Six Silly Sisters

Well, it's been a week since I last posted anything from Folk Tales of the Sea People, so it's about time I posted some more, isn't it!
I would have posted sooner, but the past week or so has been busy, and when I've returned home from the various events I've blogged about lately, I've been feeling pretty tired. Gallons of tea is what has been keeping me going lately!

Anyway, without further ado, here is the next story...

Six Silly Sisters, July 2014

Six Silly Sisters

There were once three Siren sisters. Their names were Muirgel, Muirgen and Muiren. Muirgel was the oldest sister, Muirgen was the middle sister, and Muiren was the youngest. The three sisters went everywhere together, and what they liked most was to swim to an inlet where they would meet interesting Land Walkers. Their parents warned them not to go there, for it was a dangerous place, but the sisters paid them no regard.

One day, when they were swimming up the inlet, they met three young Land Walker women who looked almost identical. The young women had taken off their shoes and socks and were paddling in the water.

“Oh look, Muirgen!” said Muiren. “Those three Land Walkers look the same!”

“Let’s go and talk to them,” said Muirgel. She called out from the water, and waved to the young women. “Ahoy!”
The young women waved back, and the Siren sisters swam closer to them.

“Oh!” exclaimed one of the Land Walkers as the sisters neared. “Look at that, they have tails!”

“They must be Siren,” said the oldest Land Walker. “Father told us they swim in these parts.”

The Siren sisters climbed onto the rocks near to where the Land Walkers were paddling, and the youngest Land Walker smiled at them. “Hello,” she said. “Are you sisters too? I am Tara, and this is Terra, and this is Tierra,” she introduced her two older sisters.

“I am Muirgen,” said Muirgen. “And this is Muirgel and this is Muiren. Do you want to swim with us?”

“Well, mother and father told us not to get too wet today, for later we shall go to tea with a baron!” said Terra.

“How fun!” said Muirgel. “But swimming is also fun. Won’t you join us for a little while?”

“Could you teach us to dive?” asked Tierra. “I always wanted to dive underwater like a fish!”

“We could certainly teach you,” said Muiren.

“Oh, let’s swim, please!” exclaimed Tara. “Please Tierra, please Terra, let us swim! It is warm today, and we can dry off before we go to tea with the baron.”

The three Land Walkers decided that it would serve them well to swim, for it would give them something exciting to tell the baron about. As they walked deeper into the water they giggled, for their clothes became wet and it was a very strange feeling indeed. The Siren sisters laughed and splashed at them, and the Land Walkers splashed back with glee.

Soon, they swam deeper into the water, and Muirgel and Muirgen and Muiren taught Tierra and Terra and Tara to dive under the water as though they were Siren. The Land Walkers had much fun in holding their breath and diving beneath the water, and they raced to see who could go furthest before needing to return to the surface for air. Of course, the Siren sisters laughed at this, for they could breathe under the water as easily as they could above.

They played like that a great long time, until suddenly Terra spotted something glinting in the mud underwater. She waved at her sisters and her new friends, and pointed to it, but then had to return to the surface to breathe in more air. Tara and Tierra joined her, and Terra told them what she had seen. ‘I saw a gold coin, I am sure of it!’ she said. By the time the Land Walkers dived back underwater, the Siren sisters were brushing away the mud and removing many gold coins from the mud, along with golden cups and plates and gemstone-encrusted jewellery: a pirate’s hoard.

The land-walking sisters helped, little by little, to dig everything from the mud. Together the six sisters, Siren and Land Walker, carried everything to a flat rock that stuck out in the water, close to where they found the treasure.

By the time they had finished, they had quite a treasure trove of gold and silver and precious stones, plenty enough that each of them could live like a queen for the rest of her life.

But the sisters were rather silly, and greed clouded their eyes when they looked upon their hoard.

“I discovered it, so I should take it all,” said Terra, reaching for the cache.

Tierra slapped her hand away. “No, I should have it, because I am the oldest of us three.”

“But I am the youngest, and I deserve it, because I’m the prettiest also, and the jewellery will look fine about my neck and upon my wrists,” argued Tara.

“Actually, I am the eldest here,” said Muirgel, looking upon the hoard lustfully. “The treasure should be mine.”

“No, I was first to dig any out, so I should have it,” protested Muiren.

Muirgen shook her head. “I carried out the most, so it is I who should have the treasure,” she insisted.

“It should not be taken by some silly Siren,” said Tierra. “You surely have lots of jewels and gold in your water, so it should be ours, for we have little.”

Muirgen looked cross. “We have no gold and jewels, for we live humbly. We should have this cache of gold and stones, as it was found within our waters.”

“But it was in the mud, and the mud is land, so it should be ours!” argued Terra.

“And you would not have found it if it weren’t for us,” replied Muiren triumphantly.

“Nor would you,” retorted Tara. “Had we not asked to be taught to dive.”

“It was I who asked to be taught to dive,” corrected Tierra. “Therefore it should be mine.”

“No, we come here to swim almost every day, so we would have found it eventually,” said Muirgel.

Muiren nodded. “And it was my idea to come here today, so the treasure is mine.”

None of the sisters thought to divide the treasure amongst the six of them, and they fought and argued about it for a long time, unable to come to an agreement.

They were so busy arguing over the treasure, that the six silly sisters did not see the dark shadow that approached them.

The giant fish leapt up and gobbled them all up in one big mouthful. Then he swam away, a very happy fish indeed.

The treasure glinted on the rock in the middle of the water, until the tide came in and washed it all back into the sea.

And there it stayed, until a poor fisherman caught it in his nets. He bought a fine house and a fine horse, and became a baron, and never fished again.


Only a short story today, but this one is a word of warning: don't be greedy! 

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