The Little Mermaid with Some Spanish Flavor

It was the time of kings and queens and when two different, and somewhat alike, worlds existed. There was human world, in which people walked on dry land, and the mermaid world, in which mermaids lived. In mermaid world the king had four daughters, but his heart was more attached to his youngest one Maria. Maria had a curious and free spirit. She was driven by ambition to learn of people outside her world. Even though the human world was forbidden, she was greatly intrigued by their way of life. She often dreamed of living among the humans.
One day Maria was watching as humans celebrated Cinco de Mayo (May 5th). She was drawn by the fact that they celebrated differently than she was accustomed to. She was fascinated by the fast movement music, the sweet and spicy smelling foods, and the dance movements. She began to drift closer and closer. Just near the sea shore stood a young man named Jose. Jose saw this strange, but beautiful figure swimming in the surface of the water. He started to move towards the figure to make out what it was. He could not believe his eyes, this was a real mermaid. He had read about mermaids in books, but believed it was a myth. He carefully approached her and said: “hola”. Maria was startled and quickly hid beneath the water. Jose jumped in and began to swim after her. He quickly swam away from the shoreline. Maria was too fast for him. He was very exhausted from swimming and began to sink. He shouted for help “auxilio, ayudame” Maria noticed that his life was in danger and decided to stop and help him.

Maria took Jose back to the shore and asked him to keep their encounter a secret. She explained that if her father knew she had contact with a human she would be vanished forever. Jose promised her with one condition, that they would see each other every Saturday at dusk to learn more about each other’s world. Maria agreed. Every Saturday as the sun was setting they met and talked until the sun came up the next day. Maria and Jose became good friends as the months went by. Soon after they became friends, Jose began to develop stronger feelings for Maria. He had fallen in love with her.

Jose had decided that when Navidad (Christmas) came he would declare his love for Maria. When Jose and Maria were celebrating their own Navidad Jose gave her a present. It was a ring. Maria was happy to receive a present from him but did not know that the ring was a symbol of his love for her. His joyful manner quickly changed to gloomy. Maria soon noticed and asked him what made him son sad. He explained what the ring symbolized and that he wanted to be with her for the rest of his life. Maria was so full of emotion that she began to cry. She also noticed strange feelings inside but until this moment did not know what they were. She loved him too and agreed to become his wife. Now Jose had to tell Maria’s Father his intentions to marry her.

Jose sought help from a wise man, how to go into the mermaid world. The “Sabio” (Wiseman) told Jose that on the next Luna llena (full moon) at midnight he had to swim to the middle of the ocean and for only one hour he would become and mermaid man. If Jose stayed longer than an hour he would stay a mermaid man forever. Jose told Maria what the Sabio had said to him. They made plans to go the next full moon. Jose went to the meeting point and exactly at midnight he turned into mermaid man. They swam together to the mermaid world. They were so excited; Maria wanted to show him everything they had talked about before. She took him to meet her father and he quickly took a liking to him. King Juan saw the happiness in Maria’s eyes and agreed for the two of them to marry.

Time was running out. They had to swim back to the place where he turned into a mermaid so that he could turn back into a human. As they were reaching the meeting point, Jose stopped and said to Maria: “Te amo, como a nadie antes” (I love you, like I never loved anyone before). He had made the decision to stay with her forever. Maria was shocked. They looked at each other as time ran out and sealed his fate with a kiss. Jose and Maria were married the next day. He occasionally wrote to his family and told them he was doing well and that his life was complete. True love is almost impossible to find in an entire lifetime.