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The Mermaid, a Ring and a Wish for Love ~ Fairy Tale Stories for
KidsNo Reviews Posted.

A Story From: Scotland

Read Time: ["3 to 5mins","6 to 10mins"]
For Ages: 5 to 7yrs., 8 to 10yrs.

The Mermaid, a Ring and

a Wish for Love ~Fairy Tales for Kids
The Mermaid, a Ring and a Wish for Love was adapted from our original story, The Fisherlad
and the Mermaid's Ring. It is sgeulachdan (skale-ak-tan) tale from Scotland that's told as part of
the entertainment at a gathering such as a wedding.

ONCE IN SCOTLAND a young man was so much in love with a lass

that he did nothing but think of her night and day. At last he had the
courage to offer her his heart and asked for hers in return.
But she did not share the same feeling, as it can happen. She sweetly
smiled at him and then ran off. The young man was left feeling sad and
defeated.
The young man was filled with embarrassment. He felt he could no
longer show his face around town. Not with everyone knowing she had
passed him over! He couldn’t even fish anymore with his friends at the
shore, for he was too full of shame.
So with a heavy heart, he gathered his nets, got inside his boat and
sailed off to a deserted island. He built himself a hut and every
morning, very early, sailed to sea. There he would cast his nets and
hopefully haul in a day's catch. He took his catch to the closest shore
port where no one knew his face. He would sell his fish to the local
market, and with the money he earned, buy food and other necessities,
and sail back home to his island. Such was his life, day after day.
Then one day, the corner of his eye caught something gleaming, with
the fish in his net. Quickly, he grabbed it with one hand, though it
twisted and thrashed, and he tied the net into a knot so that whatever
it was could not escape.
"Let me go!" he heard a voice shout out. To his surprise, it was a
mermaid! She looked like every other girl from the waist up, but below
that flipped a long fishtail that glittered with shiny yellow-green scales.
"A mermaid!" he said. "You know as well as I do that you must grant
me a wish."
"Very well," said the mermaid, "I suppose you want a bag of gold
coins. I happen to know of a sunken ship not far from here with such
treasure."
"I have no interest in coins," he said. "'That will not give me what I
want."
"So it's a trunk of treasure you require?" She turned her head with pride. "I
am the daughter of the king of the sea, and can have my mermaid servants
deliver such a trunk to your island."
"If you know enough about me to know about my island," he said, "you
know what it is I really want."
"The girl?" sighed the mermaid. "Why her?"
"Ooh, you know why!" he said. "Her blue eyes. Her blonde hair. The
way she moves. She is what I want most in all the world. If I can't have
her, I want nothing else!"
"Ah, she is not so special," said the mermaid. But when the young
man tightened his grip on the netting, she quickly added, "Of course, I
can grant your wish of love, but you must realize it will take some
time. Release me and I'll give you a magic ring. After one year and a
day, when you go to her and offer her the ring, she will not refuse."
"How do you know she won't already be married by then?"
"She won’t be," promised the mermaid.
So he decided to let the mermaid free. He took the ring and placed it
in a jar on his nightstand. He decided to scratch the wood on the
mantelpiece to keep track of everyday that went by.
One day not long after that as he sailed back to his island, he saw what
looked like a heap of seaweed. More curious still was when the
seaweed moved. He then saw that it was no mound of seaweed, but a
brown-haired girl whose dark hair lay in a heap around her.
"What are you doing here, on my island?" he frowned.
"Ooh, ‘tis not your island, just because you got here first,” she
said. “You’re not the only one who had to go somewhere! My father
has a new bride not much older than myself. She's horrible and mean
and I fear she's going to do something terrible to me."
"You can't stay here. You must go back and make it right with her."
"It is not for you to tell me what to do,” she said. “Besides, I can't go
anywhere right now because the winds aren't right."
"Tomorrow morning the winds will change."
"And my raft is broken."
"I'll fix it."
"Stop it! I need to stay somewhere where I'm alone and safe!"
"So do I!" thundered the young man.
“You’ll have plenty of room,” she said. “You stay on your side of the
island, and I’ll stay on mine. Besides,” she said more gently, “if I’m
going to cook for myself, I may as well cook enough for two.
“Suit yourself,” he said. “But I eat alone.”
The girl was true to her word. When the young man returned from
fishing or from the market, he would find a hot meal for him on the
table. Where she went, where she slept, he didn’t know and did not
wonder in the least.
One day he had an especially good day. The fish were plentiful and
fetched a good price at market. He came home earlier than usual and
found the girl in his hut. She was startled and started to leave. He
said, "There now, you don't have to go so quickly. Grab yourself a plate
and sit across from me. We might as well eat together."
So they ate together, saying little. But the next day she was also there
when he returned and when they ate together, they said a few words
more. The day after that, a few words more, until they got to know all
about one another.
He understood completely why the girl had to leave her house, and he
pounded the table with fury when she told him about her father and
how he had been blind to the dangerous situation he had put her in.
She listened with sympathy to the tale of his lost love and how he
planned to win her heart with the mermaid's ring after the 365 days.
In fact, she posted a chart over the mantle to keep track of the days
gone by and the ones left. A clever idea, he thought, since the scratches
on the wood were becoming hard to tell apart and keep count.
Not long after that, the young man returned home from fishing one
day and saw she had moved flowers from the field and planted them in
front of the hut. “How nice and thoughtful,” he said to himself.
Around that time, she started to help him dock the boat and spread
the nets. Though she was but a brown-haired young girl who was
nearly as small as a child, she was surprisingly strong and helpful to
have around.
One morning the girl said, "When you go to market, you must bring
back a bit of window glass to keep the weather out." He obliged, and
the next day while he was gone she placed the glass in the window
holes.
Indeed, the hut stayed warmer that evening. And in the day, a beam of
sunlight shone through the new window. Another time she told him,
"Bring me back some white paint - these walls are far too dreary." He
complied, and she cleaned the walls and painted them white.
Though he started to grumble about what little money was left after he
fetched her this or fetched her that, he had to admit that his hut was
more comfortable than it had ever been before.
On the other side of the island one day, he noticed a pile of grass had
been pushed against a group of thick trees and was pressed down in
the middle. He realized that it must be where she slept at night. A bit
ashamed that he had never wondered about it before, he decided to
forego fishing for a few days and started gathering wood and
hammering it to the hut.
"What are you up to now?" she asked.
"'It’s not proper for a young woman to sleep outside on a mound of
grass," he said. "This will be a room of your own."
"Don’t do it on my account," she sniffed. “I’m perfectly fine where I
am.” But he noticed as she went about the house that evening she was
humming to herself. A melody that was the same as one his mother
used to sing.
And so the days went quickly by. Before he knew it, it was the 365th
day, one whole year since the fateful day he caught the mermaid in his
net. When the lad entered the hut that afternoon, he saw the girl in
front of the hearth with the magic ring on her finger, holding up her
hand and looking at it from all angles.
"What are you doing?" he barked.
"'Tis nothing," she said quickly, dropping the ring back into the jar and
sealing it with its lid. "Just making sure all is well with the ring for
tomorrow."
Then she went to her room. When she returned, she held a cloth bag
with all of her belongings.
"I'm leaving now. I'm going back to my father's home."
"What? Aren't you worried how they will treat you?"
"I'll manage. I'm older now."
"It's only been a year."
"One year is enough."
"But...the winds aren't right."
"They will be soon."
"But we never fixed your raft. I'll give you a ride in the boat."
"I fixed the raft. I'd just as soon leave as I came, if that's alright with
you."
She walked over to the chart, took it off the wall, laid it before him and
marked off the last day.
"Tomorrow," she said, "you will claim your own true love."
And she left.
For the rest of the day, the young man stayed in his chair. He stared at
the walls and at the floor. He slept in the chair. Early the next morning
when he woke, the first thing he saw was the chart on the table before
him. He went over to the mantle where he kept the mermaid's ring and
set out to claim the love of his life.
Only it wasn't to the village he was born where he set his sail. It was to
the land of the girl who had stayed with him at the island. You can
imagine how surprised she was, to see him enter her father's garden.
"Oh my! I didn’t expect to see you here.”
“Well, here I am,” he said.
“So, did you find the love of your life?"
"Yes, I did. I mean, now, I have."
"And will she have you?" asked the girl, staring at the ring that he held
in front of her.
"You tell me," he said, looking into her eyes.
“Well, she might,” said the girl. “How about if you and the girl give it a
bit of time to be sure?” And they smiled at each other.
They took their time, that they did. The young man found a place not
far from hers and went fishing each day. At night they had dinner, and
they talked and talked. Each day they felt more sure than the day
before.
And so the two were wed, and a fine wedding it was, with all the family
and friends that the girl and boy thought had been cross with them but
who were no longer angry. If they had ever been angry at all.
And so the young man and his brown haired girl lived happily for the
rest of their days.

Bedtime Stories for Kids | Fairy Tales Short Bedtime Story for Children

Discussion Questions:
Question 1: What did the brown-haired girl give the young man that the
blonde-haired girl did not?
Question 2: What did the young man learn about love?
Your first name only, please. Your age.

Your state and country.

Choose one character. How did that person or animal change/grow/learn by the end of the story?

Say what you think this story is trying to show you.

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