Fierce Fairytales: The Little Mermaid Speaks

Here’s a little story from Nikita Gill’s book Fierce Fairytales & Other Stories To Stir Your Soul. It’s called ‘The Little Mermaid Speaks’. Ladies, get your mojo on. This will fill your heart.

An Older and Wiser Little Mermaid Speaks

There are so many ways to lose a voice,
An uncomfortable laugh, don't make a scene
What will people say about you
What will people say about us.

I ask you now,
do women pray to softer-spoken Gods
than men do?
Do men pray louder and more
unapologetically than women ever have?

We are taught not to speak and if we do
be pliant, be passive, be soft, be sorry.
You are better as water anyway.
Water is supposed to simply adapt.

I ask you now, as the granddaughter of Poseidon
who gave up her fins and voice for love,
not to trade your magic in for anyone.
Do not make sacrifice the ritual of your womanhood.

I teach my half-sea girls that their voices
are the most powerful things they can use,
to let the word 'no' become the charm
they need to help them take up space often.

Now the mermaids are becoming sirens,
for sirens are monsters who never feel compelled,
and monsters, unlike girls and mermaids,
know how to protect themselves well.