Pardiso Mer - My Take on "the Sea Prince & the Fire Child"

Did you spend your misspent youth watching too much t.v.? If so, perhaps you were impressed with the 1981 anime film "the Sea Prince and the Fire Child." I was. Here's a little story I wrote when I was ADD-ing one day (and should have been studying for midterms.)

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Paradiso Mer

               by Ssal Nogard

   

In a fire,

   by a kingdom in a sea, there lived a fire child. 

This kingdom was set apart from land, so that dignitaries,

     wayfarers and merchants, had to come to this kingdom by water.  And come they did,

by boat, by ship and by mermen, passed the green waters of the sea, past the roaring,

incessant fires,

--to the kingdom.  In this kingdom

     held the treasures of the water world. 

The castles were built with delicate shell fragments,

     iridescent insides facing out, and the streets

cobbled with rainbow-colored corals. 

The people prospered, for the king and queen

     had been living happily ever after: this was paradiso mer, a heaven

   in the sea, dropped down from the sky. 

Every day the fires roared and every night

   they subdued to a pacific blue, submerging partially –

into the sea.  And every day

a little Merboy would swim from the mainland to the paradise

     in the sea, pulling on his shoulders

          a little watercraft, or guiding a larger vessel,

or sometimes carrying a more stouthearted seafarer.

     On his shoulders.  His passenger would stand

     on the boy’s rippled back, rippled like the scales of a fish,

     holding on to two ropes for balance

That were in turn held by the Merboy. 

     Sometimes, he would fiendishly dive

his head under,

pulling his rider down

     to his knees, until

the rider trembled with feelings of unlimited dread,

for those found floating in the seas

     around paradiso mer were ever salvaged from watery destruction

By the fire sirens of paradiso.

Now it was more than rumored, it was known

that when a luckless sea voyager

     had slipped from the shoulders of a merman

and floundered

until no help could be found,

except for the approaching sirens, he would submerse

     himself forever under the waters of paradiso mer,

rather

   than be caught by those sirens.  For traveling mishaps

were like tiny cretins to these sirens,

     Abundant and lawful forfeiture

to the fires of paradiso.  

Even a miraculously handsome princess

had fallen

   --from the shoulders once, of this particular

Merboy.  Her stalwart manner

and comely looks were unparalleled

   in the lands known.  Yet the Merboy

had dipped and bobbed until she

   had junketed and jaunted into the waters,

Pale hair floating on the lapping waves,

bravely watching the advancing naiads

encircling her, closing in

On her gracefully treading figure

   with the folds of her dress

Transparently soaked

     by the green sea, looking up

to the sky one last time,

   until the sirens took their captive,

      and waved in a long golden procession back to the fires. 

This, our water child had seen,

   with a queer sort of delight, and he keenly

picked the flames for the little fire child,

who he daily passed, for she was

always at the edge of the fire.  He had purposely dropped

   many a sailor into the sea

right beside her,

so that she

     could easily snatch him

before her sisters did. 

Yet she scarcely glanced at the fallen

hapless

        souls; when she did, it was

   with a shudder in her eyes, and she would continue

combing her long

golden hair.  The Merboy had never seen hair

     as the fire child’s.  It was long and shone

        brighter than the fires in which she bathed. 

She would take her fiery locks, dip them in the sea

beside her,

and run them over her body.  The water would roll down

   her body in gleaming drops until -- they fell below

the fires, into the sea, where

they would sizzle in a golden haze. . . Sometimes,

   the Merboy would swim under the place

where the fire child sat bathing and try

     to catch those drops of water that ran off her body.  So far,

he had caught hundreds of them

   and had played with them in his cavern

      by the shores of paradiso mer. 

         He had dipped them under and had watched

   joyfully as they vaporized like

      mist in the water, throwing up a faintly

strangling scent

     that made him go weak, and

make his fervor for more drops

     double when his passion flooded into him again. 

     He had decided to take the fire child

away from the flames; she always looked

   away into the watery extents, and Merboy

      had begun decorating his little cave

for the time when he would bring

her back to his grotto.  The collected drops

     were faithfully placed in dark niches

        for light and scattered

            around the rough ceiling which

gave the effect of a golden night.  He had strewn them

   into a blanket of seaweed,

     which was to cover them in sleep,

and had strung

   them into slivers of string,

Then

   braided the golden threads together into

two sturdy ropes.  With these,

   he assured his passengers that they, the ropes,

      were made of the fires

of paradiso.

And if his rider merely did not let go,

     --he would be secure.  This the land people believed,

   ingenuous to the pitiless delight

our Merboy had in grazing the depths

   of the sea until his screaming rider

     was neck deep,

   holding on to the golden cords even

as they sank into the sea, the cords popping

into a hazy mist, all around the rider, who now

abandoned by carrier and rope, looked

with white stricken eyes towards the flames

     that would carry him away.

At night, the inferno

     of paradiso mer

blazed in on itself,

   high into the heavens, singeing the nightbirds

   and stars, which fell like ashes to the sea. 

The fires would settle into their pacific blue, bubbling

     and purring little tongues

        out into the ocean,

the sky, and the sirens’ skins would be tinged

     with blue--deep, beautiful.  It was then

that the fire child reached out her hand

almost the color

of the sea, and placed it in the water. 

She would convulse and, after a moment, snatch her hand

   out of the water.  One night,

when Merboy had just thrown another rider

     into the night sea, and the indigo lights

        of the sirens could be seen fluttering

in a single line to the human game and back

   to the fires, he gently approached his fire child.

Does it hurt? He asked.

   Yes.  Very much, for it is very hot.  She answered.  The Merboy laughed. 

The sea, hot! 

Yes, sometimes I touch it for warmth,

     but it burns me instead.  I have asked

   that it not hurt me so, but it only replies

     that I should not touch it.  The fire child sighed.

Try it again. Merboy urged. 

Fire child slipped her hand

     from the licking flames and sank her hand into the sea. 

She wailed in pain as her hand

   caught for a moment

      in the water

         then ripped open

as she seized her hand back into the salving flames. 

What is it that holds you? Merboy,

anxiously.  How would he bring her to their home? 

She: It is a compelling scorch, that peels

   my skin from itself and bleeds me back

     into the sea.  Oohh . . . she moaned . . . The fire child’s

face bled into a chilly blue steel. 

         Merboy dove and thrust himself into the fire, only burning

himself against a wall of flame

     and wet heat. 

He was knocked backwards, burnt,

   and calling for his fire child.  She lay back,

quiet, eyes closed. 

     Merboy swam around

her until the flames had lapped themselves

around her, cocooning her hand

          until she fell into sleep.

At home in his cave, Merboy thought furiously how

   he would save his fire child

     from the water so that she could come

live with him.  He corded his golden ropes

            through the night, and woke

     to a white morning, with the sun bleached

of color and warmth, and the winds

   whipping the seas in gray discord.  The

fires of Paradiso Mer

Were sullen and low,

   --and on the horizon came a goliath

Seafaring vessel, that held an uncountable number

     of men and animals.  At its stern

were a man, iron gray,

and his two children.  The boy was a small,

     placid boy,

with ruddy locks and pale complexion.  The girl

was a vivid ebon-haired girl one year

   younger than her brother.  She stood stout

     as her father and scanned

the waves for the legendary

        merman that sank the ships

of the wealthy and baptized

   the monarchs of the dryer realms. 

The bright pennons flapped loudly in the wind. 

Father, do you see our merman?  Black one asked. 

From his watery cave, Merboy stared,

     Fantasizing the great wreck of history.  How would he do it?

with showmanship, élan,

   and lots of victims for his fire child. 

He pulled the heavy golden

     cords in his fists and swam to the irresistible

progress of the ship. 

Black one waited, the sweat

   rolling down her neck, the chills

sending tingles down her body.  She had waited

     since childhood,

when she had read of the

   great Paradiso Mer and the perils

innocent folk faced when crossing the sea. 

There was a fantastic merman

      guarding the gates to Paradiso, and Black one

wanted him for herself.  She had plotted it

long ago and had found a witch,

   which she gave all her desires to,

all save the merman.  The hag in turn had

     given her an unction, so oily

        that it would never mix with a sea

     of water, and so greaseless it would never

burn in the hottest of flames. 

Black one held the vial that held

   the unguent in her hand.  Her eyes

   pierced single waves in every direction

for miles.  Then he came.  Swimming up

     with a briny smile, his skin

faintly tinged a light olive.  Black one

   . . .smiled back down. 

Ahoy!  My merman!  What say

    you we go for a ride?  Black one asked jauntily. 

Merboy freely and easily turned to offer

   her his back and the skiff lowered Black one

     to the water.  Merboy lifted her

   onto his back, handed her the cords,

     and cautioned her to hold tight. 

Red one, Black one’s brother,

   watched them speed off, and begged his father

     to steer directly to the fires, and Red one

also readied to be lowered in a boat,

   as the immense sailer hastened to the

flames of Paradiso Mer.

On his back, Black one whooped

     and screamed with joy.  Her skirt

whipped tightly against her legs,

   like breeches, and the water spayed

     onto her bosom, soaked with water, and taut

with fervency.  Merboy swam in circles,

enjoying himself, delighting

the beautiful black girl on his shoulders, so that her end

    would be more of a delight.  Yet, Merboy

did not see as Black one uncorked her vial

and spread some of the unguent along the golden cords. 

     As Merboy began his descent, the cords

remained braided. 

     Merboy sped to his Fire child,

   to show her the beautiful sacrifice

he was giving her.  The great vessel

came from the opposite direction, raising the heads

of a thousand sirens.  They looked

to Merboy,

  where was he?  Fire child,

   not wanting to see the giant ship die,

     looked away, and saw Merboy

carrying a black-haired beauty, her face

   intense, her lips howling, the sea

spraying salty crystal drops through her dark mane.  Merboy

     had a look of fantastic desire,

         and Fire child looked away. 

The ship anchored

   by the fires, but stayed

at a distance away from the elongating flames

     that seemed to stretch out

to the vessel.  Red one, lowered himself

   and rowed to the edge

of the wall of flame.  He scanned the faces, the most rare

   and fastidiously lined faces he had ever seen.  The eyes

sent out the souls of a thousand.  The cheeks

quivered in countless emotions, on the brink

   of many movements, but muted

by the many laughs

   and cries

and groans.  The lips were lined

   at the corners, exquisite,

turning, full in one, stretching madly

in another. 

The brows were creased and smooth

   all in the same colliding passion.  Their tresses

waved with urgency,

     never calming, always flowing

   in one direction or another. 

Their figures were gaunt

     and their bellies full. 

Their legs were sublime and Red one

     looked away. 

Their tongues wagged

   precious promises, and their hands

meshed through the fires, cool, singular, enticing, and encircling

Red one in their grasp.  He twisted

   himself away and rowed at a distance.  At one edge,

he saw Fire child combing, with

   her fingertips, her long hair that hung

heavily

   down her body.  He approached and moved

close to her. 

Will you save my sister? 

She: The one riding Merboy. It was not a question.

Yes.  Yes!  Yes!  He will drown her

   into the hands of your sisters.  Fire child

continued running her fingers through

   her heavy locks.  They grew

a deep red.  Seeing her

implacable, Red one offered

a way into the sea where it will cool

you and you can finish your serenity.  The Red one,

   --desperately. 

She: How so? As Merboy came

skimming into Red one’s boat, thinking

   of a double offering.

of Red one and Black one. 

Merboy, Fire child said, Sink the girl.

I cannot, he gasped, She will not fall! 

Fire child, with drops of fire

   streaming from her eyes. 

Give her up to the sea! 

Black one laughed, He cannot, will not.  You see

how I ride him though he would sink me. 

   It is his desire that I hold onto him. 

Red one: Sister, let him go!  Red one commanded,

   begged, but what use?  So Red one seized

     the vial from his sister and tore

         Fire child from the flames.  She gasped

in the air for breath while Red one

     frenziedly covered her with the unguent.  Fire child collapsed.

What have you done?  Merboy shrieked and sobbed:

his Fire child had lost her radiant lustre, and lay

   there, like a beached animal, oily, greasy,

slimy.  Her tresses

     had been immolated, her eyes

had washed a deep blue.  Fire child looked

   up at Merboy, the light flooded from her skin. 

Will you still take me to your home, Merboy? 

   He choked, strangled, whipped Black one from off his back

     and clutched his Fire child in his arms

       and carried her back to their watery grotto.  Inside,

the lights of her water beads cast a sickly glow on Fire child. 

    Oh, put them out, Merboy she moaned. 

     Quietly, he snuffed out the lights and covered them

with the blanket of seaweed, less the lights.

It had been a while, and they were not happy. 

   Merboy was not happy because Fire child was sad. 

     She was sad for her lost brilliance and she was sad

   because Merboy could not love her.

He: Why is it so needed?  I have never

   stepped into Paradiso Mer.  I cannot. 

  It is a haven of dry things.

She: Yet I am here, out of the fires.  Fire child

     said earnestly.  I have become like those

in Paradiso Mer for you.  And thus discontented,

Merboy, sighed, kept their grotto

beautiful, and set out to know

     the land of Paradiso Mer.

It had been another while,

   and Fire child was sick

     with longing for her Merboy and she combed

her golden tresses,

   a pale gold, mute

     in comparison to their former dazzle. 

She climbed out of the grotto, up the sides,

   and to the top,

to see her Merboy.  Nothing. 

She sat on the roof of the grotto, her legs

   to one side, her hair

to the other, as she often

sat in the fires,

       and ran her fingers

through her long hair, singing lightly, and dipping

her hair into the seashell

filled with water at her side.  She rubbed herself

   with her hair and the water

beads rolled off her oiled skin.

Then she thought, Now I can swim and she rose

   from the roof of the grotto and dove

into

the sea, where she swam, torpedoed

to the bottom and dove up, high out

     of the water, in a long beautiful arc and cut

   the water like a knife again.  Thus she swam for days

and became like her Merboy.

One night,

he came back. 

His eyes were black

   and deeply carved out in hollows,

       his skin was a golden hue.  The watery smile,

the saline must was not about him. 

   His hair was dusty. 

   He came back,

ready to love Fire child.  And where

was she? 

Merboy climbed

     to the roof

of their grotto and saw his fire child dancing in the waves. 

   With horror and a strangled

hold on his throat, he climbed

   down from the roof. 

       He called to his Fire child. 

         She came swimming

up to him, a briny smile

and seaweed in her hair. 

Look, I have come back to love you. He said dully.

She: Oh, come in,

   swim with me But Merboy would not.

He: I have gone to Paradiso Mer,

   to become for you a love that you wished, and washed

     myself of the sea, with dirt, soil,

   and treasures ravaged from the sea. 

I have asked the lowliest to the grandest sage,

`How do I love my love?  How

   do I bring back her beautiful flames? 

Why is there no fire in Paradiso mer?’ 

       And they laughed at me, saying that I

was of the sea and Paradiso

was of the land and that to win you

was like bringing hell into heaven.  Would I have that? 

     So I must go back to you. 

   We are stricken from Paradiso Mer,

my love, we are stricken,

       and I am dry. 

   He slumped into the shallow

   depths of the water.  Fire child

laughed, all abandon.  She: Come, swim with me! 

     and she raised herself

up to kiss him

   with her wet lips and led him

       into the sea, into deeper waters, where they swam

for a while,

   close to the fires of Paradiso Mer,

For many days and more nights,

   until exhausted, the sea closed in

     on Merboy and the fingers

of the sirens came, relentlessly,

   gloating in their countless faces

the fate of their sister, carrying away

   the limp body of Merboy.  Some sang,

     some cried for the boy

who gave them so many, and finally, himself.

Another while

   and the great vessel came sailing

from Paradiso Mer back to the mainlands. 

     Fire child swam up to the stern. 

Red one, oh how you have killed us! 

     Merboy is in the hands of the sirens. 

Red one looked strickenly at his sister.  Black one, hardened, said,

   You would not let me have him, so now

     he rightly belongs to your sisters, all of them!  She turned

from the edge, and left

   her brother standing there, sadly down at Fire child.

Red one, sadly down, 

Wait here.  He came back with darkened hands,

     and sadder still

                   and the vial. 

Instructed: Break it in the fires.  And threw

   down the vial to Fire child. 

She clutched it tightly in her fist.  And swam

     to the fires of Paradiso Mer.

As she approached, she made out the faces

   of her sisters, every detail

       was kept in her mind. 

She knew, she felt

       and yet a vague unfamiliarity, a gory sense

     invaded her wet body as she stepped

from the waters, into the fires

   and felt the crushing force

       of all the screams, skins, and joys

that had come into the fires.  They licked

   at her tender feet, they lapped

   at her briny hair and it caught fire, gleaming like the sun, whiter

than the stars. 

She stepped deeper into the fires,

   past her sisters, sisters with potency in them,

     cursing their desires, so many did they have. 

Fire child saw him, in the face of one

   of her eldest sisters, peering out, fighting

     to be seen, struggling against the lineaments

of a thousand others,

   contorting her sister into a gruesome image. 

You always did look into the sea, little sister. 

Merboy tried calling out, his voice lifted in a lilting soprano—of fire child’s sister. 

     Fire child!  Your hair!  And Fire child lifted her hands

towards the casement of her sister,

   sunk her hands into a morass of heat unbearable,

     and let her mind go insensible

as she lifted Merboy from the body of her sister. 

He collapsed on his knees, his face,

     against Fire child’s belly, his skin

       wavering in a thousand ways.  Fire child lifted Merboy,

       staggering under the weight,

     struggling against the blinding fires. 

As she walked past the laughing tearing faces of her sisters. They howled

   and spit fire at her,

     goring her with flames,

       through her breasts, her arms,

           her hands, her feet.  She stumbled,

she staggered, almost to the edge. 

She fell, and began pushing, feebly,

  Merboy to the water.  The waters

licked the fire and they tussled

and danced, loved for a moment before vaporizing. 

     Fire child looked

   upon the still body of Merboy.  His eyes fluttered. 

He saw Fire child,

enveloped in flames inside and out, her skin

peeling away like ice popping in water.  Fire child

   felt the tremor of faces build up in her,

     and then, almost with as many faces, looked once more,

        sank herself into Merboy’s bosom, and with a strangled tearing push,

sank him into the water. 

Fire child’s skin burnt like a husk,

     her body shriveling against the flames,

falling onto and crushing the vial,

while her sisters drew in on her.  Of a sudden,

her flames leapt high

   into the air and shuddered

   into a myriad of golden ashes, suspended,

hardly falling,

          drifting with the winds, until Merboy

wakened in the sea and swam up to the night sky

   clouded with golden dust.  They fell,

  gently, rained down one by one, while below

Merboy swam to catch each falling dust before

   it hit the water and broke

into a thousand more pieces

     and hazed

the waters for many days. 

He collected the ashes,

   incessantly,

until he could one day have them all,

   and reshape his love again into a figure

   of cool gold, melded

by the wetness of his hands.

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