The Tale of Queen Daphne

"Mama! Papa!"

"Trini?" Suddenly, a beautiful mermaid appeared from behind a curtain of larimar stones, her brown dreadlocks billowing behind her. "Trini, my dear, what's wrong?"

The crying child collided into her mother's arms, her eyes puffy and red. "It's Amoye and Akilah!" she sobbed, "They're going to a party on the Bonaire Reef, and they said I can't come because I'm too small!" Princess Trini was the youngest of King Adile and Queen Calypso's fourteen children. The others were decades older than her and had developed stronger lungs and muscle for swimming long distances, but little Trinidad had never gone far beyond the palace cove on her own.

"Oh sweetie, the Bonaire Reef is too far away," the wise queen said, attempting to calm her, "And besides, a lot of humans go swimming there these days. I'm sure your big sisters were only trying to keep you safe."

"No they weren't!" the brown skinned girl cried. "They just didn't want ME around because they hate me. Well, I hate them too!"

"Trini! You must never hate anyone! Especially your own family."

"Well, when someone makes you so mad all the time, what else can you do but hate them?"

The lovely monarch pondered a moment, and then she asked. "Have I ever told you the story of Queen Daphne?"

Trini sniffed. "Queen Daphne? You mean, the ice witch?"

Out of all the stories and legends of the merfolk, none of them sparked the little princess's curiosity more than the one of the infamous Queen Daphne, the deposed queen of the Mediterranean Sea Tribe. Being banished from ones tribe was undoubtedly the worst thing that could ever happen to a merperson. The few who were ever given such a sentence were exiled only to lakes or unpopulated rivers; but being banished to the Arctic or Antarctic was deemed cruel and unusual! Why, the only thing worse than that would be a life on land with humans!

"Queen Daphne wasn't a witch exactly," Calypso explained, cradling the nine year old in her arms, "She once lived a regular life, just like any other mermaid or merman; but she allowed bitterness and anger to fester in her heart, and in the end, that's what truly made her cold as ice. Would you like me to tell you the whole story?"

"Oh yes, yes please!"

The Caribbean mermaid laughed. Scooping her daughter up in her arms, she settled down unto a soft bed of sea anemone and began.

"Well, hundreds and hundreds of years ago, there was once a king named Alexandros and a queen named Daphne, who ruled over the merpeople of the Mediterranean sea. The queen was very beloved by her subjects because she was not only beautiful, but perhaps the most talented singer in all the oceans. It was even rumored that her voice was so captivating, that it could hypnotize men and make them fall in love with her.

The king and queen had eight daughters who shared not only the beauty of their mother, but her talent for singing as well. The royal family was well known for the musical performances they gave and pretty soon, word of their talent reached the humans who lived along the Grecian coast.

They all lived quite happily for awhile until one day, tragedy struck. The royal couple's youngest daughter, Cassiope, was captured in a pirate's fishing net and taken to the Ionian Sea. King Alexandros and his soldiers searched day and night for the kidnappers, even going as far as the Balearic Islands. They searched for months, but there was no sign of her. Queen Daphne was so distraught that she could barely eat until her child and husband returned. One night, there was a heavy storm, and the stolen princess was found floating along the Grecian coast, clinging to a piece of driftwood. She was very sick and frail. It was obvious that the band of pirates had not been taking care of her, as she was badly malnourished, and she'd been tossed and battered all night from the storm. The king and his soldiers tried their best revive her, but she was in such poor condition that by the time they brought her back home, Princess Cassiope had passed away."

"Oh no! Poor Cassiope!"the brown skinned girl cried, holding her mother's hand.

"Everyone in the kingdom was broken hearted at what happened; the queen especially. She was so blinded by fury that she vowed to get revenge on not only the pirates who had killed her daughter, but on every human she could. The queen gathered up her daughters and coerced them to go with her to the Ionian sea, where most Greek sailors and fishermen traveled at the time. There, they waited on rocky islands and lured any man who dared sail there to crash their ships against the sharp islets; they did this for many years. It was there that mermaids were first called " sirens", because of the ones who ensnared men with their beauty and song, and led many of them to drown at sea. For many years, they drew men there, and in doing so, Queen Daphne had broken the most important law of all merpeople: never kill or harm a human, for to do so, was to disrespect God. You see, God loves mankind very much, and therefore, to cause harm to them is considered a terrible crime among the merpeople.

When King Alexandros heard what his wife was doing, he immediately went to her and commanded that she stop, but she refused. Her heart was so filled with hatred and unforgiveness that she couldn't be reasoned with. The just king had no choice but to banish her to the Arctic ocean, where she could never hurt a human or merperson ever again. In turn, the princesses were allowed to return home, as it was only because of their cruel mother that they had committed such crimes. They all promised to never again use their God-given talents to cause harm."

"Does the queen still live in the Arctic ocean?" Trini asked, her blue eyes wide.

The lovely brown skinned mermaid shrugged. The reign of King Alexandros and Queen Daphne was believed to have happened at least a thousand years ago, and although the merpeople enjoyed much longer life spans than humans, very few of them ever lived to be over 1,000 years of age.

"No one knows for sure," Calypso said, " Some say that she stayed up in the Arctic Ocean so long, that when she passed away, her body was frozen into a glacier under the sea, deep below the surface. Her outward beauty is still preserved, but her soul has long since passed on."

"And what happened to King Alexandros?"

"Well, he was so heartbroken at having to exile his love, that he never married again. But, his daughters all found good husbands, and one day, he passed the throne down to one of them. But, now my dear, do you understand why it is wrong to hate?"

For a moment, the little princess sat quietly on the bed of sea sponge and anemone, and then at last, she said, "Yes mama, I understand. I don't really hate Amoya and Akilah. I actually love them a lot! I just wish they would let me play with them."

"Oh, my little yellowtail, they love you too!" the girl's mother declared. "Which is precisely why they wanted you to stay home, to make sure you didn't get into any trouble."

"Mama, if I got captured pirates, would you and Papa come look for me, too?"

"Oh absolutely!" The pretty mermaid declared lifting her daughter up and swirling around the room with her.

Your father and I would take on a whole army of pirates, and even sharks too, if it meant getting our little girl back!" Little Trini laughed as her mother snuggled her in her arms and kissed her cheek.

"I love you, Mama."

The queen smiled. "I love you too, my sweet little girl."