"The Codfish Ball"
16x20 gallery wrapped canvas
(Her dancing skirt is textured and covered in gold leaf)
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Once upon a time under the sea a young mermaid didn't have the usual mermaids tail. This upset her very much because she was so different from all the others and therefore stayed to herself to avoid being stared at. Although she swam under the sea she had 2 regular human legs making her feel awkward and she just knew the other mermaids and the fish were sneering at her and making fun. Making it worse was that her legs were striped and the things called feet at the end of her legs were bright red. One time in a moment of desperation she tried to tie these appendages together with seaweed and learn to move her body in one motion like the others did. It worked for only a short time until the seaweed came unraveled and out popped two legs. She was crestfallen and just as it happened a few seahorses were bobbing by and laughed and laughed.
This went on for a long time until one day she thought maybe she was half mermaid and half HUMAN! Oh the thought terrified her. One moonlit night she swam to shore and crawled up on the sand like crab. She'd seen humans before swimming on the surface with strange things in their mouths that stuck up above the water. She watched them kick their legs and then.....then....as they went back to shore she found a way to watch them stand upright and walk. This night she decided to see if she WAS part human and as she crawled she used her arms to push up and tried to stand. Her merlegs were wobbly and unruly and seemed to have their own mind. She fell over. She wasn't human at all, she was a Mermaid with a flaw she cried.
She was now ever so distraught because she wasn't part human but she didn't LOOK like a full Mermaid. Back to the sea she crawled and hovered near a cluster of rocks and coral when a fish came by. She'd never seen anything like it. He stopped and moved his fins to stay in one place and stare at her.
"I KNOW" she shouted creating a mass of bubbles! "I know I am a freak".
The fish smiled "Why I don't think you are a freak at all. You have the advantage of being able to dance with those merlegs. Follow me". He swam away but looked back to make sure she was coming and waved a fin. At first she thought it was going to be a trick but he had such a kind fish face and was ever so dapper that she followed him.
Off they went until off in the distance she could see a lot of commotion...bright lights and festive decorations and many shrimp cocktails being consumed. Sad for the shrimp she thought. She could hear music and bubbles were floating in rainbow colors all around them. Starfish glowed under the umbrellas like lights.
"Here we are," the fish said. "This is the annual Codfish Ball". All around her all manner of fish and Mermaids were bobbing up and down and swimming in to the bubbles and darting down and coming up fast.
"What am I supposed to do?" she asked the fish.
"Dance with me! You can use your merlegs to do all sorts of things if you try, the other Mermaids will be amazed because they can't do what you can. They can only move one way."
Well the mermaid looked about and putting her legs together she moved them together in unison like a mermaids tail. As she got to the center of the Ball the music propelled her in to motion and she dove back down to touch the sand, turn and as her merlegs hit the bottom she went up again legs apart in a perfect leap across the bubbles. She felt free and she felt normal and she felt special. As she did another full leap the fish came and she took hold of his tail fin as they lept and dancing and swam together. Everyone was watching them.
"Different isn't always a bad thing," he told the Mermaid,"Sometimes different is just different and can be exciting and unique. Look around you, no one is making fun of you...they are in awe of what you can do. They are a bit envious they can't leap and jump and twirl like you do. I think that group of Mermaids over there are wishing they had 2 merlegs too. The truth is we all need to learn to love our differences so this undersea world of ours can cohabitate in peace. Leap again dear Mermaid and enjoy yourself, you are water ballet"
From that day forward she never hid herself again. She would swim towards the bottom as fast she could, turn and use her legs to propel upward out of the water leaping with her 2 legs in full extension and back down she'd go. No one made fun of her or laughed at her again. She learned she could kick her legs and make herself move across the water. She could sit on the bottom and cross her legs so that she could cradle another fish in need. She never went on shore to try and stand again either, she knew she wasn't part human and never cared to be. She knew she would always be different but now she truly loved her differences. Little fish would ride on the backs of her legs and as they went forward she would do a scissor kick sending them flying every which way. Fish giggles are something you just have to hear.
She and Mr. Fish danced a lot to keep in practice for future Codfish Balls. He became her best friend and any time she started to feel those old inferior feelings he would remind her "LEAP! LEAP like no one else can!"
Come along and follow me
To the bottom of the sea
We'll join in the Jamboree
At the Codfish Ball
(lyrics from a Shirley Temple movie called Captain January)
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I hope you're having a most wonderful week so far. AND that you, too, are celebrating how unique and wonderful you all are!!! And I thank you ever so if you actually read the story!
Much love,
Lisa
XOXO
