Six Sentence Story: Three Lights (Blast-fishing mythological creatures, and other muses upon merfolk)

John William Waterhouse; A Mermaid. 1900.

Wikipedia tells us that:

“In folklore, a mermaid is an aquatic creature with the head and upper body of a female human and the tail of a fish. Mermaids appear in the folklore of many cultures worldwide, including Europe, Asia, and Africa.

The male equivalent of the mermaid is the merman. The male and the female collectively are sometimes referred to as merfolk or merpeople.

The Western concept of mermaids as beautiful, seductive singers may have been influenced by the Sirens of Greek mythology, which were originally half-birdlike, but came to be pictured as half-fishlike in the Christian era. Historical accounts of mermaids, such as those reported by Christopher Columbus during his exploration of the Caribbean, may have been sightings of manatees or similar aquatic mammals. While there is no evidence that mermaids exist outside folklore, reports of mermaid sightings continue to the present day.

The English word “mermaid” is not very old, with the earliest attestation in Middle English (Chaucer, Nun’s Priest’s Tale, c. 1390). The compound word is formed from “mere” (sea), and “maid”.”

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Havfrue, by Elisabeth Jerichau Baumann (1873)

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The Little Mermaid’s Sisters by Anne Anderson (circa 1910)

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Mermaids, by Jean Francis Aubertin (circa 1920)

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What to do if you come across a mermaid:

be kind. be respectful. help her if she asks.

What not to do:

harm or exploit her. take photographs (a memory is more precious, and cannot be sold).

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For this week’s Six Sentence Stories bloghop hosted by Denise at Girlie on the Edge, I wanted to write and draw about a mermaid. To my memory I have only attempted an art rendition of a mermaid once before; in a collage and acrylic paint I made for an imagined ‘missing chapter’ from the novel Life of Pi by Jann Martel. In the image below, you can see Pi and Richard Parker in the lifeboat as they behold the mermaid upon her rock.

Missing Mermaid Chapter From LIfe of Pi. By Ford Waight.

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The following is my Six Sentence Story contribution for this week’s prompt word of: Blur and is accompanied by original artwork.

THREE LIGHTS

Words and art by Ford Waight

Three lights punch the surface of my sea, diffusing across the below and above of all which separates me.

Three lights come to puncture my realm – lights not unlike the incandescence of a fat pirate moon, or the boldest star of a constellation, or a lighthouse sentinel on shores I dare to submerge to when humankind sleeps its humankind sleep.

Three lights which aim to track me, the audacity to hunt me, to pinpoint my serpentine form as I pitch and twist, then BOOM–BA-BA-BOOM! BOOM-BOOM-BOOM! explosions sear my sensitive soul, dynamite propelled into my watery home, shock-wave, evasive action, dive-dive-dive, thou shalt not stun me damn blast-fishermen!

Sticks fall as comets with furious tails, decorate my world like a sky aflame with New Year fireworks and meteor rain, alas, alas, the little fish around me succumb, and they swirl, lifeless, like toothbrushes and fast food unrottable cutlery and bags – ALAS – there is nothing I can do for them! 

My Norwegian sky is all a-raging fire, and at last I understand that the three lights are torches, each a-blur: one from the skipper, one from the bosun, and one from the vessel’s searchlight.

I flip my tail to make escape, set my eyes ‘cross the Nordic Seas realm, and I think – I think – those hunters above will ne’er claim their mythical catch this night nor no night other, and let it be I – Havfrue – who will one day be mermaid-enough to upend their vessel and tip them out, to drag them below where eternal sleep waits, upon the seabed where dreams are unmade, tucked up sweet in a barnacled grave.

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Three Lights (ink and water colours)

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Three Lights (ink and artist pencils)

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Three Lights (digital colourisation)

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Three Lights (digital colourisation)

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Thank you for your visit today,

Ford 😎

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