His father agreed to teach him music if he would marry his daughter. The man agreed, but the girl was so ugly that they never spoke. They continued to learn music with the father's strict teaching. The man leaves and does not marry the daughter. She is coming to the river to purify herself and to rid herself of desire. The narrator in the story is at the same river to rid him of worldly desires, just as the daughter is trying to.

Transcendence

The moral of this story is that music and its spiritual connection is better than any earthly desire. We see the same portrayal of music and spirituality in Dante's work as well. Music is used in Dante's work to signal the reader that something wonderful and beyond normal human experience is happening. Music is used to set the mood in Dante's work. For instance, the use...
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