C.Nozomi's Fanfairy Tales presents :
The Little Mermaid
copyright 2004-05
based upon both Hans Christian Anderson and Walt Disney's adaptation
Once upon a time there was a small mergirl who dared to go to the surface. Being a small merchild, such a risky venture would prove a grave mistake. Fishermen could see and capture her; boats could crush her; fishing lines could trap her; fishing hooks could cut her to shreds. Yet the small girl, not knowing these dangers, decided to swim up into the glowing orb that glistened everyday.
The surface gave her a great scare at first – the lack of water on her skin felt cold, the air nearly choked her, and the glowing orb hurt to look at. Still, despite these hardships she looked around, seeing nothing but a flat blue horizon. Ah, but what was that wave that crashed against her back?
She dove forward in fear, for she had never felt a wave hit her before, and the sensation felt like a whale's fin blow to the body. She looked toward the direction of the strike underwater, expecting some monster like her folk tales, but she saw nothing except a large weird looking structure that we call a boat, but to her looked like some sort of foreign whale.
The mergirl was a kind hearted girl who loved to make friends with everyone, so she swam to the being and attempted to rub its belly. It only swam forward, steadfastly refusing her gesture. The mergirl frowned; no one had ever refused her attempts before. She swam back to the surface to try and talk to it, but another surprise greeted her.
The creature's teeth were bared, and there were strange fish on top of it! The fish were speaking some sort of weird sound that sounded different from any other animal's cry. The mergirl swam back, scared, but she kept watching, transfixed.
Suddenly one of the smaller fish came forward, right on the monster's teeth! The girl opened her mouth to warn the fish, but the monster didn't slam its jaws shut like she expected to. In fact, the strange fish came right through the teeth!
"Who are you," the young prince said, waving at the mergirl in the water.
Alas, our young mergirl knew not the language of the strange fish! She started talking, warning him of the monster whose jaws he lay between, but the fish didn't move. In fact, he looked rather annoyed at her warnings.
The girl's words sounded like a mix between dolphin speak, whale speak, and song to the young prince. He stopped talking, amazed at the sound. Never in his life had he heard such language, especially coming from a girl sitting in the water. Odd too, that the girl wasn't screaming or none of the men on ship had screamed 'man overboard' yet.
He turned and called for his father, pointing at the water. His father brushed off his son's words for he just began the story of his greatest victory at sea. The prince called for the sailors, so they could throw a line into the water for the girl to catch, but they too, ignored him.
The prince returned his gaze to the girl and told her to wait.
Ah, but the being drew closer, and the mergirl grew scared that she would be eaten, so she dove back into the water.
The young prince was left horrified at her disappearance. She had the body of a human, but her legs… her legs were like those of a fish! He quickly ran back to his mother to explain what he had seen, but she dismissed it as child's play.
However, though the prince was young, he never quite forgot the night he saw a mermaid. And I'll tell you a secret too – our little mergirl never quite forgot the strange fish on surface either.