The Last Mermaid

~ 97 ~

Every summer, the Old King, his new wife and many grandchildren pile abroad the Sinbad Ship. They sail around the coast the surrounds the shore, as he sits around his grandchildren to tell them stories. 

His children can dies that his first wife their mother, is a mermaid their own father said she left them to be with her ultimate lover and bring back a race of mermaids to the world. Their mother is said to be Aphrodite also known Atargatis - The First Mermaid. Descended from the Moon Goddess herself, she is said to be very beautiful. This is evident in the beauty of her daughters. 

Her grandchildren, however, have a special connection to the faerie world. many of them both male and female, have been avid swimmers. Sometimes especially the teenagers would take the littler ones out to the beach at night so that they could attract the selkies - beautiful mermaids that, if you're rumors to steal their coats would be bound to young in marriage forever. The littler ones would be a lure, attracting the selkies with their charms and sweet voices - securing many of the older boys and even the eldest girl  - in marriage. 

That wasn't the only major worries of the expectant royal descendants of Atargatis, however. Sometimes, the kids would wander off into the woods. Hearing the stories of the changelings that the faerie would leave in the woods, the young Princess Sophia was eventually frightened. She swears she put down her child on the rock just for a moment, now claims her middle daughter is a changelings. She heard commotion in the kitchen one night, coming out to find her daughter flying around with a pot in her hand. 

Then there was Prince Richard. At young age of 7, went missing in the woods for weeks. Every royal knight was sent throughout the valley and coastline to look for him. 

We finally shows up, long after his mother assumes that he's dead for 4 months, he appears on the doorstep of their castle with a a very solemn look on his face while, asking him where he's been he tells her "There were very nice women wearing flowers and long dress. They scolded him tell him that I am not supposed to be there,  but they had to wait for the soldiers to come back. They let me play with the other kids morning. There water were waterfalls, caves, gardens, and even dragons!"

There was laughter at that statement and cooing of Richard, "Boy, those creatures are not said to exist!," but many people had begun to question their assumptions when they begun to see those 'brutal, winged creatures' fly over the sky at night. 

The Old King, after Atargatis had left him, had to quickly adapt. He had to explain to his daughters why their mother had left them. Suffice to say, they were pissed. 

They did not understand how their mother could abandon them. They prayed at the Church everyday, believing their mother to be a source of sin. They told themselves that they were not like her - that, in spite of their beauty, they would be the epitome of virtue. 

Over time, edged on by the anger of another sister, they found themselves retreating within themselves. They would act like the perfect wives at dinner - keeping their bodies "taught, " their laughter airy, and their thoughts as intellectual as much as charming. 

As the King retreated within his anger, the girls portrayed outward their mistrust of themselves. 

It was when one of his daughters were crying by the fireside, he asked her a question. 

"What's bothering you Annie?"

"George is gone again."

"All men at war have to leave Annie."

"No! He's back from war!" protests Annie. He's staying at the village tavern. There's a woman he sees there, and he claims that he loves her more than me. 

The Old King realizes that he's set a bad example.

...

In his moods, he found himself retreating to the sea. He attacks the dreadful, ugly sirens that would attempt to drown his soldiers with their sultry songs - of which they would try to create the illusion of being beautiful women and not the scaly, slimy creatures they are. He gained reputation and praise during this time - becoming equally gruff and rugged. A princess of the North married him, and they had two songs - of whom he remains very proud. 

He saw Atargatis with her dark skinned mermaid lover one day. They waved at him from the water -acting more animal and ghost like than human. After that, he saw many other mermaids, and had decided to become the mermaid storyteller. 

He felt inspired to write each and every story in a big, gold, and blue bounded book. He would carefully inscribe for hours before retreating back to the sea to be inspired once more. THere'd be times that his wife, kids, grandchildren, and even the usbjects of his kingdom did not see him for weeks, but he'd come out with a story that would be written in the daily town letter. Who would refuse the stories of the Old King? 

The stories became a celebrated part of the culture - culminating in different solstice festivals celebrating the different seasons of life, and the different elements that rule over the world. This only inspired the Old King to retreat within himself even more - seeing the benefits of the stories given to the kingdom and how he became apart of something that would live on after his death. 

There was a hush the day that the Old King died and a statue erected in the center of town - in honor of the mermaid that once saved him.