Song of the Wellerman

It was said that the Wellerman died at sea while whale watching, singing a song he had written himself, that only he and his family knew.

He was known as a very powerful man, and any family that lived swore themselves to secrecy to never sing his song in public, for fear that they would be taken and given a royal status of some sort that they couldn't handle, at least that's what happened with his great great grandfather, he was given something he couldn't handle against his will, his surviving family didn't want to be next.

Helen was very obedient to this rule, if she did start to sing the Wellermans song, she would be punished, locked in her home for 2 days without any outside contact, but her obedient behaviors kept her from that.

She was however, a very adventurous and rebelling young girl under her external obedience, when she would go out to “see her friends” she would actually head into the woods near the castle, and discover all kinds of beautiful things, flowers, edible berries, she even made friends with a few animals, though she could never understand them. 

One afternoon Helen was helping an injured bird find its nest when she stumbled upon an old cabin-like structure. The place seemed a bit familiar, like something she had seen in her dreams, but she could not put her finger on it.

“What is this? This place seems familiar.” she gasped as she carried the bird with her inside, what she found inside was nothing like what she expected to see.

There were pictures and artifacts on tables, the floor, even the mantle, but what shocked her most was the picture of a young man sitting on the upper deck of a boat with a woman, they seemed happy. 

In the background of the picture there was a whale splashing up from under the surface, “Just like the Wellerman’s song.” Helen laughed, picking up the photo.

She quickly notices the woman as her grandmother, “if this is grandmother,” she says, veering her eyes over to the man, “then that must be grandfather!” she realizes, her eyes widening.

With newfound curiosity, Helen created a makeshift nest for the bird and walked around the house, examining all the photos, looking for clues as to who he was when she suddenly heard it, singing.

“...soon may the Wellerman come, to bring us sugar and tea and rum…” Helen noticed glowing coming from the pages of a book, she opened it to see the words to the song, even though she knew them, and with a smile on her face, Helen happily finished the verse.

“One day when the toungin’ is done we’ll take our leave and go.” she let out a laugh, she was truly happy, she had found out who her grandfather was, and he was the Wellerman.  Helen was more excited than ever, she grabbed the book and sprinted for home. 

“Mom, I know who my grandfather is, I know who he was! I think he was the Wellerman!” Helen shouted, showing her the book she had found.

“Helen! Where in god's name did you find
that!?” her mother yelled, “you know we don't speak of that man, he destroyed our family!” she
screamed.

“But I thought you would be happy that I found out who he was. I thought you would be happy for me.” she said quietly, tears filling her eyes, “well I'm not, I've told you again and again to NEVER speak anything of that man, nothing!” she yelled, taking the book and placing it on the dining table.

Helen went to her room and sobbed into her pillow, had she just lost the only opportunity she had to learn about her grandfather? No, she thought, she didn't, she was more determined than ever now, she was going to solve this mystery. 

The skies grew dark, it was early evening, everyone had gone to bed, and while Helen was supposed to be sleeping, but she put on her grandfathers leather jacket, the only item her mother kept from him, and slipped downstairs, her mother sleeping in the chair next to where she had placed the book. 

Helen quietly stepped toward the table, but she stepped on a creaky spot right next to her mother. She shut her eyes tight, waiting for the blow, but it never came.

Relieved, Helen grabbed the book and ran out the door toward a patch of bushes and hid. She opened the book to the page with the song, but there was something else, a riddle, “the passage between man and sea, Northwest is where you will seek, find me, and you will find
your answers.”

Helen couldn't figure it out, the Northwest? What did this mean? “Northwest…I got it! The Northwest docks!” she excitedly jumped up and snuck toward the docks.
Helen peered at the boat she needed to board, it seemed to be empty, other than the three men.

She snuck around market stalls and bushes to the path leading to the main deck, but she couldn't stay here, she needed to hide somewhere, she spotted a place in an opened crate, and crawled inside, now she just had to wait.

There was a sudden jerk, and Helen was jolted awake, she crawled out of her place in the crate, it was late now, she saw a man at the railing of the boat, “what happened?” she asked as she approached him, “what are you doing here?!” he shouted in surprise.

“I know this will sound crazy, but, *she pulls out the book* I found this book in a cabin in the woods, it was my grandfathers, there was a riddle on a page, it told me I needed to board this boat if I wanted answers.” she explained handing the man the book.

“Oh my goodness, the book of the Wellerman, it survived. I can't believe you found…”
he trails off as Helen starts to hear a faint voice singing,

“stop, I hear him, my grandfather, he’s
singing.” she says as the wind blows her hair to the side, she walks toward the railing as a large
cloud of fog appeared, there was a flash of bright light, and manly figure appeared, it was Helen’s Grandfather.

“There once was a ship the put to sea, and the name of the ship was the Billy o' tea..."  Helen started the next line.

"The winds blew up, her bow dipped down, oh blow my bully boys blow..."  then she and her grandfather finished the next part together.

"Soon may the Wellerman come, to bring us sugar and tea and rum, one day when the toungin' is done we'll take our leave and go."

She laughed as she and the man stepped toward her grandfather, "grandfather, is it really you?" She asked,

"yes Helen, it is me, and I am so proud of you for all you have done, you have grown to be an amazing young woman." He replied, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Oh my heaven, Father?" The strange man said, stepping up next to Helen. 

"Yes, Arthur, it's me, I've told everyone about you and Helen.  They've all been wanting to meet both of you for so long, but we needed somebody who still believed in the Wellerman, and that person is Your niece, Helen." He said, placing a hand on Arthur's shoulder.

Helen looked over to Arthur, a glimmer of hope in her eyes, "we did it uncle, we found our answers." She said with a laugh.  "We really did, didnt we?" Arthur replied as they all 3 laughed.

"Well, do you want to meet my friends or what?" The Wellerman questioned.  "Yes father, we do." Arthur replied.

The Wellerman raised his fingers to his lips and let out a high pitched whistle, suddenly another cloud of fog, another bright light, and they were surrounded by hundreds of spirits.

"This is amazing, I've never seen anything so beautiful in my whole life." Helen laughed as she danced around the deck of the ship.

"Let's have some music shall we?" Arthur said as he began tapping his boot on the deck.

Helen started the song, "There once was a ship that put to sea and the name of the ship was the Billy o' tea..." her grandfather joined in, "The winds blew up her bow dipped down, oh blow my bully boys blow..."

Slowly, one by one, everyone else joined in until they were all singing and dancing around the deck, "Soon may the Wellerman come to bring us sugar and tea and rum, one day when the toungin' is done we'll take our leave and go."

Helen was truly happy for the first time in her life, she had solved a family mystery, and found new freedom all in the last 2 days.  Nobody had ever done such a thing before, but Helen did, and she was proud, for in her heart, all was found.