Copyright: Kathryn Gustafson 2014
The moon was full and high, and the skies were clear. From the back, screened porch, the gentle
crashing sound of waves could be heard and somewhere in the distance fireworks
screeched and popped.
A small girl was on that porch, neatly tucked into the
swinging bed where she got to sleep sometimes during summer. Her name was Sabrina, she was six years old,
and it was her bedtime.
However, it was also the perfect kind of night for Sabrina’s
mother to tell her favorite story, so Sabrina was excited.
But first, she had to wait for her mother to light the
lanterns and snuggle down into the soft, blue sheets with her.
“Before we can really get started, it is important to note
that our story takes place in the Atlantic Ocean. Which one is that, Sabby?”
Sabrina sighed loudly (her mom always made her do this) and
took the miniature globe which sat on the shelf next to the bed. She swirled it
and then put her finger down and tapped the big stretch of blue between North
America, South America, Europe and Africa.
“Excellent! Well, lots of mermaids
live in the Atlantic Ocean. It is a pretty big place, after all. But our story
takes place in a particular mermaid colony, which is located right… here.”
She placed her finger just above the outline of Florida,
where the coastline curved slightly.
“Right here in this curve, off the
coastlines of Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina, there are a dozen tiny
islands. They have many names: Amelia,
Jekyll , St. Simons and St. George…”
(the girl knew all of this already, but it was part of the
story, so she listened and nodded
eagerly)
“Now what makes it so unusual that
there was a mermaid colony close to all of these islands, and what you have to
understand about seafolk, is this: they avoid people at all costs. In fact, for the past three hundred years or
so, they have very rarely made their homes anywhere near land.”
“But mom,” the little girl
interrupted, “Why were the mermaids so afraid of people? Why couldn’t they be
friends?”
She had asked the question many times before and she would
ask it many times again, but her mother always answered in the same way.
“They used to be friends, a long
time ago. You see, shortly after the time when men began to explore the oceans
in their massive ships, they began to see mermaids quite frequently. Mermaids are very beautiful and very
talented, but also very lonely. So, when
men began sailing out at sea more often…
I’ve told you before that there are very few mermen, haven’t I?”
Sabrina nodded.
“Right. Well, there’s a king for
every colony, of course, and then usually the king and queen will have a few
sons, but that’s about it. Because of the shortage of mermen, mermaids have the
tendency to be rather…flirtatious. So,
in the early ship-sailing days, mermaids thought that having all of these
strong men upon the oceans was the best thing that could have happened. The sailors, who were also quite lonely, did
not mind the clingy nature of the beautiful sea maidens. This time in history resulted
in many love stories which are legendary to this day. “
Sabrina thought this was very
romantic and always hoped her mom would tell her more about that part, but her
mother insisted that it wasn’t all that interesting.
“Then, the accident happened. A very foolish mermaid unwittingly lured the
captain of a ship into some water that was too shallow, causing his ship to run
aground and be damaged. The captain’s name was Blackbeard. Even though he was unharmed by the accident,
he was so outraged about his ship that he sailed the seas spreading horrible
rumors about mermaids.
Starting with the pirates, men who
sailed the oceans began to hunt mermaids. They harpooned many of them, and
those who were captured and put on display at circus shows suffered an even
worse fate. After that, Merfolk had to be much more careful about staying
unseen. Many colonies moved to deeper waters, where the only nearby islands
were uninhabited.
The colony in our story was one of the very few exceptions
to this rule.
After the Blackbeard incident, there was a huge
debate about whether or not the colony should just pack up and leave. King
Poseidon was even called upon to help make a decision about what to do. Ultimately, it was decided that the colony
would stay where they were. The Folk of
the colony had been there first, after all. Furthermore, they had established
one of the most culturally important societies under the waves. There were
simply too many important historical sites and ancestral homes in the area
which could not be abandoned or moved. So, the colony stayed to protect the
history and culture which they had established.
However, that culture was about to change. As
the surrounding islands began to become more crowded, the Folk of the colony
had to be more careful. Mermaids there could no longer lay out upon the shore
in the moonlight to comb their hair, or rise up from the waves to sing beautiful
melodies the way that mermaids from other parts of the world did. They did not
even come to the surface at all unless it was with a clan of dolphins for which
they might be mistaken.
So instead of making beautiful
music like those of their fellow colonies, this colony learned to be quiet,
serious, and clever with their fingers. They made beautiful jewelry and art
with shells. Perhaps most importantly, they invented the first written language
of the sea by weaving patterns into rope and seaweed. Using this method, they
recorded many stories, histories as well as legends. They learned to sense the
presence of Humanfolk and skillfully avoid being seen or heard by them even at
close proximity.
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