Anna was exploring a cove, trying to stay away from view. Her master had been looking for her for three days now. She had run away, unable to remain a slave to him any longer. If he found her, she would die.
However, none of these things were going through Anna's head at the time. She was too busy admiring the incredibly blue waves crashing softly on the shore and searching after the waters pulled back for seashells in the sand.
As she walked along the shore, Anna became aware of the faint sound of grunting. She made her way closer to the sound, careful to remain quiet. It seemed to be on the other side of a wall of rocks. Anna slowly peaked her head around the rocks and her eyes grew wide.
On the sand struggling, trapped in a net, was an honest-to-god mermaid! Anna grew up with legends of mermaids, but that was all they were to her, legends. This was a real mermaid, with a golden tail to match her golden hair. She seemed more frustrated than frightened as she pulled at the net which surrounded her.
I have to do something, Anna thought. She slowly stepped from behind the rock and as soon as the mermaid became aware of Anna, she stopped and looked up like an injured animal.
"Don't be frightened," Anna said carefully. "I can help." She pulled a knife from her pocket which she had stolen from her master.
The mermaid flinched slightly as Anna got closer and grabbed the net, but Anna smiled and sawed at the rope. Soon, she cut a hole large enough for the mermaid to escape through. She pulled it off the mermaid's tail. The mermaid did nothing at first, until Anna finally realized she was staring at the knife. Anna threw it away and smiled at the mermaid.
"Can I help you?" Anna said, holding out her hand. The mermaid gingerly took Anna's hand and Anna pulled her into the ocean.
The mermaid looked back at Anna. "Thank you," she said softly and then she swan away into the waters.
Anna smiled at the waters, then quickly became aware of two men running behind her. She turned and saw the two standing next to the cut up net. One of the men had his hands on his head.
"What?" He shouted. "We had her!" The two looked up and saw Anna. "You! What did you do?!"
Anna glared at the men. "You had no right to trap her like that."
The other man stepped towards her. "That was our greatest catch!" He turned to his companion. "I leave for one second to get you, and some tramp ruins our plans." He looks back at Anna. "You will pay for this, girl."
His companion looks at Anna closely. "Wait, I think this is the slave that ran away from old Wilson. She looks exactly as he described." He came to Anna and grabbed her wrists. Anna cringed in pain and the man held up her arms, smiling in triumph at her red, blistered wrists. "Perhaps we'll make a profit after all."
The two men grabbed Anna and dragged her back to her master's house. When Wilson saw her, his face turned bright red. "You two will have your reward," he told the men. "And you." He stepped close to Anna and glared down at her. "For your rebellion, you will die."
The next day, Wilson along with four other men brought Anna to a cliff overlooking the ocean. They bound her hands and feet together and then attached a heavy rock to the rope around her feet, intending to drown her.
Anna's heart beat fast. This is where her life would end. Still, there was peace in knowing that she would no longer be a slave. She breathed out and tried to remain calm.
Two men picked up Anna, and two others lifted the rock. "Good riddance, slave," Wilson growled. With that, the men heaved Anna and the rock over the cliff.
Anna's stomach came up to her throat and her legs felt as though they would be torn off her. She hit the water hard and any breath she held left her. She quickly sank, yet the bottom was not very deep, so the rock hit it soon. Anna closed her eyes and waited for her lungs to lose air.
She then felt something tugging on the rope attached to her feet. She opened her eyes, but could not see very well in the water. Suddenly, she felt her legs relax and realized she was not attached to the rock anymore. A hand took her arm and pulled her towards the surface.
Once she broke the surface, Anna sputtered out water and caught her breath. She opened her eyes and in front of her was the same mermaid she had rescued the day before. The mermaid smiled at Anna and held onto her. "Let me help you," she said. She helped Anna reach the shore on the other side of the cliff.
Anna touched the sand and breathed deeply. Now the two were even, a life for a life. She smiled at the mermaid. "Thank you."
Author's Note: I read the story of Androcles and the Lion and was immediately inspired. The story is about a slave who escapes his master and finds a lion who has a thorn in his paw. Androcles takes the thorn out of the lion's paw and the two become friends. Later, Androcles is captured and sentenced to death by being thrown to a lion to be eaten. As it turns out, the same lion he helped it the lion he is thrown to, and the lion remembers him and doesn't kill him. I really liked this idea, and so for my story I chose to keep the same plot of a slave escaping a master and later on being found and sentenced to death, but I decided to make Androcles a girl and make the lion a mermaid, because I really like mermaids. It just goes to show you, you never know what might happen if you take the time to help someone. Maybe they will help you back.
Bibliography: This is a retelling of the story of "Androcles and the Lion" from Europa's Fairy Book by Joseph Jacobs. From the unit Europa
Image information: A picture of McWay Cove taken by Brocken Inaglory, 2009. Web source: Wikimedia Commons
Your story was awesome! I always love tales where good deeds are repaid later, and having a mermaid in it was just bonus points. You did a great job keeping it short but still having the story be complete and full. I really liked your tale, although I thought Anna was going to become a mermaid at the end. I'm glad she gets to live freely as a human though. Fabulous job!
ReplyDelete