The Dog in the Sea

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The Dog in the Sea, also called The Dog and the Sailor, is a northern European fairy tale about a unhappy sailor and a talking dog.

Plot in brief:
- A sad sailor tries to drown himself. A talking dog offers help.
- They sail together, and after three heavy storms the dog tells the sailor to jump into the water.
- Underwater, the sailor finds a castle and a magical woman. The dog warns him, but he kills her.
- He must complete three hard tasks over three nights in the castle.
- Afterward he cuts the dog’s head off, and the dog is revealed to be a prince under a curse.
- The curse is broken and the prince becomes human again. In some versions, the prince’s father is also freed from a curse.

Variants and where they come from:
- Many versions exist in Danish, Finnish, Frisian, German, and Dutch, collected in the 19th and 20th centuries.
- The longest Danish version, by David Husmandssøn, adds an overprotective mother who wants her son to take a “gentle trade.” The dog in this tale is a black poodle, and the story ends with the sailor returning home after being offered half the kingdom.
- In the Swedish version, the enchanted dog is a troll prince; in a Finnish version, the dog disenchants itself by jumping into the water. A Finnish variant is somewhat different from the others.

Themes and reception:
- The tale has been analyzed in fairy-tale studies and is sometimes read as including queer interpretations.
- It has inspired retellings and illustrations, including a published illustrated version by Pete Jordi Wood.

In short, The Dog in the Sea is a classic tale of a troubled sailor, a magical dog who is really a prince under a spell, and the adventures that break the curse.