In the times of old, the Earth was inhabited by much better people and the Lord often let them experience things that no mortal soul or, in rare cases, only a few lucky ones can witness now. Birds keep singing as before and animals make their sounds, but unfortunately we don't understand their talk nor take their advice let alone employ their wisdom to our benefit.

In those days, on the western coast there lived a beautiful mermaid who often appeared before people. My old cousin who grew up in that part of the country had himself seen the mermaid sitting on a far-away stone, but as he was a little boy then he had not dared to approach her. The mermaid often came up to children in the disguise of a filly or a heifer, or some other young animal. She played with them, took boys for rides on her back, and then suddenly disappeared as if the earth had swallowed her up.

Old folk could remember that the mermaid had been seen on the seashore almost every fine summer night. She had been sitting on a stone, combing her fair hair with a golden comb, singing sweet songs that made the listeners' hearts melt. But she had not allowed anybody to come too close. If people tried to approach her, the beautiful maiden had either disappeared or had turned into a swan gently rocking on the waves. Why the pretty maiden avoided people and could not trust them we are going to tell you now.

In ancient times, long before the Swedes came, there lived a rich farmer with his wife and four sons on the western coast. It was the sea rather than the field that gave them their living, as the sea seemed to be abundant in fish. From his earliest childhood the youngest son was different from his brothers. He avoided people, strolled about the seashore or roamed in the forest. He talked to himself, to the birds, the breezes and the waves. In the company of people he stood as if in a dream and very seldom opened his mouth to utter a word.

When the autumn storms raged, and the waves rose mighty high and rushed foaming to the shore there was no keeping the boy indoors. Like mad he raced to the shore half-naked. His weather-beaten body was not afraid of the wind and cold. Upon reaching the waterfront he jumped into a boat, took to oars, and the raging waves carried him to the high seas. His recklessness never brought him any harm. In the morning when the storm had raved itself out he would always be found sound asleep on the seashore.

But whenever he was entrusted with a task such as tending the herd or some other kind of work, nothing but trouble came of it. He but vexed his parents sorely. When he was to look after the cattle, he lay down under a bush and let the cattle stray into the meadow or the cornfield, or get lost altogether. His brothers would sometimes have to run half a day looking for the missing animals. The furious father did not spare the rod, but even that was of no avail.

When in time the boy had grown into a young man he did not mend his ways. No work progressed in his clumsy fingers. He used tools with such a vengeance that they broke. He exhausted the beasts of burden, but his work yielded no results. His father tried to make him enter service on other farms in vain hopes that a stranger's whip might turn the lazybones into a workman. But whoever took the young man on trial sent him packing within a week.

His parents called him a loafer, his brothers nicknamed him Sleepyhead. Soon everybody knew him only by his nickname, and his baptismal name of Jüri was completely forgotten.

Sleepyhead was no good for anything. He was a burden to his parents and brothers. He was always in their way. No wonder then that his people were eager to spend a good penny on getting rid of him.

As Sleepyhead was always dismissed from whatever job his unhappy father had contrived to find for him, and as finally no one was any too eager to have him, his father forced him into service on a ship from across the sea. The father knew that the boy could not flee from a ship on sea, and moreover, the boy had always been fond of the sea. In a few weeks, however, Sleepyhead had managed to escape and set his lazy feet on his native soil again.

As he was ashamed to return home to his parents where no hearty welcome was awaiting him, he tarried a day here, a day there, counting upon his luck to satisfy his hunger without having to earn his daily bread. He was a handsome, well-built lad, and he could be, if he chose to, a jolly conversational companion, though back home he had been rather closemouthed. Womenfolk were attracted by his handsome face and pleasant voice, and willingly provided the lazybones with all he needed.

One fine summer evening when he was strolling alone on the seashore, the sweet song of the mermaid happened to reach his ears. Instantly a thought flashed through Sleepyhead's mind: the mermaid is a woman like all others and she won't do me any harm. And he made up his mind to trace the fine singer.

Climbing a rock, he looked across the downs and saw the mermaid sitting on a stone, combing her fair hair with a golden comb and singing. The young man would have liked to have sharper ears to hear every note of the sweet song that seemed to be scorching his heart like fire. On approaching the singer he realized that he needed sharper eyes too to take in all the maiden's beauty.

The mermaid must have noticed the young man, but strange as it was, she did not disappear as she usually did at a mortal's approach. Sleepyhead was about ten paces from the maiden when he stopped hesitatingly. He did not know whether to move nearer or stand still.

And lo and behold! the mermaid stood up and approached him, held out her hand and greeted him with a kindly smile. She said to him, "For several days I've been expecting you to come as my dreams have told you would. You have no place or home among the people. Your parents refuse to give you shelter and why should you slave for strangers? I have known you since your boyhood and I understand you better than anyone. It was I who has been accompanying you unseen and protecting you when your recklessness might have killed you. Yes, my arms kept your boat from sinking in the raving sea. Oh, come home with me and be my master. You will lack nothing there and will have everything that pleases your heart. I will cherish you and take care of you. I'll keep you out the harm's way."

Like flaming arrows the maiden's words penetrated into Sleepyhead's heart. He stood rooted to the ground, scratching his head in indecision. The poor man did not know what answer he should give.

Finally he asked bashfully if the maiden lived far away.

"We could get there as fast as the wind if you had complete faith in me," the maiden said.

Then all of a sudden Sleepyhead remembered all sorts of tales he had heard about the mermaid, his heart sank and he asked the mermaid to give him three days to think it over.

"I'll gladly grant your wish," said the mermaid, "but before we part put this golden ring on your finger. Then you'll not be tormented by hesitation and you will find your way back here easily. When we come to know each other better this ring might become a token of our engagement."

So saying she pulled a ring off her finger, slipped it on the young man's small finger and was gone as if she had vanished into thin air.

Sleepyhead stood there dumbfounded. It might have been a dream if it wasn't for the brilliant ring on his finger.

The ring seemed to have a strange influence upon him. There was a longing in him that gave him no peace, no rest. All through the night he paced restlessly along the seashore, again and again returning to the stone on which the mermaid had been sitting, but the stone was empty and cold. At dawn Sleepyhead dozed off into a restless slumber harassed by weary dreams.

On waking he did not feel any hunger or thirst, he was yearning for the evening to come when he was sure to see the mermaid again. The day drew to a close. The wind lulled, and birds stopped singing, tucked their heads under their wings and went to sleep, but the mermaid did not come.

Sleepyhead's heart was heavy with sorrow and he had tears in his eyes. He could have slapped himself for the folly of having begged for some time to think matters over. He was sure that he had forfeited his good fortune. Any man who had sense in his head would have taken the chance. All his regrets and lamentations were in vain. He spent another night and a day in sad waiting. So great was his anguish that he even failed to feel the pinching of his empty stomach.

At sunset, he sat down on the stone on which he had seen the mermaid sitting two days ago. He burst into bitter tears and sighed, "If she fails to come tonight I don't want to live any longer. I shall either starve to death here on the very stone, or I shall jump into the waves and meet my wretched death in the depths of the sea."

Who can tell how long he had been grieving like that when suddenly he felt a soft hand touch him on the brow. Looking up he saw the maiden standing at his side. Softly the maiden said, "I saw you suffering and heard your sighs and had no heart to wait any longer although I shouldn't have come until tomorrow night as we agreed."

"Forgive me, oh forgive me, my dearest maiden!" exclaimed Sleepyhead, tears in his eyes. "Forgive me. I was a fool not to seize the happiness you offered me. I must have been mad! Take me wherever you wish, I shall not hesitate a minute, as I will gladly give my life for you."

The mermaid said smilingly, "It is not your death I am after. I need you alive as my companion and lover."

Then she took the young man by the hand and led him to the waterfront. She blindfolded him with a silken kerchief. And suddenly Sleepyhead felt two strong arms lift him from the ground and slump him into the waves. Feeling cold water all around him he fainted, and did not know what was happening to him. Later on he could not recollect how long he had been in a swoon.

When he came to, he was to experience still stranger things. He found himself lying on soft pillows in a silken bed. The room was glass-walled and lined all round with soft red velvet hangings so that the bright sunlight might not disturb his sleep. For a while he lay there wondering whether he was alive in this world or dead in some strange new world. After he had stretched his limbs, and carefully pinched both his hands and legs, to make sure he was alive, he got out of bed and put on the fine clothes which were laid beside the bed.

Now he cleared his throat and gave a shy cough, and in an instant two maids entered and after greeting him humbly asked what their 'Honourable Master' would like to have for breakfast. While one of them was laying the table, the other went to prepare the meal. In a short time there were all sorts of tasty dishes on the table and tankards of beer and mugs of mead, as if it were a wedding feast. Sleepyhead, who had been without food for some days already, now made his jaws work good and proper. After having his fill of food and drink he went back to bed to have a short nap. When he woke up again, the maids came and asked the 'Honourable Master' to go for a walk in the garden as the mistress of the house needed some time to get dressed. Being so often addressed as 'Honourable Master' he almost felt as really being one, and forgot all about his former life and lowly position.

The garden was full of beauty and splendour—among the green foliage golden and silver apples gleamed in the sun. Pine and fir cones were of gold too. Birds of golden feather were hopping on the tree tops and branches. Two maids emerged from behind a bush, they had been told to show their 'Honourable Master' round the magnificent garden.

After a while they came to a pond where silver-feathered swans were gracefully gliding. The garden was flooded with a soft and even dawn light, although no sun could be seen. The bushes in full bloom gave off sweet smell and bees the size of enormous gadflies swarmed among the blossoms. All the plants and trees looked so much more beautiful than he had ever seen before. Soon two other maids appeared to take their 'Honourable Master' to their mistress who was now expecting him. Before he was taken in, his shoulders were covered with a blue silken cape. Who could have recognized the former Sleepyhead in the young man so splendidly attired?

In a marvellous church-like room, also made of glass, twelve beautiful maidens were sitting in silver seats. At the back of the room, on a small stage stood two golden chairs. One of them was taken by a stately lady, the other was empty.

When Sleepyhead entered the room, all the maidens stood up, greeted him humbly and did not sit down before they had been asked to. The lady remained seated, she nodded her greeting and then made a sign to the maidens, who then escorted Sleepyhead to her.

The young man approached her shyly. He was so dazed by the beautyand the splendour around him that he moved on with downcast eyes. He was offered the other golden seat next to the lady who spoke to her followers:

"This young man is my dear sweetheart whom I am engaged to and whom I have decided to take for my husband. You all must meet his wishes with due respect and obey him the same way you serve me. If I am to leave home for some time you must entertain him. You must cherish and protect him. Those who fail to fulfil my wish will be severely punished."

Sleepyhead sat there stunned, looking on in wonder. What had happened to him in one night seemed even more miraculous than a miracle. He was still wondering whether he was awake or dreaming. The lady must have read his thoughts: she stood up, took Sleepyhead by the hand and led him from room to room. When they entered the twelfth room which was smaller but even more splendid than all the previous ones, the lady removed the golden crown she had been wearing and threw her gorgeous silken gown embroidered with gold on a chair. Only then did Sleepyhead dare raise his eyes and cast a timid look at the lady. And great was his surprise when he saw the mermaid standing there.

At the sight of her, courage surged within the young man's heart, and a host of hopes in his heart. He cried with joy, "Oh, my dearest Mermaid!" But instantly the maiden's hand covered his mouth and she said gravely, "If you cherish our happiness don't ever call me by that name. It has been given me to offend me. I am the daughter of Mother Water. I have many sisters. We live in the seas and lakes and rivers, but far from each other. And it is only by a lucky chance that we may set eyes on one another."

Then she went on to say that the western sea was her domain and she had been ruling here alone until now. Sleepyhead was speechless with his unexpected happiness and joy. It was only after a plentiful dinner when delicious dishes had found their way to his stomach and rare drinks gone to his head that he found his tongue again and was able to talk and joke as before.

The following day and still another passed merrily and happily. Sleepyhead was enjoying his life immensely and he still thought he had been brought to Paradise alive. In the evening, before going to bed, she said to him, "I have taken an oath that every Thursday I will leave my people and spend that day fasting by myself. On those days no one will see me before the third crow of the cock at midnight. In the meanwhile my maids will take care of you and see to it that you should not be in want of anything or feel deserted and alone."

When Sleepyhead woke up the next morning, his wife was nowhere to be seen. Then he remembered the words she had said the night before: that day and all the other Thursdays he was to be without his wife's company. The maids did their best to entertain him by singing and dancing and playful games. From time to time they served him with delicious meals, and the day was soon over, sooner than he had reckoned. After supper he was taken to bed and as soon as the cock had crowed three times his wife came back to him.

This happened every Thursday: she went fasting and her poor husband had to content himself with the company of the maids. He had many a time begged his dear wife to take him fasting with her on Thursdays but all in vain. When one Wednesday he was again pestering his wife with his requests to be allowed to accompany her, and there seemed to be no way to appease him, she said with tears in her eyes, "If you wish you may take my life, and I shall not mind it at all, but I cannot grant your desire and take you fasting with me. It is quite beyond my power to do it."

In this way they had been living for a year or so when a dreadful suspicion arose in Sleepyhead's heart. It grew and grew and made him ever more restless so that soon the poor man had lost his peace of mind altogether. He could not sleep a wink at night, and his food stuck in his throat. He feared that his wife might have a secret lover in whose embrace she lay on Thursdays while he had to while away his time in the company of the maids.

For some time already he had known in which chamber his wife spent her fasting days but the knowledge was of little help. The door was always locked and the windows had thick covers inside. There was not a smallest slit for a sunray to penetrate into the room, to say nothing of the human eye being able to catch a glimpse of what was going on inside. The more unlikely it seemed to find out about the secret the greater became his desire to unravel the mystery of those Thursdays fastings. Although he did not say a word of his anxiety to his wife, she could easily notice from his restlessness that there was something wrong with him. Again and again she had tearfully begged him not to make them both suffer unduly.

"I am completely innocent," she said. "I have no secret love or any other sin to hide from you. Your false suspicions will make us both unhappy. If you so wished I'd gladly give my life for you any day, but on fasting days I may not let you see me. It is strictly forbidden and it would put an end to our happiness and love for ever. We live together six days a week in peace and happiness. Why should a day's parting become so utterly unbearable for us?"

For six days her talk could soothe him, but when Thursday came along and she was nowhere to be seen, Sleepyhead acted like a madman. He found no peace anywhere. Finally he could not bear the sight of anyone near him on Thursdays. The maids were not to appear in his presence, they were to lay the table and then withdraw quietly. He wanted to be by himself like a haunting ghost in his own house.

Everybody in the house was worried about this unexpected and disheartening change in the young man's mood. When the maids told their lady about it, she was crying bitterly, but she shed her sad tears where no one could see her. Sleepyhead thought that he could use the time he was keeping his own company to investigate the walls of the fasting chamber. He hoped to find a chink through which he could peep and see what was going on inside. The more weary he grew the sadder his wife became with every passing day. She pretended to be kind and friendly to the young man, but at heart she was frightened and sad.

Thus a few weeks passed and they brought no change to ease the tense atmosphere. One Thursday Sleepyhead found a place at the window frame where the hanging inside had shifted a little and left a crack permitting to take a glance into the room. He peeped in and the sight made his blood run cold and sent shivers down his back. The mysterious room had no floor. It resembled a large four-cornered tun filled with water several fathoms deep. In the tun his beloved mermaid was swimming. From head to waist she had the beautiful body of a woman, but lower down she looked like a fish. She had scales and fins like all fish do, and now and then her broad fish tail hit the surface with a mighty splash and sent water sprays flying.

Sleepyhead crept away from the window, stunned and grieved. He would have given a lot if he could have forgotten the sight! He pondered and pondered but still did not know what he should do.

The cock had crowed three times at night but the mermaid did not come back to him. The young man lay awake in vain all night in the hope that she might return, but his beloved never came. Late in the morning the mermaid came dressed in black, her face covered with a thin silken kerchief. Through tears she said, "Oh, you wretched creature, through your folly you have put an end to our happiness! You are to see me for the last time now. You will return to your former life and you can blame none but yourself for all that. Goodbye for ever!"

A sudden crash of mighty thunder struck Sleepyhead senseless. He felt the ground slip from under his feet and he sank into darkness.

When after a while he came to, he found himself lying on the seashore not far from the stone on which the beautiful mermaid had once been sitting before they had become friends. Instead of fine clothes he had worn in the mermaid's house he had his old clothes on, and they seemed to him even more worn and shabby than he could remember them. His happy life was over and it was never to return no matter how deeply he regretted his foolish act.

He went to the nearby farms which were all there but looked somehow different. And strange as it was—all the people there looked strangers to him too, not a single familiar face could he meet anywhere. People looked at him with apprehension as if he were a ghost.

Sleepyhead went to his parents' farm where he was again met by complete strangers. Greatly surprised and puzzled, he inquired after his father and his brothers but there was no one who could have answered his questions. Then at last an aged grey-haired old man came out, leaning heavily on his stick, and said to him, "Stranger, the man and his sons you were inquiring after have been dead long ago. Where have you, greybeard, come from in search of those long-gone ones?"

Being addressed as 'greybeard' had struck Sleepyhead dumb with dismay. He felt a cold shiver going down his back and without saying a word he turned and made for the gate. The word 'greybeard' weighed him down like a heavy burden so that he felt his knees buckle under him.

He went to the nearest spring and what he saw there confirmed the words he had heard. On the surface of the spring there was reflected the image of a very old man with pale and hollow cheeks, sunken eyes, a long grey beard, and grey hair. This withered image bore no resemblance to the young and handsome creature the mermaid had chosen to be her lover.

Only now did the unhappy man grasp that the few years spent with the mermaid had been his whole life. He had gone there a hearty young man and had returned poor and aged. He had failed to notice the flight of time there. No signs of his body withering away had he observed there and now the trap of old age had closed upon him quite unexpectedly. What should he do now—a stranger amidst strangers?

For a few days he wandered along the seashore from one farm to another and kindly people gave him some food. There he happened to meet a smart young man whom he told his life story from beginning to end, and the same evening he was said to have disappeared. A few days later the waves rolled his body ashore. Who knows whether he had got drowned by accident or had gone and drowned himself deliberately, seeking his death in the depths of the sea.

Since that time the mermaid's attitude towards people has completely changed. Now she allows only children to catch a glimpse of her, and it is mostly in disguise that she appears in their presence. As to grown-up people she is afraid of them and never allows any of them to come close to her.

Jason Ladock

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