I am still young in mermaid years, only 250, but I was much younger when the princes told the stories of capturing a mermaid’s heart. The stories echoed in the rocks and the water and we heard them deep within the sea. All sounds come to us that way. We can hear the sounds of rocks being moved, or water being diverted, of people building or tearing down, as well as the songs and stories of the sons and daughters of the land. We know when babies are born and when elders die. The rocks and the water tell us.



Of course it does not hurt that we also speak the language of the sea and can converse with all that live within the waters. Though is it true that each mermaid has a certain alignment with specific creatures. I am more likely to talk with an octopus than a shark, but that is because I enjoy the octopus sense of humor. This is why I heard the story as a young mermaid…octopi like to chat.


Perhaps it began when the princesses decided to impress the princes, or perhaps it was the other way around, but by the time the story traveled to us the competition was already in place and competitors were on their way. Some were princesses wanting to be mer-people for a day so they could tell the tale, but most were princes wanting to capture the heart of someone they could then brag about. There were even stories that mermaids were immortal, which inspired a few Kings searching for us to restore their lost youth.


We can live forever, but we are not immortal, and we certainly do not hand out the gift of immortality in a random fashion. Oh yes, the stories are true, loving a mermaid, or rather having one love you, can bring a bit of that gift, but our hearts are not easily won and cannot be bought or stolen. But the princes of man did not know this, or did not care to believe it. And so they came to the sea looking for us the way they searched for gold and silver in the earth mines, thinking they could hunt us they way they had learned to hunt whales. But we listened to the words of the rocks and water and we were prepared.