The legend of seagull

The mermaid and the fisherman

Once there was a young fisherman who live on Pulau Hantu. His home on the northern shore of the island was made of dried palm leaves, and he found it very comfortable. Though he was often lonely.

The mermaid and the fishermen story

Each morning the young fisherman went fishing, and then he took his fish  to Singapore where he would sell them in the market. One morning when he was pulling in his nets, he heard someone crying. He looked down into the water and saw that he had caught a mermaid!

The young fisherman quickly pulled his net into the boat. “Let me go.” Cried the mermaid. “Let me go.”

The fisherman was too surprised to move. “What are you doing here?” he asked.

“I am on my way home to my father’s kingdom beneath the sea. I had stopped a moment to look at those island over there when you caught me.”

“Do you like the island?” asked the fisherman. “I live on one of them myself.”

“They are beautiful. But don’t you ever get lonely? There can’t be many smiled people on the island.”

The fisherman smiled. “Yes I do sometimes get lonely,” he said. “But my work keeps me busy,”

“Tell me about it.”

“Well, there isn’t much to tell. I catch fish, and then I sell them in the market. Then I take my boat and go home.”

“Do you always catch so many fish?” asked the mermaid. Looking at the many fish in the nets.

“Not always. In fact, some morning I don’t catch any.”

As the mermaid listened to the fisherman. She felt in love with him. Soon she wished to marry him and live with him on the island, and so, the mermaid and the fisherman were married.

They were very happy. She helped him by swimming ahead of his boat and telling him where the best fish were. She cooked for him and helped him repair his nets. The young fisherman was a good husband. He worked hard and soon he was able to buy a fine new boat.

One evening the mermaid said to the fisherman. “If you are ever lost at sea, I shall ask the gods to turn me into a bird. Then I shall fly all over the earth to look for you.”

“Don’t worry,” said the fisherman. “I’m sure nothing like that will happen.”

The fisherman was wrong. One day a terrible storm came to the sea near the island while he was out in his boat. The mermaid, who was at home, prayed that he would come home safely. She prayed and waited for several days, and she became very ill. “Gods of the sea and the earth,” she prayed. “change me into a bird,” soon she died, and the gods granted her wish; they changes her into a bird so she could look for her lost husband.

The legend of seagull

The young fisherman, meanwhile, was on another island where the sea had taken him during the storm. After the storm had passed, he returned home, but the mermaid was gone. He looked all over the island for her without success. Then he sat down to wait. The days of waiting turned into weeks and the weeks into years. The fisherman grew old and sad, waiting for his wife to come home.

Then one day a white seagull flew over the fisherman’s house. The seagull cried out, but the fisherman didn’t hear it because he was dreaming of his mermaid. A few hours later. He died.

When the fisherman died. The gods of the sea and the earth turned him into a seagull. He flew joy fully to his wife, and together they flew away.