The Mermaid’s Gift of a Beautiful Mirror
A story of how helping can create magic.
A little boy hid in the corner of a school playground, desperate to avoid the bullies.
This little boy was magic, well his mind was, and maybe just maybe he might be too. He opened and began to read his book about mermaids and other magical animals.
He could hear a child crying as the bullies were near. The little boy used all his magical powers to focus and read the book. Maybe if he doesn’t see them they might not see him.
Suddenly a hand knocked the book out of his hands and onto the floor. The little boy was pulled into a nightmare created by the three bullies.
They pushed, pulled and prodded him until he started to cry. The cruel laughter drowned out the crying.
“Let’s go” the biggest bully instructed and all the bullies started to move away. The little boy ran to his precious book, kneeling to pick it up, when a leg just missed his head and kicked the book across the playground. Pages torn from the book, one page with the picture of the mermaid on, flew into the air. It looked like the mermaid had magically come alive and sailed gracefully through the air. The little boy began to smile at the beautiful mermaid.
Then the mermaid fell to the ground as if shot and lay motionless. The little boy’s eyes filled with tears as he lovingly lifted and folded the picture, placing it into his shirt pocket next to his heart.
He picked up the book and the few loose pages and ran towards his classroom. The mundane muggle nature of the class helped the little boy relax until the bell for the end of the school day. The little boy grabbed his book and charged through the open door to freedom and safety, then racing towards his secret dock at the seafront.
He began to allow his mind to wander and imagine meeting the beautiful mermaid, his smile returned.
Like on so many days before, the hope of seeing the mermaid keep him going. Each day he pushed out the hurt and pain in his young life, and replaced it with hope for the magical.
A sadness started to come over him, a terrifying sadness that felt like it was going to drag him into a darkness he knew was there, but he had always been too afraid to descend into.
His hope was like the strong arms that stopped him dropping into the hell within.
Today his arms weakened and tears filled his eyes.
“Please no, I can’t deal with this” he cried out loud.
He was about to close his eyes and drop when he heard a cry for help, in a beautiful magical voice like none he had ever heard before.
He used all his strength to climb out of the pit to see where the voice came from.
At the seafront he could see splashing, people were walking past without even looking.
His young mind couldn’t understand why nobody was interested. He ran quickly to the splashing, then he heard the cry for help again, what was making that noise?
He arrived at the seafront pushing his way through crowds of people, his heart nearly stopped when he saw the most beautiful mermaid he had ever seen or could imagine trapped in a net of self doubt.
The mermaid was panicking and the net got tighter.
“It’s okay” he said confidently, well as confident you could be talking to a magical beautiful creature, “I’m good at getting out of messes, I seem to find lots”
Strangely the mermaid believed him and let him help her remove the net. He walked into the water to help, the crowd turned and asked “what are you doing?”
“Can’t you see I’m freeing a mermaid?” he answered with a confused look on his face.
“Strange boy” they said and walked off.
He looked confused. The mermaid explained,
“There are two rules with mermaids, the first rule is you have to believe in them to see them.”
“What’s the second rule?” he asked impatiently.
“The second is really important, you can’t touch them. Mermaid magic is too strong for muggle minds to understand and can cause great misery”
The boy was confused and afraid. How do I help her without touching her? He thought.
Carefully they worked together to remove the net of self doubt.
The joyful cheers spread like a wave of hope, touching many who were unaware of the origin.
The mermaid looked deeply into the boy’s eyes, and yet he felt it was his soul that was being viewed. She reached out and gently touched his face.
He was shocked, confused and afraid.
“Why have you touched me? Do you want me to be miserable?”
His body was experiencing emotions beyond anything he could have imagined. Too strong for description or understanding.
“I’ll give you a gift now,” she smiled.
“Oh great” an old man said, he seemed to arrive at the time of the mermaid’s touch.
The mermaid instructed them to look at her beautiful tail, as they did they saw the young boy grown up happy and powerful.
A peace descended on the boy, “thank you” he said with his eyes tearfully expressing the joy within.
“Why the tail?” the old man asked. “The tales you tell yourself are the true power source of creation” She replied.
They were connected but an unwelcome thought entered the boys mind, like the person who announces the party’s over, she had to go. The great height he had just reached, became the very place he would free fall from.
He asked the question he was dreading to hear the answer to.
“Will I ever see you again?” he wanted to snatch the question back, if she answered no it could destroy his strong arms of hope.
“Yes, when the time’s right” she said with a smile and swam off.
“That was amazing,” he said to the old man.
“It truly was,” the old man replied.
The little boy didn’t feel little boy any more, no little boy could deal with all that love.
Over the next few weeks he changed, having been touched by magic muggles didn’t worry him anymore, even bully muggles.
The fear of them was replaced by the fear of never seeing the mermaid again, this fear could cause real pain, far more than any bully.
Days by the sea delivered nothing but disappointment until one day he saw the old man.
They chatted about the mermaid and the boy’s pain since she went.
While they were talking he looked at their reflection in the sea. The boy froze, he could not see the old man, he panicked “You’re not real”.
“Oh but I am, I am your magic self. Like the mermaid only people who believe in me can hear me”
“So she touched me to make me magic” he beamed.
“I have some wisdom for you, you can always ignore it, you decide. The mermaid give you that choice”
“You’re sad for two reasons at the moment, the first is you have lost faith, you always believe you would see a mermaid, and you did. Now you’re not sure she will come back, and that hurts”
“Yes it does”
“This leads me to the second reason, you are not sure of your beliefs. There are five main types of beliefs: you were always number two but now? Here are the five types.
There is no magic.
There is magic and I will find it.
I’ve seen magic and I will never see it again.
I’ve seen magic and I will see it again.
I am magic. Remember too much magic becomes boring and ordinary.
Which one are you?”
“Four, I’ve seen magic and I’ll see it again, but where?”
“You know the darkness within that you avoid, through there”
“Oh” the boy said, turning white.
“You know your magic but are you brave?”
The boy thought for a while and then the young man said okay let’s go.
He took one last look at the ocean, sent a prayer for his beautiful mermaid knowing when the time is right they will meet again. Thank you my muse the old man said, the young man didn’t understand the power of a muse yet, but it felt right.
They left to enter the darkness confident of more magic.
The Victory of light over darkness and knowledge over ignorance.
Love yourself, Love life, Love each other, and Create Magic!
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