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*Written in 'hand-writing' of a very unusual nature, perhaps written down in a more magical manner than physical, and it seems to be a work in progress, as there are blank pages to follow*
It occurred to me that of all the poetry and songs I have heard her speak and sing that someone should be writing this down, perhaps for posterity's sake. For who can catch something as transitory as the words and poetry of the feyish?
Perhaps one day, I shall also record our history here, the history of my beloved Bubbles, the mistress dear to my heart--and thus perhaps proving the existence of a "heart" within a beholderkin. For such am I, and here, as in all of the Isles around and near Amia, I am called by my fey "Tulip," and seek to capture a bit of my mistress on paper, in the hopes that when we are but dust, her words may be remembered still, and I, as well, in recording them.
Her most recent poetry I shall start with first, as it is the freshest in my memory. For as she has wandered, she hears the singing and the poetry of many varying creatures, mundane and magical, and her mind, full of the spirit of Revelrie, seems to remember them all, and then she recites them. The titles are my own, as she has never been so formal.
The Tale of the Fish-Maiden
There once was a little fish maiden
Who swam so under the sea;
The bluish light would guide her,
Through rocks and shells and weeds;
But a big black crab
Lived under a rock
By the little fish maid
Who swims so under the sea;
And he liked nothing more
Than to eat at the eyes
Of the little fish maids
Who swim so under the sea;
So he plotted and he planned
And he laid out a trap
Of woven weeds and pin-cushion urchins
And he laid in wait
For the little fish maiden,
Golden and blue-scaled pretty fish maiden,
Who swims so under the sea;
He heard coming near
Swish, swish and a flash of maiden hair,
He watched for her golden tail,
Swish, swish and beautiful glow came near;
Ker-splash! The net!
It twisted about,
And the shrill and bubbled yell
Of a sweet and little fish maiden
Who swims so under the sea;
For it pinched and it grabbed
And it tackled and it stung
The little fish maid at the bottom of the sea;
Now comes the blackened crab man,
Snapping at her with claws--snap, snap!
And he chokes with the cackling,
And he cracks with his shuffling as he comes near
To the Lovely little sea maid,
Glittering and panicking
As she tries to swim so under the sea;
'Little fish maid,' he says, crackling his claws,
'I am gratified to see--you did not keep watch
As you should have done, while you swam so under the sea,'
'Oh blackened crab,' the maiden says,
'Your kind is known to me.
You will have my eyes and my swishing tail,
And add them to your stew,
To your bubbling stewpot under the sea.'
'I will, in fact,' says the blackened crab,
And approaches the deadly net.
'But what if I were to offer you something
Far, far tastier yet?'
The black crab stops, and crackles his claws,
And examines the gold and blue maid;
'In truth?' he asks, for he really was a
Very Greedy Crab;
'Indeed!' she cries, 'I know just where
Mountains of oysters lie!
For I swam just past, an hour ago,
And the pearl beds caught my eye;'
Now oysters dear the crab did love,
Far above and beyond the rest;
For what are eyes to the crackable shells
And the delicious morsels inside?
He smacked his mouth, and thought of this,
And hmm'd and haw'd beside;
'So fish maid, I will set you loose,
And you swear you'll lead the way?
For if you swim off, fooling me,
I'll just catch you another day--
And no mercy then! I'll eat you up,
And all your sisters beside!
Mark my words, girl, it will come,
Before you next see the high tide!'
The fish maid then, she flashed her tail,
Helplessly under the snare,
'I tell you truth, on mine and my sister's lives,
The oysters you'll find there.'
'Fair enough,' said the crab,
'Since you bet your life and your sister's too
On my sure success, I'll let you loose--
Now just a moment--
These urchin pins are a mess.'
So the fish maid's loose,
No worse for the trap, and motions
For her captor to follow--
She led him through the sandy moors
And rockbeds, long and hollow.
When finally he cries out:
He is tired--for he must walk,
While she does glide,
She turns about and looks at him,
And says, 'Why, I'll carry you besides.'
'Well, thank you, miss, that's kind of you,
We'll go along in style;
For many long years I've been under my rock,
And not travelled so many a mile.'
So she grabs him up with her clever hands,
And swims with him this way for a while;
'I'm awfully sleepy, with this gentle movement,'
The Crab King says--
'Then rest your head a while.'
And while he sleeps, she swoops him up,
Straight up from the briny deeps, and
Holds him aloft on the surface of the sea,
Til a pelican spies this feast on a platter,
And helps himself to deep sea crab,
Held aloft on such a strange ladder.
A swoop, a swish, a cry, a gulp,
And the fish maid cries, 'Harumph!
Forever gone are your greedy ways!
And my sisters and I are safe!'
And she flips her tail in a bump on the sea,
A golden flash that a sailor does see,
And tells the tale to his son,
Of a little fish maiden under the sea,
Of a glittery golden
Beautiful Maid
Who swims so under the sea.
_________________ 
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