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Translator Natasha Dol
© Natasha Dol, 2022
© Galina Dol, 2022
© Natalia Kozlova, 2022
© Natasha Dol, translation, 2022
ISBN 978-5-0056-3082-7
Created with Ridero smart publishing system
Mermaid and Witch
In the very blue-blue deep sea, somewhere in the ocean, at the very bottom, where the human footprint did not penetrate, among the small uninhabited islands, at an immeasurable depth, there lived the princess mermaid Silena with her dad and mom in their underwater kingdom. And there were palaces of pearls of indescribable beauty, coral parks and gardens, between which they scurried, flocks of the most beautiful fish, sea creatures walked, colliding with other marine exotic animals, where mermaid children rode with laughter on carousels of sea horses. Starfish were dazzling and shimmering with bright colors. And all this beauty was completed by majestic thousand-year-old algae, swaying on the waves and letting in diffused sunlight. Pranksters swimming beetles occasionally disturbed the calm tranquility of the underwater kingdom, and at night, mirror fish illuminated the streets with their polished sides.
Not far from the palace stood a three-story coral school, where the little mermaid studied. The first floor was pink, the second was red, and the top floor was made of dead white coral, where high school students studied. In this school, noble pikes and salmon were taught and they were ruled by a big blue shark, a mischievous but fair aunt. One-eyed flounder was in charge of the locker room and constantly watched from under the quiet, as if someone didn’t steal someone else’s coat. The mermaids giggled over her that she did not have time with her one side to keep track of all the pranks of the little pranksters.
The most respected and intelligent teacher, almost the only one who was respected by all the students, was the elderly singer Mary, who taught them to sing opera serinade. And her favorite student was Princess Silena, whose voice was simply mesmerizing with its subtlety and penetration into the soul, which is why many classmates envied her and plotted against her. In addition, she was more beautiful than all of them, even her sisters and girlfriends.
Our little mermaid was a very affectionate and talented girl, with a kind heart, unquestioningly obeying her parents. Her father, the water king, loved her very much, spoiled her and even adored her, but her beautiful mother was cold to her daughter. She didn’t treat her badly, but she wasn’t particularly fond of her either. And from early childhood, the little mermaid did not see attention and care from her.
The princess was already in high school, but she did not like to swim to school, because her peers envied her beauty and intelligence, and how they could over bullied her, showered her with ridicule and did not want to be friends with her, after all, they were also princesses and marquises. And there was a reason to envy her: silk long golden curls that fell to her heels, languid emerald eyes with a hypnotizing look, which her girlfriends feared and envied at the same time, and her eyes simply put the boys into a stupor. Her smooth graceful movements and her gentle iridescent voice sent goosebumps through the body.
Envy sometimes reached the point that the little mermaid was punished and put in a corner for pampering and for things that she did not do: in a lesson at a teacher, behind her back, secretly, the students threw small shells and pebbles, and when a strict madam turned gloomily, at the poor the little mermaid was pointed by the finger.
But our little mermaid silently endured everything patiently and did not even complain to her parents. And now the princess was tired of sitting at school and enduring injustice, which she often began to skip classes. And she did not tell anyone in the water kingdom what was happening to her. She swims all day long with fish, and in the evening she sails home. She lived in her inner world. Wherever she has not been and has seen a lot of outlandish things. But even here her pursuers did not let up. Not only at lessons and breaks, but also after lessons, they tried to catch up with her and pull her braids, but Silena swam faster everyone and no one could catch up with her. Only during the lessons she was vulnerable, and outside of school their attempts almost always culminated in failure. It irritated them even more.
And then one day, fleeing another persecution, she swam so far away that she did not notice how she found herself too far from familiar places and penetrated into the territory of the black-black pool of a distant enchanted black kingdom, where the evil witch lived, whom everyone was so afraid of, that did not even dare and close approach her domain.
The little mermaid is so entangled in sticky nets placed instead of a fence. And the more she tried to get out of them, the more entangled she became. Thick cobwebs tightly entangled her body and, like a fish in nets, she wept in despair and began to call for help. And what did she see? A terrible witch swam up to her, all black, and huge fangs stuck out behind thick lips, and tangled hair developed angrily in dark waves. The little mermaid heard the most terrible things about her from grandmothers and nannies, what a Baba Yaga she is, an evil and strong sorceress. She spares no one. If someone falls into her clutches, she will not let anyone go and will not spare. But strangely, the mermaid was not afraid of her and stopped crying: the old woman is like an old woman, well, a little ugly, but not everyone can be beautiful.
– No, – thought Silena, – she is not the same as she was described to me.
And the witch, grabbing her by the hand, dragged the mermaid into the very depths of her gloomy palace. And even the strange light of the burning torches was black, as if smoking the air. But oddly enough, the little mermaid could see in this mist. And black the gleams on the wall seemed to be telling her something.
The witch was already preparing to lay down and tear the girl to pieces on her glossy black round table with her sharp claws, as sharp as sharpened knives. She was already preparing to release her claws in order to snatch the girl from the nets and scratch her, but suddenly looked into her
emerald eyes and the hand itself trembled and hovered over her. Something is wrong.
The witch was furious and screamed:
– Who are you?! Why did you come here?! – even greater indignation seized the witch, that she was simply shaking with anger at herself: – I don’t spare anyone, why can’t I kill you?! I do not understand!
And she threw it away from her, swept her off the table with her hard, dirty scales, tail.
The Little Mermaid lay on the floor, rubbing her bruised spots. The witch gritted her teeth, looking sideways at her, and barked:
– Okay, live… stay with me for now. I’ll think until morning and decide what to do with you.
She slammed the heavy door and locked the little mermaid alone. All night she had a strange mermaid smell under her nose. Having calmed down a little and thought, she began to understand that it was this strange-familiar smell that stopped her hand raised above the victim.
It seemed as if her heart softened. And she recalled how, a few minutes ago, she carefully released the mermaid from the nets and kept moving her nose, saying:
– I smell a familiar scent.
Now the witch tossed about the bed in thought:
– Where did I feel it, why does it seem familiar to me? – she wondered, biting her lips and moving her eyes, as if looking for an answer in the dark corners covered with cobwebs.
In the meantime, the little mermaid unraveled and pulled off the stinking, all smelling of mud, net and began to slowly, leisurely examine the dark room with a faint reflection of rare flickering torches. Black reflections of fish skeletons played in the window, gloomy eels flickered back and forth, and other trophies obtained by this terrible witch hung on the walls. And Silena thought to herself:
– How sloppy this witch is, and there is no one to clean up here. I looked around again: it would be necessary to clean up here. In the corner stood a witch’s kelp broom. And in the hands of the little mermaid the broom danced.
After removing a bunch of excess debris, the girl wiped the sweat from her forehead and smiled contentedly: it’s better that way.
All night the witch sat without a wink of eyes and puzzled over what was happening, but did not decide what to do with the mermaid. She flung open the door feverishly, and, floating into the room, was struck by the unusual order of her room. The cobwebs in the corners disappeared and nothing superfluous interfered with its swimming.
The witch was pleasantly surprised: it even became more convenient. And when she glanced at the mermaid, she said:
– I don’t know what will happen next, but for now I leave you and do not allow you to swim outside of my kingdom. And now it’s time to go around my domain. Every morning I make a tour of my kingdom.
Follow me and listen carefully to everything I say.
And the witch swam forward, showing the girl huge black coral gardens, between which floats the same gloomy black octopuses, which, looking at the stranger, bared their mouths, bristled their tentacles, wanting to suck and burn her. The little mermaid deftly glided between the witch and the octopuses and dodged these enemies. After her, they let out their blue-black bile. And the sea serpents also hissed and grinned, and the witch hissed back at them:
– This is my ward, do not dare to touch her without my knowledge and permission.
And, grabbing the girl by the hand, she dragged her into her black, terrible palace, and many offended fish remained behind, snapping their teeth and straightening to bite off the little mermaid’s tail for this. But the witch threatened her finger and they retreated. Black octopuses moved their tentacles and created a terrible sight, but the mermaid was not afraid of them. The witch dragged her along and said:
– And now I’ll show you my most hidden magical place. I’m also a witch, for your information.
And the little mermaid only had time to think to herself:
– And I already guessed about it. This is something I know well.
And so, sailing to the huge black, half-blown glossy
the lotus, on the sides of which stood huge, heavily growling moray eels with wide-open mouths, with a grin of sharp teeth in three rows, the witch revived.
– Now is the time when my lotus blossoms and we can go inside.
Once inside, swimming after the witch, the little mermaid was amazed. By the edges of the round bottomless room, lined with black iridescent pearls, shimmered with a spinning, huge diamond.
– This is the focus of my power. I liked you and I will not eat you, I will teach you witchcraft. You can turn into anyone you want, even into a person, and stay with me. You will become my successor, because I feel in you some kind of native force, a powerful attraction. I can’t let you go. I will send a seahorse with the news to your father that in a month I will let you go.
– Well, let it be your way, – said the little mermaid. – Only I want to see the king-father at least occasionally.
But the witch shook her head:
– I have a secret that I will reveal to you. I cannot leave my domain. There is another unknown force that does not allow me to leave my kingdom. And then you will be my guide. Now I can’t let you go. I’ll let you go later, but I won’t promise anything now. Not right now. Every day I will teach you my various magical wisdom and at the end of the path I will give you a magical scepter, and all your desires will come true while it is in your hands. I will teach you to read witch books.
And the witch continued, pointing to a huge translucent stone:
– This diamond can show the past and the future.
– What about the real one?
– What do you really need? – she yelled.
– Daddy is probably worried about me, isn’t he?” I didn’t come home yesterday.
– I told you I can’t let you go now. I will send the seahorse as a messenger. Your time will come.
– I’m very worried about my dad, – Silena almost whimpered.
The witch grunted and dragged her by the hand to the diamond, waved her tail and the diamond sparkled with a grayish light. And the little mermaid saw her father. He worried about her, gathered his retinue in search of her. Everyone in the kingdom was alarmed.
– Oh, what calf tenderness, – the witch barked. – You looked, your father is alive and well, and that’s enough for you!
The diamond is off. The little mermaid calmed down and thought:
– Oh, well, – she thought, seeing her father, – he’s all right.
And so it all went: the other side of the mermaid’s studies: magic, sorcery. She was very interested in it. The further, the deeper, the more interesting it became. It was even possible to create something extraordinary out of nothing. Even the witch slowly began to soften, without noticing it herself. As she lacked, it turns out before normal communication. And it was all Silena’s fault.
Nobody let her out, as if the gloomy space itself did not allow her to leave. A black haze reigned in this enchanted kingdom that it was not known when the day came and when the night came.
And the courtiers and the whole kingdom already guessed that the princess was imprisoned by a witch, because they searched all the nooks and crannies of the underwater kingdom and other neighboring settlements, and no one saw her. And even her classmates stopped being angry with her and regretted that they had treated her badly. The seahorse forgot himself with a message from the witch and sat drunk in a tavern, where the palace guards found him. He lost the message, but conveyed it in words, and the king announced in the district that he was going to attack the witch kingdom with an army.
And the rumors reached the witch and the little mermaid. Silena asked her gloomy teacher to send a messenger to the king that she was not in danger and in two months she would return home.
The witch, as the first time, kept her word and sent a swimming beetle there to announce her decision. The king decided not to resist. He knew the witch: she would keep her word, she was true to her promises, and it was not worth risking her daughter.
Two months have passed and a capable student has mastered all the lessons and admonitions from the sorceress. The king’s father did not go to war to free his daughter, he believed the promise and eagerly leafed through the calendar. Yes, and he could not have defeated the witch, because no one had yet been able to defeat her. And if she wins, then the defeated kingdom, so prosperous, will also turn into a black haze – he did not dare to allow this.
It’s time to release the little mermaid, and the witch got used to her so much that she already considered her successor. Silena began to love the witch, because she so lacked female attention from her mother.
The witch looked after the sailing Silena and suddenly, against her will, shed a tear, and the little mermaid, quietly floating out into the bright light, closed her eyes out of habit and slowly, slowly swam towards her kingdom without looking back. Gentle waves caressed her hair, diffused light penetrated through the water and, out of habit, her head was spinning a little.
Having sailed home to the royal palace, she rushed to her father. To celebrate, the sea king announced a feast throughout the country. He invited musicians: violinists, troubadours, overseas
fish-dancers and everyone sang, danced, rejoiced at the return of Silena. The little mermaid was teased with sweets, combed her silky hair with golden combs, weaved the most fragrant algae into her braids and pink pearls.
The little mermaid was immensely happy, but meanwhile in her soul ached with longing for the witch. The heart was filled with desire to see her new teacher.
– What is my witch doing now, she’s all alone there! It would also be nice to treat her with palace sweets, – but contritely lowered her head and sighed: – it’s a pity that this is impossible.
The next day, Silena sailed to school and all her classmates surrounded her and in chorus, vying with each other began to ask what and how:
– We were worried about you. The witch didn’t hurt you? Did she treat you well? What did you eat there? Was it scary there? Tell us, how is it in the realm of darkness?
The little mermaid was flattered by such attention and told in detail about the dark kingdom with black pearls on the walls, about toothy moray eels, about a bunch of fish remains. But she kept silent about the fact that the witch is not so bad. She took care of her.
All the crowd went to the classroom and everyone shouted:
– Tell us more, more!
After her return, everything changed. Classmates began to respect her after the successful rescue from the terrible witch, because from childhood everyone was scared that she was devouring girls and boys, and Silena returned even more beautiful than before, with special sparks in her eyes.
Meanwhile, the witch did not let up: without Silena she had no peace. In anguish, she ate codfish one by one and threw the skeletons out the window.
– What happened with me? – she wondered at herself, tearing off the sticky leeches from her table. Gradually, she began to realize that, as a daughter, she did not cherish the soul in Silena.
– I become like a mermaid myself, ugh! I want order around me and a little bit of good. I am ashamed of other sorcerers in eyes look after that, – and laughed softly under her breath: – where are they, other sorcerers then?
Just by touching the wall of her room, she suddenly recoiled: starting from the black corners to the opening the darkness of the door turned gray and became a little lighter. She thought:
– Wow, any changes? Perhaps it’s better, otherwise they are all the same color.
She sailed to make a detour of her kingdom and was surprised to find that there, too, the black haze along the edges of her state began to dissipate. Blueish and greenish colors began to appear.
– What’s happening? – wondered the witch.
Silena, eluding her fans, after school, instead of sailing home, went straight to the witch kingdom.
– Oh, – she threw up her hands, – Where is it?
What she saw stunned her. Instead of the expected blackness and pitch darkness, she saw the following picture: instead of a black castle, she saw a bluish haze around, behind which one could see the greenish outlines of a palace filled with some colors. She did not know whether to rejoice or be afraid – what happened there? And rather swam to look for her teacher. On the way, looking into every secluded place, she shouted:
– Witch, where are you?
And suddenly she saw an unusual picture. Among the slightly pinkish black corals, in a hammock woven from strong algae, the witch swayed lulled by the symphony of her crabs, and snored. Even her dress has changed its color slightly. Instead of greasy black, it turned into blue-violet.
From an excess of overwhelmed feelings, Silena affectionately hugged her and kissed her on the cheek. The witch woke up, out of habit, that someone disturbed her without asking, she wanted to scream, but she saw her lost student and broke into a happy smile and hugged her in response.
– You are back? An emerald tear rolled down the bridge of her nose. – I thought I’d never see you again.
– I missed you too. That’s why I returned. You have become like family to me. I was afraid that I would never see you either.
The witch grabbed her hand and dragged her towards the lotus.
– When you left, I forgot to give you the magic scepter. This is your magic tool. With him you will always be safe.
They swam together and found that there were still bright spots, windows. The sorceress, unaccustomed to seeing the light, could no longer endure the blackness to which she was accustomed, but became worried:
– Holes should be patched up.
Silena held her back and said softly:
– It’s because you decided to change and everything around began to change. Our love and affection for each other works wonders.
The witch herself began to change. Rejuvenated, facial features have changed for the better. She felt that she had become important to Silena.
And in the palace, the queen, unexpectedly for everyone and herself, began to change in character and mood. Either she will yell at the servants for no reason at all, or she will freak out that the food is undersalted or peppered and will pour soup on the head of the silver carp cook. And she doesn’t understand what’s wrong with her.
And Silena swam out of the black haze and sailed away to school, for a joke turning into different fish so that she would not be recognized. She walked in school with classmates and shot small shells at teachers, and they punished other students. The little mermaid also saw her father more furtively when she watched him in his royal affairs.
So time passed and Silena almost did not return home: some supernatural force did not allow her to leave the old woman. The witch grandmother caressed her, combing her hair, and the little mermaid fell in love with her as a mother. The sea king was no longer worried about his daughter: she had become an adult and it was definitely not necessary for them to be afraid of witches now.
It was time for school exams and Silena had to make up for lost knowledge in order to prepare and pass successfully. This was the reason that after school she stopped visiting her witch in her even brighter, once terrible, kingdom.
One morning, the queen, opening the bedroom windows, heard the latest news from the paperboy:
– Sensation! Imagine, the witch’s black kingdom is no longer black! Her haze dissipated and a palace appeared on the site. it is certainly not as luxurious as ours, but quite tall and attractive. The darkness is dissipating gradually. What’s happening? Scientists are confused.
The queen furrowed her brows: is everything returning to its place?
– I need to go there urgently and check everything myself. What if the witch can already leave her possessions?
She threw on a fiery cloak and quietly rushed headlong out of the palace and rushed to reconnoiter. She couldn’t wait to see everything with her own eyes.
Meanwhile, the witch looked at herself in the mirror, stroking her flushed cheeks, which had become smoother, and her nose no longer touched her chin. She was surprised to understand that everything in her was really changing. Almost nothing remains of the former witch: a large-eyed, green-eyed mermaid woman was already looking at her in the mirror in surprise.
And at this pleasant moment, at great speed, opening the algae curtains, a miger queen flew in, who was a real witch.
– How dare you all destroy?! – she yelled, lashing out at the witch.
– What have I destroyed? – she jumped away from her. – I don’t understand, what are you talking about?
The queen hissed and spit in anger. And the more she got angry, the more she became like a witch herself.
– Why, don’t you remember how I fell in love with your king? More than you! That my mother turned you into a witch and me into you. It’s because I really deserved the king’s love more than you! I even became the best mother for your daughter!
And then, opposite the eyes of the witch, the real queen, muddy pictures of the past began to emerge. And gradually they became clearer and clearer. She saw herself joyful with the king when they held their newborn daughter in their arms, their wedding, how they first met, fell in love, how strong their love was.