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Date Posted: Sun, Jul 30 2006, 8:47:30
Author: N.
Subject: An artist friend of mine wrote a little story to go with the painting. If you'd like to read it, click here.
In reply to: Nancy 's message, "If you'd like to see this painting, click here" on Sun, Jul 30 2006, 8:44:11

THE FIRST MERMAIDS
…a folk tale
by Pat Geltner
Once upon a time, long ago, there were three beautiful sea creatures who swam and drifted gracefully through the warm Caribbean waters. They were sisters. Their mother had been a sudden meal for a meandering shark.

As the sisters were on their own, the old king of the sea watched out for
them and tried to keep them safe. His three charges were intrigued by the
world above the water and often asked what it was like. And he, in his
great wisdom, said that it was a very dangerous place for silly sea
creatures. But their curiosity could not be stilled. “Why can we not be
like the turtle?” they would ask. “He can swim under the water and yet he
is able to live on land.” The old king merely looked at them sternly,
then swam away.

Sometimes great ships passed above them and the sisters
saw land creatures, and they wondered all the more.
One day the sisters and the other swimmers were drawn to the water’s
surface to see what was happening. The noise was terrible. There were
great explosions of sound and the land creatures were running and
shouting. Some were fighting among themselves. Some were thrown into the
water, where they eventually sank down and down into the lowest depths of
the sea. Then all was still. The sea creatures, moving cautiously closer,
saw that all was quiet on the beach. In their fury the land creatures had
killed each other. All that remained on the shore was a great chest, its
lid left open to reveal hundreds of strands of beads that sparkled in the
light that reflected from the sky and the moving waves.

Of course the sisters wanted to be able to go and see and touch this most
beautiful treasure, for that’s what it was to them. But the old king was
fearful for their safety, so he wouldn’t speak of it. Time went by, and
the ships stopped sailing overhead and no more land creatures appeared,
so he began to think of how he might safely grant the sisters‘ wish.

Finally he called them to him to hear his plan. The bottom half of their
bodies he would leave alone so that they might always swim quickly to
safety. The top part of their bodies would be like the land creatures,
yet they would remain as graceful and beautiful as they had always been.

Of course the sisters were deliriously happy. Most evenings they sat on
the shore where, by the light of the moon, they touched the beads, draped
them and quietly laughed and sang to express their joy.
So if you are out sailing some night, and hear faint voices carried to
you gently on the waves, it is probably the three sisters. Don’t try to
see them or even catch them as the old king is watching and will call
them safely home.

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