The Mermaids Hair

Mermaid

I wrote this story whilst I was on a Wild Stories retreat with Change in Nature. 

 One morning in the round house with a fire burning, Martha Tilston, Folk Singer, Film Maker, Story Teller and all round magical human being.. led a workshop on writing myth.  Martha handed around the most beautiful chand drawn cards for inspiration.  The card I chose couldn’t be more perfect. It featured a beautiful mermaid on a rock and had the words, “The mermaids hair” inscripted in the image.

 My myth came to me instantly and I began to frantically scribble the story almost fully downloaded from my brain into the notebook I had bought especially for the trip. The version I’m sharing with you here is slightly different, but as powerful as the first story.

 Here it is for you to enjoy. I hope you are sitting comfortably.

 Once upon a time there lived a Mermaid…

Some said she was as old as time itself and others that she was as new as the morning ocean breeze.  Some said she came from the darkest depths of the ocean. From the places us humans haven't even discovered yet.

The mermaid had a long strong tail with shimmering scales of rainbow colours. Her hair was long and red. Her eyes were dark like deepest parts of the indigo blue sea.

Each morning she swam from the deepest depths to the surface to her favourite rock island. Some said there was a crystal inside the rock island that had magical powers.

 She drank fresh water that sprang from the moss that grew on the rock.  It was fresh and cool and tasted so good.  She warmed her body on the rock and when she was hungry she dove for fish to eat. She only ever took what she needed.

In the afternoon she used a comb that had been washed up on the rock to brush all the seaweed out that got tangled up in there.. and removed the barnacles and muscles that tried to settle on her tail. She lovingly and carefully transferred them to the rock pools. 

She sang beautiful songs she heard from the whales, the crafty crabs stopped their sideways walks.. and the squalling seagulls settled on the top of the rock to hear her. Sometimes her friends the silky seals would bob their heads out of the water to listen too. 

She was much beloved by all the sea creatures. She was gentle and loving by nature.

John William Waterhouse RA,

A Mermaid, 1900

As the years passed she was becoming bothered by the rubbish that was floating down to her in her deep dark home. She had found treasures before.. some beautiful shiny things she loved... things that sparkled like the sun on the sea, and other things that looked like the brightly coloured fish that swam all around her. 

The mermaid had noticed other things floating into the depths.. the kinds of things that were light to touch and floated like jelly fish but didn't not seem to be alive at all. They did not disappear or seem to be natural like the plants and animals. Some of the turtles and whales got confused and ate them, like they were food.  Sometimes those animals got sick and one day didn't return home.

In fact all the animals were beginning to look a little sick these days. The mermaid, hoped that she could figure out what was making the animals sick, and help them out.

One day, she sat on her rock, combing her hair and singing.. when she spotted a wooden boat in the distance. It was floating aimlessly, adrift. She had seen boats before but only at a distance and was curious to know why it had appeared.

She dived into the water and powerfully swam to the boat... when she got there.. she could see it was a wooden boat that had lost its oars. 

She pulled herself up onto the side of the boat...

To her great shock she saw a man inside the boat. Thin and frail... and nearly dead. He didn't not have a tail like her, but two arm like appendages where his tail should have been. 

She swam back over to her rock pushing the boat along. So powerful she was, it was easy and they reached her rock in no time.  When she got there, all the little crabs scuttled about excitedly, the seagulls squalled and squealed high above her... and the silky seals bobbed closer curious about the commotion and activity.

All the animals were so inquisitive. 

She collected the fresh water from the mossy sea rock in a seashell and let some drops fall on the man's parched lips... he hungrily licked his lips.. and finally he sat up. Greedily he took the shell From The Mermaids hands and tipped all the water into his throat. He sat back and held the shell out again.. and the Mermaid refilled it with fresh water from the moss and seaweed... Again he greedily drank it down.. 

The mermaid dove into the sea to find a fish for the man to eat. She tore small boneless pieces off and gave them to the man.. Which again, he hungrily ate down..

She could see his face changing. He was getting more colour to his cheeks.. and was beginning to open his eyes...

He rubbed his dry red eyes and looked around at the rock and the sea creatures.. in absolute shock and surprise.

And when he finally laid his eyes on the mermaid and became quite fearful.  She sang her songs to him to reassure him but laughed at the funny man with his funny facial expressions.

The man stayed with the mermaid for a few days whilst he regained strength.

He told her he had been on a fishing expedition when the trawler had gone down.. swallowed up by the big blue.  He had been floating in the boat for weeks when he finally ran out of supplies and fresh water.

He thanked the mermaid for her care.

She knew of the trawlers that ravaged the bottom of the ocean... and taking all the fish and turtles and dolphins into their nets. But she fed him fish and gave him fresh water until he was strong enough to leave.

She stayed on the rock for 3 whole days and nights, without deep diving back to her home. So he wouldn’t be afraid. She still swam and dived and sang and combed her hair.

The man fell in love with this mermaid.. but she didn't understand what he meant. 

She showed him the jelly fish looking debris that the fish and animals were eating.. and told him how sick they were.  He recognised the plastic she said was killing the animals and her sadness made him feel a great deal of guilt and he told her about the way humans lived now.

How busy they were, How fast they moved, How many things they needed to do, How somethings were more convenient. 

But the mermaid shook her head. She didn't understand.

Tell them about the sea she urged. Tell them about the sick turtles and whales and dolphins and fish.

When he was strong enough, she pushed him in his boat to the edge of a current that would take him back to his village. He was sad to leave but desperate to return home.  He promised her he would do what he could to change the peoples ways.

She'd been so busy taking care of him, she hadn't noticed that some of this plastic had got caught in her wild hair. She tried to comb it out but it was stuck fast. 

She managed to dive for a few fish, sunned herself on the rock and sang some sea shanties for the crabs and gulls and seals.  When she went home to the depths of the ocean she noticed it was much harder to swim to the deepest parts. The plastic rubbish in her hair kept pulling her back up.

By the morning she was exhausted trying to keep herself at the depths and was desperate to get back to the surface.. 

Meanwhile, the man returned home to his village by the sea. He was met by the villagers who thought he was long dead.. They cried and thanked the ocean for returning him safe.

True to his word he told the villagers about the mermaid and what she had said about the plastic that was in the ocean. But they all laughed at him.

You were dehydrated..
Mad lonely!!

He returned to his daily life..

Back on the rock, The Mermaids hair has more and more plastic stuck in it.

She would sit each day on her rock trying to comb it out.. She stopped singing and cried whilst she tugged at her hair with her old found comb. 

She couldn’t go home to the depths anymore because the plastic kept her on the surface and she couldn’t dive for fish as well either. The ones she could reach swam slowly and didn’t taste quite right.

Her rock had started to fill up with rubbish. The seals couldn't get close to her, and the little crabs started using the rubbish to live in. 

The seagulls kept flying far and wide to try to find fish that didn't have plastic inside them..

The mermaid was exhausted and lay down on the rock.

Back in the village, the man talked constantly about the mermaid... He emplored his friends and family to help. To change their ways. But they laughed at him.

He hadn't been able to return to the trawler life and spent his days collecting plastic from the beaches.

They laughed and said things like, you've got too much time on your hands mate!!

The only ones who listened to the man were the children of the village.  They loved to hear the story of the mermaid.  They knew in their hearts that she was real.  It was the children who started to help the man.  The picked up the plastic with him.  The begged their parents to make different choices.

Franz Hein

Mermaid in the Goldfish pond

Little by little, people started to pay attention.

The man took the vilagers to their own beaches.. and showed them the rubbish.
He showed them the sick fish that were washing up there, bellies full of plastic.

And slowly slowly, the people started to listen and change their ways.

The man couldn't stop thinking about the mermaid and he started to plan a trip back to the Mermaids Rock.

He got a boat and a crew together.. and some of the other people from the village wanted to come and see the Mermaid too.

They set off sail. 

They travelled for many, many hours. The sun was hot and beat down on the passengers.. Finally the man saw the mermaids rock in the distance, however it looked so different. It looked like an island of rubbish. 

No mossy green rock, the squalling seagulls had gone and the seals couldn't get close.

As the boat got closer, they saw the mermaid laid out on the rocks... but she was thin.. her tail was dull and her ribs were showing. Her skin was pale green and she looked sick. Her long hair was a tangle with plastic and rubbish. Water bottles, lids, toothbrushes, wet wipes, bits of net, coffee cups.

She was lying very still barely breathing. They couldn't even get the boat close the rock because of all the plastic and rubbish around it.

Quickly the man organised the group to start collecting in the rubbish. They used their big nets to collect it, and pulled it into the boat. This took hours of working in the harsh sun.

Finally the crabs were able to move around more easily. Their rock pools cleared.. They scuttled sideways towards the mermaid who was still lying so still.. they crawled all over her.. and started to use their claws to snip the plastic from her hair.. they worked quickly snipping and snipping and the mermaid began to move a little. 

The little crabs worked on the mermaids hair until it was free of all the plastic.. and the plastic floated out towards the villagers in their boats where they fished it in with their nets and lines.. 

The mermaid sat up. Her beautiful hair cut short to her head. The seagulls returned and dropped juicy fish into her lap and she hungrily ate them up . The seals bobbed around her warming her with their silky bodies... The man and the villagers all cheered with glee and delight! They were so pleased that the mermaid was well again.

When she felt strong enough she dived into the sea.

The villagers and the man all clapped their hands and the mermaid came to sit on the side of the boats. She told the villagers about her home. The deep blue and the villagers all listened intently.

They vowed to make big big changes. They had been so busy that they hadn't realised the extent of the mess. But now they knew, now they pledged to help.

They decided to work together to collect all the plastic they'd put into the ocean. They stopped using their big nets and trawlers for fishing.. and found ways to use their nets to collect plastic even from the deepest darkest parts of the ocean. 

The mermaid and humans all worked together.

They learned from her ways. They took only what they needed.

They sat in the sun and sang whilst they worked. Soon enough, the ocean became clear of plastic. The whales and turtles and fish became healthy again.

The villagers slowed down and listened and headed what the mermaid had said.

The Mermaid and the man stayed close friends. They never forgot how they each saved each other. The man often came to visit and he brought his family with him.

 She dived and sang and combed the seaweed from Her hair.

Long after the man was gone, his family still visited. 

No one ever forgot the mermaid. No one ever got complacent again.

The End

© Bryony Redgrave