RUSALOCHKA, THE LITTLE MERMAID

by Olga Golubeva, a school girl

Rusalochka, the little mermaid, and her six sisters lived in a palace in the depths of the Black Sea. The mistress of this kingdom was the mermaids' grandmother, the Sea Queen, who was proud that her ancestors went way back to the mermaids in Andersen's tales. Babushka (grandmother) adored her granddaughters and never scolded, even if they swam up into oil spills. When they reached the age of sixteen, Babushka allowed them to swim up to the surface of this vast sea. It was so interesting up there. People fearlessly skied and pedaled across the waves. Women, who instead of a tail had two slender legs, tread across the hot sand in a mannered way and languorously basked in the blinding sun, and munched and laughed. Lean tanned men darted between them like lizards. Standing waist deep in water, the mermaids joined the happy throng of human bodies. People got used to them, asked them to throw a ball or summon a disobedient child or help someone climb onto a surfboard. The smallest and prettiest of the mermaids especially enjoyed being in this human environment. She really liked these two-legged creatures who were having such a good time over it was not clear what. One day Rusalochka saw on a raft a wonderful young man with bright eyes. In the sea, empty bottles were flying and the mannered creatures were laughing loudly, but Rusalochka couldn't take her eyes off him. At night she remembered where she had seen that fabulous man. A figure just like him had stood in Babushka's palace, only there the young man held an oar and a book. She and her sisters had accidentally broken the statue and thrown out the pieces far from the palace walls. But the dolphins soon brought the pieces to Babushka. Grieving, Babushka said this was the statue of a real prince and she was sad that his image would no longer be in the palace. The next day Rusalochka looked for the 'prince' on the beach; he was playing ball and she admired him from afar. She hung around near the shore until late evening and saw how the young man, strolling on the beach, kissed a girl in a red dress. Back at home she asked Babushka questions about people and unexpectedly showed interest in whether a human being could fall in love with a ... mermaid. "People aren't capable of loving those who don't resemble them. They don't need a mermaid with a tail instead of legs," Babushka responded sadly and she looked intently at her granddaughter. What to do? Rusalochka went to a sorceress who lived at the very bottom of the ocean abyss, for she was ready to do anything to realize her dream. The sorceress did not disappoint -- for her it was a cinch to transform a tail into two slender legs. "I'll walk the earth as on a knife's edge and my legs will always be wounded," Rusalochka ventured assertively. "No," the sorceress quieted her down, "that happened with the Andersen mermaid. For you there will be another kind of pain -- you will suffer over things that human beings have gotten used to and no longer notice." "I'll accept that," Rusalochka said, brightening, and in a gulp she swallowed a potion. In the morning there appeared on the beach a girl with the most beautiful slender legs in all the world. The 'prince' lay down beside her and exclaimed, "Such a one and nobody to protect her!" The 'prince's' name was Dan. Rusalochka took him away from 'the red dress' or he took her away from her native environment. In the evening in the single bedroom of the hotel she tried to tell the 'prince' about the cool ocean alleyways, the underwater gardens, and the stars which if you look at them from under water have a drowsy look to them. The 'prince' interrupted her, saying he was tired and wanted to sleep. It was probably too much for him and right away he fell asleep. Rusalochka was sadder than she had ever been -- the 'prince' didn't need her treasures, the gardens and the alleyways and the stars. Dan said one day, "I think I'll marry this girl. She is strange but beautiful and quiet," and he took Rusalochka to the noisy city. Thrice weekly some young people come to their home whom Dan calls 'half- wits' and he tutors them in math. Twice weekly the 'prince' sits from morning till night over his books and says he is doing "stupid translations." Sometimes he gives pieces of gold metal to some slovenly people and afterward when he has shut the door, he rubs his hands and exclaims, "I swindled them good." Each time after such a "swindle" they go to a restaurant where Dan and his friends drink a lot, red, white and green liquids one after another. They laugh and are happy, it's not clear about what. Then one of them sobs and another bangs his fists right on the dishes. Rusalochka acquired friends, Liza from the hard currency shop, Irena who works at a theater box office, and Nina Ivanovna, an elderly good hearted woman who reminded Rusalochka of her kind Babushka. "Why," Rusalochka sometimes asks them strange questions, "are people like that? Why do they cheer up when others are in trouble? Why do they get angry and jealous when others are doing well? Why do they live in dusty cities and drink a lot of wine and eat meat?" 'Her friends' make fun of her questions and they begin to chatter about apartments and making favorable exchanges and deals. Listening to it all, Rusalochka feels pain in her chest as though someone were hammering on her heart. She frowns from the pain and says quietly and slowly, remembering the words of the sorceress, "Your soul will ache." Rusalochka stays more and more at home, closets herself in the bathroom, opens the tap and gazes at the greenish water with white bubbles. If the 'prince' finds her doing this, he calls her a wimp and chases her away. From water, from her very own element. Petrozavodsk