The Mermaid's Twin Sister
Little Twin Girls (Web Source: Stellae Novae)
One day,
when Isabelle was playing with all the mermaids in the water, she
noticed a particularly sad mermaid lying on a rock near by. She was
shocked that such a beautiful young mermaid was so somber. She slowly
swam over to her and asked, "What's wrong?"
The mermaid answered, "I really miss my twin sister." Isabelle was curious and asked the mermaid, who happened to be named Sally, to tell her what had happened. So Sally began...
The mermaid answered, "I really miss my twin sister." Isabelle was curious and asked the mermaid, who happened to be named Sally, to tell her what had happened. So Sally began...
When I was a
little girl, my twin sister Jenny and I would go to the ocean and
play on the beach almost every day. It was our absolute favorite thing
to do together. Some days we would spend the entire day building
sand castles or searching for sand dollars, but we always ended up
splashing in the waves. As we did this year after year, we were
never allowed to go on the first Sunday of July and we never knew
why this was, but our parents never let us go to the beach on
this particular day. However, we remained obedient and did not go
swimming on the first
Sunday of July for many years. One year, this all changed.
It was about
ten years ago when I got a little too anxious to go swimming. Our
mother had been reminding us that we could not go swimming on that
particular day for over a week, but I had a different plan. As soon
as our mother went to work that morning, I was already racing to
the beach. Jenny chased after me yelling, "Sally, don't! You don't
know what will happen!" I was definitely not listening and plunged
into the water immediately. I was about twenty yards out into the
water and Jenny was terrified about what would happen to me.
All of a sudden, she saw a fish tail splashing in the water right
behind where I was swimming. She screamed for me to hurry back to the
beach, but then she realized that the big fish fin was attached to me.
I was
unsure what exactly was happening to me...was I becoming a mermaid,
or a fish? Who knows! Jenny started to get into the water to try and
help
me. I yelled, "Jenny, stop! If you get in the water, this
will happen to you too!" After a few minutes, I realized that I had
fully transformed into a mermaid. I didn't even know what to think.
Clearly, I should have obeyed my parents more. Never, in a million
years, did I think anything
like this would happen though! Jenny and I were both absolutely
heartbroken. My twin sister
was still a human and I had turned into a mermaid. As far as I knew, I
would never be
the normal girl that I used to be.
Jenny still
came to the beach every day for years to see me, but it was
not the same. As she grew up, her visits became less frequent and we
grew apart. Now Jenny is married and has two little daughters.
They always beg to go swimming at the beach and Jenny will never let
them. She is so scared they will turn into mermaids too, like
I did, and she would not be able to bear losing another loved
one to the ocean.
Isabelle felt so sad for Sally. Hearing Sally tell her story made Isabelle appreciate the close relationship she had with her parents. She immediately said goodbye to all of her mermaid friends to go see her mom and dad on the beach.
Isabelle felt so sad for Sally. Hearing Sally tell her story made Isabelle appreciate the close relationship she had with her parents. She immediately said goodbye to all of her mermaid friends to go see her mom and dad on the beach.
Author's
Note: I was immediately drawn to this story because I am a twin and it
had an interesting transformation. I changed a few things from the
original
version of the story. In the original version, it tells the story from
the point of view of the human sister. It gives it a different feel
when it
is heard from the point of view of the mermaid sister. By telling the
story in first person, you can share most of the emotions directly, as
part of the story. She is so sad that she does not have the time
to spend with her twin sister anymore. I also changed the way in which
the twin sister transformed into a mermaid. In the original story, the
little girls were never allowed to go swimming on Sundays. I changed
that slightly and made only one day a year that they were not allowed
to go in the water. I thought this made the story a little more
superstitious, rather than just following the rules about not swimming
on any Sunday. Overall, I like the changes that were made. It still
stays true to the original idea of the story, it just gives a different
point of view.
Joseph L. The
Mermaid’s Twin Sister Clarion Books, New York 1994. Web
Source: Humanity.
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