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If you go down to the village of Zennor, and take a walk to the church, you’ll find something interesting. On one of the benches, there is a carving of a woman with beautiful blonde hair. She holds a mirror in one hand and a comb in the other. But instead of human legs, she has a fish’s tail, long and shiny.
Of course, she is a mermaid. But how did such a creature end up on a church bench? Well, there is a story behind that…
Many years ago, when people still believed in ghosts and monsters, a mysterious woman came to visit the church of Zennor. She had long, blonde hair and wore beautiful clothes, much nicer than all the people of the village. Whenever they sang songs in church, she had the most beautiful voice, and everyone else sang quietly so they could hear her better.
All the men—and some of the women—in the village wanted to talk to her. Who was this strange woman and where had she come from? But as soon as church ended, she left quickly, and nobody could work up the courage to follow her.
One man, Mathew Trewella, was the most handsome man in the village. He had short, brown hair, and everyone said he would find a most beautiful wife. But Mathew wasn’t interested in any of the girls in the village. He was only interested in the mysterious woman who visited the church.
Many times, Mathew tried to work up the courage to follow her, but something always happened. The priest talked to him, or his friends did. Once or twice, he followed her out of the church, but she always disappeared quickly. He couldn’t understand where she went.
One day, the mysterious woman noticed Mathew. After church ended, she smiled at him, and looked at the door. He followed her, and this time she walked slowly, so that he did not lose her. However, he could still not work up the courage to walk beside her.
Finally, she came to the cliffs that overlooked the ocean. Mathew went and stood beside her, and they talked for a while.
At least, that was what people saw. In the next moment, a cloud of fog arrived, and when it disappeared, Mathew and the mysterious woman were nowhere to be seen.
For many years, people looked for Mathew Trewella, but nobody found him. People thought that he must have run away with the beautiful woman, and nobody heard from him again.
One day, a ship cast anchor near Zennor. The captain of the ship was an old man with a thick white beard. He had travelled between Zennor and other places all his life, bringing goods to the village. He knew the people well, and he had heard the story of Mathew Trewella.
After casting anchor, the captain heard something strange. It was a beautiful voice singing, although he could not tell if it was a man’s or a woman’s. And most mysteriously, it was coming from the water, where the anchor had fallen.
The captain put his head over the side of the ship and saw something very strange. A beautiful woman—or was it a man?—came out of the water, with long brown hair that shone in the sunlight. There was something in this person’s eyes, something that made the captain want to jump into the sea and never come back.
‘Excuse me, kind captain!’ called the person. ‘I’m afraid you have cast anchor on the door of my house, and I would like very much to go home. Could you raise the anchor again?’
The captain looked more closely and saw that, under the water, it was not a person at all. They had a tail! It had to be a mermaid.
Some of the people in the town thought it was a mermaid who had taken Mathew Trewella, all those years ago, and the captain didn’t like how this creature looked.
‘I will do no such thing!’ cried the captain. ‘You are a monster. You are the one who took Mathew Trewella away!’
The mermaid looked very annoyed.
‘Well, that would be quite strange,’ they said, ‘because I am Mathew Trewella. And I came into the sea because I wanted to, thank you very much. Now, are you going to let me get back to my wife and family, or do you want to become a mermaid, too?’
The captain didn’t need to be asked twice. He pulled up the anchor, and the mermaid thanked him and swam away.
The captain wanted very much to leave, but he had to tell the people of the village about what happened. When he told them he’d met Mathew Trewella, and that the handsome young man was now a mysterious mermaid, the people all cried with fear.
‘That monster took our Mathew and gave him a tail! How awful!’
The captain tried to explain that Mathew looked quite happy with his life, but the people wouldn’t listen.
‘We must leave a warning,’ said the people, ‘so that nobody will ever be taken by a mermaid again.’
And so the mermaid was carved into the bench at the church of Zennor, and all the parents told their children to be careful about mysterious women with long, beautiful hair.
Of course, some did not see the carving as a warning, but as an invitation. If you go onto the cliffs of Zennor late at night, the moon shines on the water like a mirror. Maybe you’ll see a beautiful woman swimming in the sea, combing her long, blonde hair. If it gets foggy, you might end up joining her…
THE END