Grace and I are delighted today to have Charley and her daughter Tess provide a guest post on My life with fairies. As Grace said, “Mermaids are the cousins of fairies so I think people would be interested in reading about them.” I think she’s right and I know they are going to LOVE the stunning images of Tess’ aunty – a real-life mermaid! Charley has her own inspirational blog called Secret Water which we both enjoy reading. I recommend you take a look.
Here’s what Tess has to say about the wonderfully watery world of mermaids:
My Life with Mermaids
Written by Tess (aged 3 and a half) 
Mermaids are my favourite kind of fairy. I used to get mermaids and marmalade confused and call them mermalaids. They are also sometimes known as sea fairies because they live under the sea. I am always on the lookout for them when I’m out on the water with my family in our little boat. I haven’t seen one near where I live yet but I know they are there as they sometimes leave their mermaid necklaces behind on the beach.
My mum has started reading me a book called The Sea Fairies by the same author who wrote the Wizard of Oz. It is all about the adventures of a little girl called Trot and Cap’n Bill who meet some mermaids and go on an adventure under the sea:
….Rising from the blue water was a fair face around which floated a mass of long blonde hair. It was a sweet girlish face with eyes of the same deep blue as the water and red lips whose dainty lips disposed two rows of pearly teeth. The cheeks were plump and rosy, the brows gracefully pencilled, while the chin was rounded and had a pretty dimple in it…
…a new face even fairer than the other with a wealth of brown hair wreathing the lovely features, And the eyes smiled kindly into those of the child. “Are you a – a mermaid?” asked Trot curiously. She was not a bit afraid. They seemed both gentle and friendly.
“Yes, dear,” was the soft answer.
“We are all mermaids” chimed a laughing chorus, and here and there, all about the boat, appeared pretty faces lying just upon the surface of the water.
“Are you part fishes?” asked Trot…
“No we are all mermaid,” replied the one with the brown hair, The fishes are partly like us, because they live in the sea and must move about. And you are partly like us, dear, but have awkward stiff legs so you may walk on the land. But the mermaids lived before fishes and before mankind, so both have borrowed something from us.”
“Then you must be fairies if you’ve lived always,” remarked Trot nodding wisely.
“We are dear. We are the water fairies.”
People often say awful things about mermaids for example that they cause shipwrecks, but actually its the other way around, mermaids look out for seafarers and try to steer them away from danger. Here is a photo of a really famous mermaid who has her own statue in Copenhagen. She is “The Little Mermaid” that Hans Christian Anderson wrote about in the fairytale.
I know that Mermaids are real because my Aunty La La is a mermaid. She has a beautiful tail with green and blue scales. Here are some photos of her. Isn’t she just lovely?
Thank you so much Tess. We think your Aunty is awesome. I wonder what other people think?
with love and fairy wishes from Grace x
