There was a lonely mermaid who was fascinated with the human world. She sat out at sea, perched on a rock, combing through her hair with shells– and she watched the humans go about their lives, walking up and down the beach, dancing in the sand as music swelled in the evening air. There was a princess on the shore, always accompanied by her handmaiden.

Maybe it was the quickness with which she danced with her handmaiden. Maybe it was the silver sword that gleamed at her waist like fire. Or the way her raven hair fluttered on the wind.

But the little mermaid found herself falling in love.

The little mermaid went to the Sea Witch and asked her, “Can you give me human legs? So I can join the humans?”

And the witch did.

For a while, the mermaid was happy among the humans. The princess and her handmaiden welcomed the mermaid into their castle. But then she began to learn of the trials in their lives. The monsters that plagued their kingdom. The politics and manipulation behind the scenes.

A dragon came to attack the kingdom, scorching it with iron and flames. And the castle burned. Only the mermaid was left unscathed, hiding in the gutters and pipes that ran beneath the castle.

The mermaid ran back to the Sea Witch and begged to return back to the ocean. To give up her human legs and live in the sea once more. But such traits cannot be lost so easily.

The sea witch agreed. She would take the mermaid’s memories of pain and loss and sadness, and turn them into sea foam, where they would never bother the mermaid again.