Mermaid's Poem (II)

The poet was not sure if the old fox believed the story that the fish scales were picked up from the beach, nor did he know how much the black-hearted merchant had pressed for, but the final deal was quite satisfactory to him. At least hunger food and healing medicine have been settled, and even has money left over for him to give the girl selling flowers a copper plate on the way home, in exchange for a fiery red rose. It matched the mermaid's black hair, he thought. When the poet returned to his residence, it was already dark outside, and there were no lights in the house, except for the sparkling moonlight reflected in the pool. The entire mermaid is sunk in the pool, even the lips and the tip of the nose are submerged in the water, only the upper half of the face outside, the blue eyes are darker and brighter, through a seemingly demonic. The poet rummaged around for half a day to find half a candle, sitting on the edge of the pool by the light of this fire, the mermaid swam closer to him, the poet will be stuck in her hair, and he expected the same, the fire red flowers in the dark hair, like the young girls in town dress, and better than any of them. And the mermaid does not understand this, there is no such thing as flowers in the sea, she just obediently accepted the poet's dress, and then lets the other side grab their arms from the water, which will be ointment to the wound. It should be very painful because the mermaid's throat made a "hissing" huffing sound. But that's all, she stood motionless in the water like a reef, watching the poet smear the ointment a little, from the beginning to the end without pain and resistance. For the poet who saved himself, she seemed to be unguardedly trusting, bearing, stoic, and docile, meek to the extreme. The poet looked momentarily disoriented, his hand shook, and the ointment fell into the water. The mermaid immediately turned into the water, the petals in the hair scattered also do not care, but the ointment in the mouth emerged from the water, looking up at the poet. The poet hesitated to take away the ointment from the mermaid's mouth, but his hand involuntarily slipped towards the soft cheek. The mermaid did not dodge, and even took the initiative to press her face into his hand and rub it gently, while her eyes were full of purity, oblivious to her stunning beauty. It is said that mermaids are cold-blooded animals, so her cheeks and the previously fallen fish scales are equally warm, and the ice formed at the bottom of the sea. Only the poet's palm is always on fire. *** For the next many days, no one in town knew that the down-and-out poet had raised a mermaid. But to be more precise, she was also raising the poet and herself. Because the poet needs to pick up the shed fish scales from the pool from time to time, and take it outside to exchange for food and medicine, as well as candles and firewood, ink, paper and pencil, and other odds and ends. Occasionally there will be a blooming flower, the poet inserted in an empty bottle, placed on the edge of the pool. The mermaid at first did not understand why the poet always came to pick up the scales at the bottom of the pool, more times she understood, that it is a necessary exchange. Later, whenever she saw the poet standing at the edge of the pool, the mermaid would be the first to dive into the bottom of the pool, then emerge from the water, open the palms of her webbed fingers, and hold a few silvery-blue fish scales high in front of the poet. The small scales are worth a lot of money, enough to cover short-term living needs, and if we are serious, this can make the poor poet live a little better than before the rescue of the mermaid. So every time the poet receives the scales, the mood is not so open. But what was involved in that lack of openness, the poet did not want to think about. He told himself that this was something inevitable, he saved her, just want her to be free, never to covet anything. When the mermaid is completely healed, he will send her back to the sea, away from the greed and malice on the shore.