rise, so maybe I'm overcomplicating it.