The Sea Fairies Written by L.
Frank Buam Chapter One Trott and Captain Bill Nobody,
Said Captain Bill solemnly,
Ever saw a mermaid and lived to tell the tale.
Why not?
Asked Trott,
Looking earnestly up into the old sailor's face.
They were seated on a bench built around a giant acacia tree that grew just at the edge of the bluff.
Below them rolled the blue waves of the great pacific.
A little way behind them was the house,
A neat framed cottage painted white and surrounded by huge eucalyptus and pepper trees.
Still further behind that,
A quarter of a mile distant but built upon the bend of the coast,
Was the village,
Overlooking a pretty bay.
Captain Bill and Trott came here often to this tree to sit and watch the ocean below them.
The sailor man had one meat leg and one hickory leg and he often said the wooden one was the best of the two.
Once Captain Bill had commanded and owned the Anemone,
A trading schooner that piled along the coast and in those days Charlie Griffiths,
Who was Trott's father,
Had been the captain's mate.
But ever since Captain Bill's accident when he lost his leg,
Charlie Griffiths had been the captain of the little schooner while his old master lived peacefully ashore with the family.
This was about the time Trott was born and the old sailor became very fond of the baby girl.
Her real name was Myra but when she grew big enough to walk,
She took so many busy little steps every day that both her mother and Captain Bill nicknamed her Trott and so she was there after mostly called.
It was the old sailor who taught the child to love the sea,
To love it almost as much as he and her father did and these two who represented the beginning and the end of life became firm friends and constant companions.
Why hasn't anyone seen a mermaid and lived?
Asked Trott again.
Because mermaids is fairies and ain't meant to be seen by us mortal folk,
Replied Captain Bill.
But if anyone happens to see him,
What then Cam?
Then,
He answered,
Slowly wagging his head.
The mermaids give him a smile and a wink and then they dives into the water and get drowned.
Suppose they know how to swim Captain Bill.
That don't make any difference Trott.
The mermaids live deep down and the poor immortals never come up again.
The little girl was thoughtful for a moment.
But why do folks dive in the water?
When the mermaid smile and wink?
She asked.
Mermaids,
He said gravely,
Is the most beautifullest creatures in the world or the water.
You know where they're like Trott.
They've got a lovely lady's form down to the waist and then the other half of them is a fish with a green and purple and pink scales all up and down them.
Have they got arms Captain Bill?
Course Trott,
Arms like any other lady and pretty faces that smile and look mighty sweet and fetching.
Their hair is long and soft and silky and floats all around them in the water.
When they comes atop the waves,
They wring the water out in their hair and sing songs that go right to your heart.
If anybody isn't lucky enough to be around us,
Then the beauty of them mermaids and their sweet song charms them like magic.
So they plunge into the waves to get the mermaids.
But the mermaids haven't any hearts Trott,
No more than a fish has.
So they laugh when the poor people drown and they don't care a fig.
That's why it says,
And it's true,
That nobody ever saw a mermaid and lived to tell the tale.
Nobody,
Asked Trott.
Nobody at all.
Then how do you know Captain Bill?
Asked the little girl,
Looking up into his face with big round eyes.
Captain Bill coughed.
Then he tried to sneeze to gain time.
Then he took out his red cotton handkerchief and wiped his bald head with it,
Rubbing hard so as to make him think clearer.
Oh look Trott,
Ain't that a brig out there?
He inquired,
Pointing to a sail far out in the sea.
How does anybody know about mermaids if those who've seen them never lived to tell about them?
She asked again.
Know what about them Trott?
About their green and pink scales and pretty songs and wet hair?
They don't know I guess,
But mermaids,
It naturally has to be like that or they wouldn't be mermaids.
She thought this over.
Somebody must have lived Captain Bill,
She declared positively.
Other fairies have been seen by mortals,
So why not mermaids?
Perhaps they have Trott,
Perhaps they have,
He answered musingly.
I'm telling you as if it would hold to me,
But I never stopped to enquire into the matter so close before.
Seems like folks wouldn't know so much about mermaids if they haven't seen them,
And yet according to all accounts,
The victim is bound to get drowned.
Perhaps,
Suggested Trott softly,
Someone found a photograph of one of them.
That might have been Trott,
That might have been,
Answered Captain Bill.
A nice man was Captain Bill and Trott knew he always liked to explain everything so she could fully understand it.
The aged sailor was not a very tall man and some people might have called him chubby or even fat.
He wore a blue sailor shirt with white anchors worked on the corners and the broad square collar and his blue trousers were very wide at the bottom.
He always wore one trouser leg over his wooden limb and sometimes it would flutter in the wind like a flag because it was so wide and the wooden leg so slender.
His rough curvy coat was a pea jacket and came down to his waistline.
In the big pockets of his jacket he kept a wonderful jackknife and his pipe and tobacco and many bits of string and matches and keys and lots of other things.
Whenever Captain Bill thrust a chubby hand into one of his pockets,
Trott watched him with breathless interest but she never knew what he was going to pull out.
The old sailor's face was brown as a berry.
He had a fringe of hair around the back of his head and a fringe of whisker around the edge of his face running from ear to ear and underneath his chin.
His eyes were a light blue and kind in expression.
His nose was big and broad and his few teeth were not strong enough to crack nuts with.
Trott liked Captain Bill and had a great deal of confidence in his wisdom and had a great admiration for his ability to make tops and whistles and toys with that marvellous jackknife of his.
In the village were many boys and girls of her own age but she never had as much fun playing with them as she had wandering by the sea accompanied by the old sailor and listening to his fascinating stories.
She knew all about the Flying Dutchman and Davy Jones Locker and Captain Kidd and how to harpoon a whale or dodge an iceberg or lasso a seal.
Captain Bill had been everywhere in the world almost on his many voyages.
He had been wrecked on desert islands like Robinson Crusoe and been attacked by cannibals and had a host of other exciting adventures.
He was a delightful comrade for the little girl and whatever Captain Bill knew Trott was sure to know in time.
How do mermaids live?
She asked.
Are they in caves or just in the water like fishes or how?
Can't say Trott he replied.
I've asked divers about that but none of them ever run across the mermaid's nest yet as I've heard of.
If they're fairies she said their homes must be very pretty maybe so Trott but damp they're sure to be damp you know.
I'd like to see a mermaid Captain Bill said the child earnestly.
What and get drowned he exclaimed.
No I live to tell the tale if they're beautiful and laughing and sweet there can't be much harm in them I'm sure.
Mermaids is mermaids remarked Captain Bill in the most solemn voice.
It wouldn't do us any good to mix up with them Trott.
Myra,
Myra called a voice from the house.
Yes mama.
You and Captain Bill come in to supper.
