Long ago on a bright, sunny day, a girl named Cora decided that she was going to go to the beach to create a painting. You see, Cora loved nature and she was a very good artist. Today she wanted to paint the bright, blue ocean.

When she arrived at the beach, she wanted to make sure that her painting was an exact copy of the sea, so she took a small boat and rowed all the way out to sea. She observed the way the waves flowed and the different shades of the water when it fell onto the glimmering sand. This made her realize that the water was much calmer than usual which meant that Poseidon, god of the sea, was very happy. This made her happy too!

As she continued examining the water, she realized that the tide was starting to come in which meant that she needed to get back to shore. Then all of a sudden, a ginormous wave came up from behind Cora tossing her underneath the surface and away from her boat.

aahhh!!

While this was happening, a sea nymph named Nymphadora was singing a happy tune down under the sea. She sang the chant of Poseidon that sometimes drew in ships from afar just so they could hear the Nymphs beautiful voices.

It went something like this,

“Poseidon, Poseidon, your a great treasure, known to man as the one who gives pleasure. To all the men and women when they call your name, are letting all the mortals know of your eternal fame.”

"Oh oh oh oh"

Even though Cora was still unconscious, she heard the nymph’s voice and she slowly started moving closer and closer to Nymphadora. Eventually, Nymphadora caught sight of Cora.

She decided to call to Cora, “Hello, mortal there. Are you okay?”

Cora didn’t answer. Nymphadora swam closer. “I’m not supposed to talk to mortals, Poseidon says that they would use us nymphs to do their bidding and sell us for money. But I don’t believe a single word he says. He just wants us not to fall in love. He wants to steal all the fame and attention of everyone.” Cora still didn’t answer.

Nymphadora started to speak as a certain thought struck her head, “I forgot! You can’t breath underwater!” She immediately grabbed Cora by the arm and swam her back up to the mortal’s land.

Cora woke up coughing water and gasping for air until Nymphadora came into view. She examined her with interest and said, “What are you? Who are you? Where am I?!”

“I am Nymphadora, a sea nymph. I saw you drowning and I couldn’t just leave you there, so I swam you back to your land, the mortal world.” said Nymphadora.

Cora was still observing her and examining the very fine details around Nymphadora's tail. “You are very beautiful,” said Cora, “I have never met a sea nymph before.”

You are beautiful!

Nymphadora was both pleased and surprised. Poseidon had told them that humans would not like them because they were to pretty and they were very different from them. Yet, Cora seemed so interested and happy to be meeting her. “My name is Cora. I love to paint and you would look so pretty in one of my paintings,” said Cora.

Nymphadora was confused, “What’s a painting?”

After a long conversation, Cora and Nymphadora became very good friends. They decided that every day they would meet each other at the beach and they would teach one another things about their worlds. One day, when they were meeting, a huge storm blew across the ocean and around the mortal’s world.

Poseidon emerged from the water looking very angry. “Nymphadora, you have disobeyed me! You have been talking to a human!”

 Nymphadora responded with confidence, “The humans are not at all what you say they are and I’m tired of you having all the fame and not caring about anyone else but yourself!”

Poseidon turned red with rage. “Because of your actions, the world will suffer!” He pointed his trident to the sky and a huge storm was created. The force of the wind was so powerful that Cora and Nymphadora were blown apart back to their own worlds.

The storm went on for hours, days, weeks, months, years on end. It became so harsh that all the mortals had to take shelter in their homes. All the crops were washed away and everything was flooded with water. The people became cold and hungry and soon, they started to get sick. The Nymphs down in the ocean didn’t have it any better. They couldn’t go up to the surface and the water was always dark and gloomy. After so much stormy weather, it became unbearable for everyone. Nymphadora was getting tired of this. She decided to go to Poseidon.

End all of this harsh weather

Poseidon saw her and he said, “Nymphadora, why are you here? I told you not to come to me until you agreed to not see the mortals. Have you finally given in?”

“No, I have have not Poseidon,” said Nymphadora, “I have come to ask if you will end all this harsh weather. It is hurting the mortals and has driven all fun from us Nymphs.”

“You must understand that you must agree with me and then I will end it,” said Poseidon.

Then I will find someone who will

Nymphadora replied in an angry tone, “I am tired of you always thinking of yourself. Have you ever looked at the mortals? They are suffering because of something they never did!”

“Exactly, they are suffering from something YOU did!” said Poseidon.



Nymphadora yelled, “Well if you are not going to help me, then I will find someone who will!”

Tired of Poseidon’s selfish attitude  , Nymphadora swam up to the mortal world to find Cora. She believed that only Cora would understand that they had to stop all this bad weather. She brought some magic coral with her from Poseidon’s cave (although he didn’t know it was stolen). She sang a wish to the coral to be mortal as long as she needed to. That way she could find Cora and get her to help her.

Her wish went like this, “Oh magic coral I hope you hear my cry, to make me a mortal, to look mortal, starting from toe up to my eye. Although it is against the rules for someone like me, a “fish”, I hope luck will be on my side and that you will grant my wish.

At these words, the coral lit up and Nymphadora felt a splitting feeling in her tail. She sat down on the sandy beach and her once beautiful, shimmering tail now was a pair of human legs.

Knowing that Cora lived near by, Nymphadora hobled on her new legs down to Cora’s house. The weather in the mortal world wasn’t much better than the weather in the sea. Almost all of the houses Nymphadora saw were either destroyed or flooded. It was an awful sight. Almost as awful as the selfish look on Poseidon’s face when he watched the mortal’s homes being destroyed.