Water Sprite : A Retelling of The Little Mermaid

by TheImaginationAddict

Jenny has lived by the seaside all her life, and is more at home in the water than without. She is warm and impulsive,has a flair for the dramatic and is utterly bored with the sameness of her life. A shipwreck, a sacrifice, and a gift change the course of her life forever - but for the better or worse? Inspired by the Once Upon a Time series by Simon Pulse.

2. Prologue

Once upon a time a mermaid fell in love with a man.

Sounds familiar?

There is a profusion of tales which begin this way, and which I have heard, time and again, twisted and tweaked in so many ways so as to seem new with every retelling, which is a nature of all stories. The story might have started out at a seaside village like the one I am from – told in the flickering warmth of a bonfire some stormy night, recounted as a bedtime story to some wide-eyed dreamer, narrated and believed as a proof of magic, or the triumph of moral values, or true love (depending on those who were doing the narrating and believing) – and flown around the world, gathering details and foibles, till it reached my village.

Or to be specific, my ears; for I am sure people in my village had heard the tale a hundred times and more, long before I was even born(and are likely to have had a hand in spreading it about, too). That was just me being 'grandiloquent', in the words of my closest friend in the world, who thinks I harbour a love for the dramatic ,which can, apparently, get very irritating when indulged in, all the time.

Are you one of those who think the same?

But what would you have had me do? My life was staid enough, without me increasing its tedium by going about wearing a solemn expression and spouting pronouncements so grave they would make the oldest of the old fishermen down there at the Fisherman's Cove(During the naming of which, I was, obviously, not consulted. And see how unimaginative the result is?) proud.

For instance, the mermaid? I don't think she ever existed; I have spent all my life next to the sea, and never caught sight of so much as a merchild. The sea has plenty of creatures, who on long and close observation may seem to have some human characteristics, but any magical creatures it may have sheltered have either retired permanently into unchartered depths, or are perversely keeping away from human habitation just to keep me stewing in monotony.

Do you blame me for escaping into the world of make-believe? Perhaps that world of stories first came into being as a result of someone else's similar boredom.

My best friend is urging me to get on with the story, fearing that you may get tired of this rambling monologue and wander away in search of more entertaining pastimes.

I wish I could do the same.

For the part of the story of my life which I now relate had more drama than I would have thought I could handle, driving home the old saying, 'Be careful what you wish for, you may just get it.'

Once upon a time a mermaid fell in love with a man… and sacrificed everything for the sake of true love.

I keep coming back to those words, once heard just as entertainment, now, with wonder; as this story is one that has such startling similarities with my own life's tale, that it has convinced me of the presence of at least a small grain of truth behind every piece of fiction.

Perhaps the threads of many stories like this one were woven into a single tapestry that told the tale, and passed along, for others to marvel at, or add their own coloured skeins to its rich detail.

This, then, is my contribution of fact to that ephemeral tale : the story of my life.