The Mermaid
The Mermaid
There was a man living in Lochboisdale called Donald MacLeod, whose people belonged to the Isle of Mull. He was at the East Coast fishing, and one morning they were coming in from the sea, running before a strong wind with two reefs in their sail, they noticed a mermaid come to the surface aft of them. The boat was running before the wind with two reefs, and the mermaid was keeping up with them. The skipper threw out a herring, and the mermaid remained on the surface. The skipper then asked all the others to throw out a herring, and they all threw out a herring in turn, and she didn't submerge. Donald threw out a herring; as soon as he threw it, the mermaid went under. When the skipper got into port, he took Donald ashore with him and paid his wages and sent him home. He asked him. He asked him to take care of himself, and said that no matter how long a time it would be, Donald would be drowned some day as sure as anybody ever was.
Donald stayed ashore a year. At the end of that time, a merchant in Loch Skipport came to Lochboisdale and bought a boat from the hotelkeeper there, and was going to take it to Loch Skipport. He thought that Donald was the best man he could take with him. Donald, against his judgement, went with him. Unfortunately the day changed and the weather became very bad from the north-east, and the boat was wrecked off Uishnish Point, and neither of them was ever found, Donald or the merchant.
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