She stared at him, her deep-blue eyes wide with fright at first. Then, «Are you a man?» she asked.
Robert didn’t have any doubts on that point; he assured her that he was. The fear went out of her eyes and she smiled. «I’ve heard of men but never met one.» She motioned for him to sit down beside her on the embedded log.
Robert didn’t hesitate. He sat down and they talked and talked, and after a while his arm went around her and when at last she said that she must return to the sea, he kissed her good night and she promised to meet him again the next midnight.
He went back to his friends’ house in a bright daze of happiness. He was in love.
For three nights in a row he saw her, and on the third night he told her that he loved her, that he would like to marry her—but that there was a problem—
«I love you too, Robert. And the problem you have in mind can be solved. I’ll summon a Triton.»
«Triton? I seem to know the word, but—»
«A sea demon. He has magical powers and can change things for us so we can marry, and then he’ll marry us. Can you swim well? We’ll have to swim out to meet him; Tritons never come quite to the shore.»
He assured her that he was an excellent swimmer, and she promised to have the Triton there the next night.
He went back to his friends’ house in a state of ecstasy. He didn’t know whether the Triton would change his beloved into a human being or change him into a merman, but he didn’t care. He was so mad about her that as long as they would both be the same, and able to marry, he didn’t care in which form it would be.
She was waiting for him the next night, their wedding night. «Sit down,» she told him. «The Triton will blow his conch shell trumpet when he arrives.»
They sat with their arms around each other until they heard the sound of a conch shell trumpet blowing far out on the water. Robert quickly stripped off his clothes and carried her into the water; they swam until they reached the Triton. Robert treaded water while the Triton asked them, «Do you wish to be joined in marriage?» They each said a fervent «I do.»
«Then,» said the Triton, «I pronounce you merman and merwife.» And Robert found himself no longer treading water; a few movements of a strong sinuous tail kept him at the surface easily. The Triton blew a note on his conch shell trumpet, deafening at so close a range, and swam away.
Robert swam to his wife’s side, put his arms around her and kissed her. But something was wrong; the kiss was pleasant but there was no real thrill, no stirring in his loins as there had been when he had kissed her on shore. In fact, he suddenly realized, he had no loins that he could detect. But how—?
«But how—?» he asked her. «I mean, darling, how do we—?»
«Propagate? It’s simple, dear, and nothing like the messy way land creatures do it. You see, mermaids are mammalian but oviparous. I lay an egg when the time comes and when it hatches I nurse our merchild. Your part—»
«Yes?» asked Robert anxiously.
«Like other fishes, dear. You simply swim over the egg and fertilize it. There’s nothing to it.»
Robert groaned, and suddenly deciding to drown himself, he let go of his bride and started swimming toward the bottom of the sea.
But of course he had gills and didn’t drown.
THREE LITTLE OWLS
(a fable)
Three little owls lived with their mother in a hollow tree in the middle of the woods.
«My children,» she would say to them, «you must never, never go out in the daytime. Night is the time for little owls to be out. Never when the sun is shining.»
«Yes, Mother,» the three little owls would chorus.
But, thought each little owl to himself, I’d like to try it just once to find out why I shouldn’t.
As long as their mother was there by day to watch them, they minded her. But one day she went away for a while.
The first little owl looked at the second little owl and said, «Let’s try it.» And the third little owl looked at both of them and said, «What are we waiting for?»
Out of the hollow tree they went, into the bright sunlight in which owls, whose eyes are made for night, can see but poorly.
The first little owl flew to the next tree. He sat on a limb and blinked in the bright sunlight.
Just then bang! went a gun under the tree and a bullet took a feather out of his tail. «Hooooo,» said the first little owl and he flew home again before the hunter could shoot a second time.
The second little owl flew down to the ground. He blinked twice and looked around him, and just as he turned his head he saw a big red fox come from behind a bush.
«Grrrrr,» said the fox, and he jumped at the second little owl. «Hooooo,» said the second little owl and, just in time, he flew away, back to the hollow tree.
The third little owl flew up as high as he could fly. When his wings were tired he soared down again toward the hollow tree that was his home, and perched on its highest branch to rest.
He looked down and saw that a big wildcat crouched on a limb of the tree. The wildcat had not seen the third little owl, perched above him, but he was watching the round black hole in the tree that led to home and safety for the third little owl.
«Hooooo,» said the third little owl, but he said it to himself so the wildcat would not hear. He looked about him to find a way to get safely home.
He saw a thorn tree nearby and flew to it. He broke off a thorn with his beak and held it very tightly. Without making a sound he flew back and stuck the sharp thorn into a tender part of the wildcat, just as hard as he could.
«Eeeeeeouw,» said the wildcat. He tried to get up and to turn and to jump, all at once, and he fell off the limb. The wildcat’s head hit the limb below and then he fell on down and landed right on top of the hunter’s head. The hunter dropped his gun and fell, and the gun went off bang! and shot the fox, who had been hiding behind a bush.
«Hooooo,» said the third little owl. His beak hurt badly because he had held the thorn very tightly and had thrust it as hard as he could, but he did not mind that now.
He went proudly into the hollow tree and told his two brothers that he had killed a wildcat, a hunter, and a fox.
«You must have dreamed it,» said the first little owl.
«You certainly must have dreamed it,» said the second little owl.
«Wait until night and I’ll show you,» said the third little owl.
The wildcat and the hunter were only stunned. After a while the wildcat came to, and slinked away. Then the hunter woke up; he found the fox that his gun had shot when he dropped it, and took the fox and went home.
When night came, the three little owls came out of the tree.
The third little owl looked and looked, but he could not find the wildcat, the hunter, or the fox. «Hooooo,» he said. «You are right. I must have dreamed it.»
They all agreed that it was not safe to go out when the sun was shining, and that their mother had been right. The first little owl thought so because he had been shot at by a hunter, and the second little owl thought so because he had been jumped at by a fox.
But the third little owl thought so most of all, because the dream he had dreamed had left his beak very tender and it hurt him so badly to try to eat that he went hungry all day.
MORAL:
Stay home by day. Matinees can get you in trouble.
RUNAROUND
For many days now he had wandered ponderously through the hungry forests, across the hungry plains of dwarf scrub and sand, and had wandered along the lush edges of the streams that flowed down to the big water. Always hungry.