THE MERMAIDEN AND THE LONELY FISHERMAN
The Maker of heaven and earth,
the sea, and everything in them—
he remains faithful forever.
-from Psalm 146:6, NIV
The sun, now reaching its zenith, has begun its descent upon the west. Mellow swam closer to the small fishing vessel than she had ever dared swim before. Her heart pounded as she imagined how she might approach the lonely sailor. As the cool afternoon breeze caressed her beautiful golden hair, her mind wandered over many tales the Wise Ones had told of mermaidens who had encountered sailors and fishermen and never returned. Surely this would not be her fate? For this reason many human generations had passed since mermaidens had any encounters with the men of the sea.
Mellow could not imagine how anyone as handsome and kind looking as he could ever bring her harm. He was different from the merchant sailors, whalers and explorers whose legends say they cruelly captured and harpooned many of the ancestors. But perhaps the Wise Ones are right she thought, he must be a cruel man to viciously take the beautiful fish and other creatures from the sea. With that she dove beneath the water to return to her enchanted valley atop a great sea mount.
Later as she lay in her lonely cave among the sand and seaweed she thought of what the Wise Ones had told her of mortals. “They do not belong to the Sea. They have not learned how to be at peace with her. We live in perfect peace and unity in the Sea and all of her beautiful creatures are at peace with us. Even the sharks who are feared and hated by mortals are at peace with us. Mortals fight their wars upon her and cruelly capture her beautiful creatures to feed their own selfish hunger.” Perhaps they are right she thought. I should be content to be myself.
Time passed by and Mellow spent her days playing and exploring with Dauntless, her faithful dolphin companion. One day as Mellow and Dauntless were playing together amongst a small fleet of fishing boats, Mellow became entangled in a fisherman’s cast net. The more she struggled to free herself the more entangled she became. As the fisherman hauled her to the surface she could hear his surprised laugh, and see the lust in his dark eyes. As he leaned over the gunwales of his boat to reap his bounty from the sea, Dauntless shot at him like an arrow, hurling him overboard. As the fisherman struggled to save his own life, pulling himself back aboard his boat, Dauntless took the web in his mouth and drew Mellow down to the safety of the depths.
Dauntless tried helplessly to free her, but it was hopeless. They were too far from the Valley of the Mermaids to reach help in time. The net was slowly strangling her life away. As Mellow murmured softly to Dauntless, he understood her request. It would be a dangerous chance to take, but their only chance was to trust the lonely fisherman. Dauntless, again taking the fish web in his mouth, began the slow journey out to the fishing ground of the lonely fisherman. As they swam Dauntless could sense Mellow’s pain, and feel her body becoming more and more lifeless.
As they neared his boat with caution, Dauntless took Mellow slowly to the surface. Then Dauntless began to leap and roll, standing on his tail and shaking his head as he spoke in the tongue of the dolphins, gaining the fisherman's attention. The lonely fisherman looked at him with surprise and curiosity, but a look of kindness. “Ahhh my friend, what are you trying to tell me? What is this you have brought to me?”
As Dauntless drew Mellow alongside his boat, the fisherman’s dark but gentle eyes grew wide with surprise. He could see at once that this maiden of the sea was nearly strangled to death by the fishnet bound tightly about her body. He lost no time in bringing her aboard his boat.
With his knife he quickly but carefully cut the web. At last she was free! As she gasped for breath she looked into his deep dark eyes and his hard but kind face. The fisherman, looking down at her, gazed into her eyes which were as deep and as blue as the sea. Her golden hair was like the sun setting on the sea. The fisherman longed to embrace her beauty but he could see that even his gentle touch hurt her delicate body. So he did what he had to do, lifting her body from the deck of his boat, he gently returned her to the sea. As life returned to her limp body, Dauntless was faithfully at her side.
Mellow and the fisherman again stared into each other’s eyes. Mellow gurgled out, “I will return, and repay you for my life”. The fisherman shook his head, he understood. And soft as a lullaby a song bubbled up, remembered from long ago:
The Maker of heaven and earth,
the sea, and everything in them—
he remains faithful forever.
Something in Mellow stirred at the fisherman’s words. She held his eyes one heartbeat longer. Then wrapping her arms about Dauntless, the mermaiden swam away to her cave in the side of the sea mount.
As she lay on her soft sandy floor talking to her companion Dauntless, she said, “We must repay the lonely fisherman for his kindness. Just for him we will break the laws of the sea. We will lead him to the fish, for he is a man of the sea but he is not greedy as so many others. When the Old Man of the Sea becomes angry with the mortals and begins to blow, we will warn him to return to safety.”
As the seasons passed, Mellow, Dauntless and the Fisherman shared a fondness and love bound by the sea. Each of them knowing that one day one of them would not return. Mermaids age slowly, after many generations of mortal life some of them become the Wise Ones, the rest of them remaining as they are today. Dolphins grow old, as do mortal men. Mellow tried not to think of this, but as the seasons passed Mellow watched as the fisherman’s dark hair had become white like the foam on the sea, his face weather beaten and wrinkled from the sun and the wind. But her love for him only grew, as did her love for Dauntless who never left her side
One calm morning as the lonely fisherman sailed out upon a crimson sea, Mellow and Dauntless hurriedly swam out to warn the fisherman that this calm was the calm before the storm, that the Old Man of the Sea was angry and was going to blow as he had never blown before. The fisherman understood, he had spent a life upon the sea. He shook his head slowly. “Yes,” he said softly, “As I have taken from the sea soon the sea will take from me.”
As the sun began to rise the sky turned blood red, a sign feared by all seamen. As the winds began to blow the sea began to rise. She raged as never before. The Old Man of the Sea was taking his revenge on all the mariners for their careless rape and ravage of the sea.
Mellow could not understand why it had to happen like this to the lonely fisherman. He was different from all the rest. As his boat neared the Sea Mount where she lived, he was suddenly engulfed in a huge wave, capsizing his small vessel. Then Mellow remembered the lonely fisherman’s words, “ As I have taken from the sea one day the sea will take from me.” And she knew this was the only way.
As the tiny fishing boat sank slowly to the bottom of the sea, Mellow and Dauntless swam to the fisherman’s cold, limp body. As she wrapped her arms around him and held him close, she reached out to Dauntless, taking hold of his dorsal fin. She said softly, “We will take him home.” As they slowly swam away to her cave in the side of the sea mount, there she covered him with soft sand and sea-weed.
The mermaiden welcomed the lonely fisherman home.
Now he would be with her always.
And Dauntless could hear singing from their cave, sweet and true:
The Maker of heaven and earth,
the sea, and everything in them—
he remains faithful forever.
THE END
