The Queen of Oceanside
Once upon a time, in a quiet seaside town named 'Oceanside', lived a sweet, loving, and old couple, Mr. and Mrs. Baker. As the name suggests, they were bakers, who owned a tiny yet famous bakery in the heart of the town. Their bakery was famed for its sweet-dough apple pies.
They had a granddaughter named Penny who they loved dearly. Penny was a precocious six-year-old with the imagination of a thousand suns. Her favorite pastime was wandering around the bakery, savouring the tantalizing aroma of fresh bread and pastries, helping her grandparents with small chores, and above all, listening to Mr. Baker's enchanting tales of mermaids.
Mr. Baker was an extraordinary storyteller. His stories were pieces of magic, filled with fantastic creatures, and heroic adventures, and but no stories caught Penny's fascination as much as the one about Pearl, the queen of all mermaids who lived right there, in their very own Oceanside.
As years passed by, Penny's belief in mermaids grew stronger. At the age of twelve, she decided that she would go and find Pearl, the queen of mermaids. She packed her small red bag with a flashlight, a note pad, and her favorite apple pie, well-baked by Mrs. Baker, and walked to the far end of Oceanside where no one dared to go after dusk.
The further she walked, the louder the whispers of the ocean seemed to get. Excitement buzzed within her, mixed with a good dash of fear. Soon she found herself standing on an outcrop of rocks that jutted out into the sea. The high, voiceless song of the ocean was deafening. As the last ray of the sun dissolved into the sea, she saw something that took her breath away.
Before her eyes, in the twilight glow, appeared a vision of unfathomable beauty. A mermaid, her lower body sparkling with iridescent scales, her upper body human-like, but far more beautiful than any human could ever be. It was Pearl.
Pearl looked at Penny with her deep sea-blue eyes, startling Penny from her stupor. 'I bid you welcome, Penny' she said. The sound of her voice was like the song of a thousand sirens, melodic, but with a touch of melancholy.
Penny, overwhelmed with astonishment, asked how Pearl knew her name. Pearl then revealed that she knew Mr. Baker, who was a seafarer in his youth. He saved her life when she was caught by fisherman's net, and she'd forever been grateful to him.
Pearl thanked Penny for belief in mermaids and enchanted her pen which wouldn't run out of ink. Penny spent the rest of her childhood writing stories about mermaids and magical ocean creatures and often visited Pearl, sharing the tales with her.
Years turned Penny into an acclaimed author who continued to inspire people to believe in magic with her enchanting stories about mermaids. Her most popular book, 'The Queen of Oceanside', touched numerous hearts, just as she was touched once by the serene beauty of a mermaid. Her sight might have faded with her growing age, but the magic bestowed by Pearl, the memory of her mystical face, and the laughter of the sea remained with her forever.