The Little Mermaid: A Dark Retelling

I

She had been told the surface world was dangerous, but she could not resist it. It was such a different place from the world below the waters. Under the sea, the colours were murky, sounds were muted. Everything was calm. Above the water the sun shone down, nearly blinding you at first. There was the screaming of gulls, it wasn’t a nice sound but it was different. So loud and immediate. Everything was so intense.

Then, of course, there were the humans. She watched them in their fishing boats. They were so like her yet so different. They wore coarse clothes, where she went naked. And, just like the stories said, they had legs. They walked around on their boats like it was nothing. She watched in wonder. Her tail was strong and powerful, it could move her through the waves like a bullet. Yet, as she watched, she envied them their legs. She dreamed of walking around like they did. Of going back to land, of seeing all the wonders there. Day after day, she left her watery home to visit the world above.

II 

This was the young man’s first trip on the fishing boat. It belonged to his father and his father before him. They were a family of fishermen, and now it was time for the young man to join them on the ocean. At first, he had feared he would let them down. He felt seasick, the rocking of the boat churned up his insides. But after an hour or so, the salt wind whipping in his face started to feel refreshing. He ate some pickled sardine with the other men and his stomach settled. He felt exhilarated. A humble human, at the mercy of sea and sky.

The fishing itself was all grunt work. Reeling the unwieldy nets out, reeling them back in, now heavy with fish. But he was a man now, this is what he did. The other men clapped him on the back and he felt strong and good. This was the life.

He did not realise how much he really was at the mercy of the elements. When the sky grew black, the fishermen turned the boat for home, but they were far out, and the storm quickly overtook them. As the boat foundered, the young man was swept over the side by a wave and found himself sinking deep into the storm tossed waters.

III 

The young man awakened on the shore. His body ached from being tossed about like a toy by the cruel ocean. Yet he was alive! There was someone else there, just at the edge of the shore, floating in the water. It was a girl, about his age, naked, with long, tangled hair. Her skin had a bluish tinge to it, and, of all things, her lower half ended in a tail just like a fish. She smiled at him shyly.

His body complaining, the young man dragged himself to his feet. He stumbled over to the girl.

“You saved me, didn’t you?” the girl nodded. She smiled at him. Her teeth were sharp and pointed but she was still beautiful. Exotic, like no girl he had ever known.

The girl flinched at the sound of shouting. It was a crowd of people from the village, streaming onto the beach. They shouted in joy at seeing the young man alive. When he looked back to the water, the girl was gone.

That night he dreamed of her. She drew him into her clammy embrace. He awakened breathless. He hoped that she would come back and he would see her again.

IV 

He did see her again. Every week on Sunday, the day of rest, when he should have been at church, he would sneak away and meet her on the shore. He would sit at the edge of the waves, she would linger by the beach, in the shallow water. He would tell her of his simple life, the cottage where he lived with his mother, father and grandparents. His life as a fisherman. He told her he did not fear the ocean despite his accident because he knew that she was out there, watching over him.

She told him about her underwater kingdom. The merpeople and how they watched over everything that lived in the ocean. They were the shepherds of the fish, the gardeners of seaweed and coral. He listened breathless to her tales. He could not believe that to her, his world was just as exotic.

It wasn’t long until they professed their love for one another. After all, they were both young and beautiful. The shared kisses and lingering caresses. Her body was cold, his was warm. They were a mismatch and they knew it. . And yet they ached for each other.

Finally, they decided on a plan of how they might be together. He would never see her underwater kingdom, for he could not breathe underwater. That meant it was her who must come to him. And so, she decked herself out in pearls and coral, and rose to the surface one last time, whispering a goodbye to the world below.

V 

He met her on the seashore, as promised. He took her in his arms and lifted her from the water. Although he was strong, he struggled to carry her. But he did not have to walk far until he reached the old handcart. He put her into it. Out of the water, her hair was tangled, her skin already beginning to dry up. The bumping of the cart hurt as he dragged it along, away from the shore, and there were splinters in the old cracked wood. She ignored the pain and thought only of her love and how they might finally be together.

The young man finally pulled to a stop in front of an old cottage. She marvelled at the rough mud bricks that made its walls and the straw roof. But now people were spilling out of the door of the cottage, and gasping at the sight of her. There was a stout, red faced woman, her arms as muscled as her son’s, and a man who looked like an older version of her love. Then there was an old man, coming forward, staring at her. She felt exposed under his gaze. It wasn’t that she was naked, that was normal for her, but something about his stare seemed to cut her open. He poked and prodded her as she yelped in protest.

“Well, well, young man. So you was telling the truth! And I was starting to think mermaids really was all just old fisherman’s tales!”

An old lady spoke now, standing in the door of the cottage. “Oh, it has been an age since I had mermaid, tenderest meat there is!”

The mermaid cried out in fear and betrayal, then there was a blow to her head and she saw only blackness.

VI 

The old man smacked his lips, reaching for another fried fillet. “This really is the most tender meat, you were right my dear!” The old lady laughed.

“They say mermaid meat is an aphrodisiac,” laughed the father, looking at his son, “I bet you’re raring to go see that young milkmaid of yours! Go on, then, off ye go!” He turned to his wife, “and perhaps we should retire too!” she grinned at him.

In the shed behind the house lay the remains of the mermaid. Salted and left to dry. Her bones were in a pile on the floor, to be fed to the dogs later. Already they were sniffing around outside the shed, smelling the fresh meat.

Below in the ocean, the merpeople went on with life as before, shepherding their fishes, planting their coral forests. Below the waves, everything is muted, and they had not even heard their sister’s dying screams. Tiny fish darted in and out of the seaweed, and mermaids danced in the waves, decked out in pearls and coral.