The Little Merpire Written and Illustrated By: Michelle Adolphson, Hannah Couperus, and Josh Monehan
Once upon a time, far out in the ocean, lived a Sea King and his subjects. Fishes, both large and small, glide between the branches, as birds fly among the trees here upon land. In the deepest spot of all, stands the castle of the Sea King. Its walls are built of coral, and the long windows are of the clearest amber. The roof is formed of starfish that dance with the waves.
There lived the merpires, half mermaid half . They look like a human, but swim as a fish and feed on the blood of other creatures. When one bites their victim, they take their soul and turn them into a merpire. In the kingdom, there lived six beautiful princesses, each one more beautiful than the last with the youngest the most beautiful of all. The youngest had skin as clear and delicate as a rose leaf and her eyes as blue as the deepest sea. But like all the others, she had no feet and her body ended in a fish’s tail.
On each of the princess’ sixteenth birthday, they would be allowed to rise up from the bottom of the ocean and see the Earth as we do. None of them longed so much for her turn to come as the youngest, she who had the longest time to wait to see the wondrous world above. When something like a black cloud passed between her and the surface she knew that it was either a whale swimming over her head, or a ship full of human beings, who never imagined that a pretty little merpire was standing beneath them, holding out her white hands towards the keel of their ship.
The day of the youngest merpire’s sixteenth birthday she rose to the surface for the first time and met a large ship, with three masts with only one sail set. The clouds were tinted with crimson and gold as the sun was setting.
The little merpire swam close to the cabin windows and now and then, as the waves lifted her up she could look in through the clear glass window-panes, and see a number of well-dressed people within. Among the people through the window, there stood a young prince. The most beautiful of all with large black eyes and thick brown hair.
A dreadful storm was approaching. The waves rose mountains high as if they would have overtopped the mast; but the ship dived, the thick planks gave way as the sea broke over the deck. The ship lay over on her side and the water rushed in. The little merpire panicked and swam about among the beams and planks which covered the surface as she searched for the prince. His limbs were failing him, his beautiful eyes were closed, she didn’t have the strength to pull him up to the surface. There was only one option.
The prince would either drown to his death or he could live among them as a merpire himself. Right before his body went limp, the merpire thrust her teeth into his meaty neck. Now the prince no longer needed to breathe air and his heart began to beat once again. His legs fused together and scales began to form from his hip to his toes. Gills formed on each side of his neck right below her bite mark. He would not wake until sunrise.
The next morning when the sun rose, the little merpire greeted the prince as he woke up from his slumber. The little merpire calmed his confusion explaining how she had saved him. He was grateful for her actions. He allowed her to show him around the magnificent kingdom and introduced him to her father, the Sea King. The little merpire sees the prince swimming with the fishes and laughing with the dolphins. She hopes he wishes to stay.
Later that night, the prince and the merpire talk over dinner. He tells her of his family and how he misses them so. Though the little merpire wants him to stay forever, she admits that there is a way for him to return home. They would have to visit the wicked sorceress in the deep black whirlpool. There they would obtain a potion that would bring back his legs and lungs and allow him to return to land.
Reaching the home of the witch would be no easy task. Neither flowers nor grass grew there; nothing but bare, gray, sandy ground stretched out to the whirlpool, where the water, like foaming mill-wheels, whirled round everything that it seized, and cast it into the fathomless deep. They had no choice but to pass the crushing whirlpool. The little merpire led the way, but quickly was sucked into the current. The prince dove after her using his strength to pull her from its grasp to the other side.
The next obstacle standing in their way was the valley of eels. The eels were under a spell, protruding from each side of the valley, trained to attack anything that tries to pass. They saw that each held in its grasp something it had seized – skeletons of human beings who had perished at sea, skeletons of land animals, oars, rudders, and chests of ships. The prince and the merpire darted through the valley as fast as they could barely dodging the jaws of the eels.
After emerging from the valley they came to a space of marshy ground in the wood, that was hazy with fog. In the midst of this spot stood a house, built with the bones of shipwrecked human beings. There sat the sea witch, allowing a water-snake to eat from her mouth.
“I know what you want” said the evil sorceress; “it can be done but not without a price. I have prepared a potion for your prince. The price of my help is you, my little princess, must give up your life here in the sea and every time you speak, you will feel great pain as if a sword were passing through you. And if you refuse my offer, your prince will lose his soul and after death will reside with the demons of the sea.”
“It shall be,� said the little merpire. The prince and the little merpire both pricked their fingers and dripped blood into the magic potion. Then each drank two spoonfuls of the potion. After drinking the potion, the two only had five minutes to reach the surface before their gills and tails would disappear. They rushed out of the sorceress’s home and darted past the valley of the eels and the raging whirlpools determined to reach the surface in time.
They passed the Sea King’s palace and the homes of all of his subjects. They weaved in and out of the many fishes and sea creatures and finally broke through the surface. Their legs formed in place of a tail and the little merpire took her first breath of air. The prince showed the little merpire the way to his castle. Once on land they approached the castle steps. The prince took the little merpire by the hand and knelt down on one knee. The little merpire was confused by this gesture but the prince immediately explained.
“There is no way I could ever repay you for your kindness. But I do want your life on land to be wonderful. I want you to live with me in royalty at my fancy palace and be my princess. Will you marry me?” The little merpire was excited, though the words pained her, she said “Yes,” and threw her arms around the prince. The wedding was held in the palace ball room and was quite exquisite. And so the handsome prince and his beautiful princess lived happily ever after.
El fin (gEt it, fin)