The Mermaid and the Boy

The Mermaid and the Boy is a Sámi fairy tale collected by Josef Calasanz Poestion in Lapplandische Märchen (Wein; 1886). Andrew Lang included an English-language version in The Brown Fairy Book (1904).

It is Aarne-Thompson type 531. Other tales of this type include Ferdinand the Faithful and Ferdinand the Unfaithful, Corvetto, King Fortunatus's Golden Wig, and The Firebird and Princess Vasilisa. Another, literary variant is Madame d'Aulnoy's La Belle aux cheveux d'or, or The Story of Pretty Goldilocks.

A king, having been married a year, set out to settle disputes among some distant subjects. His ship, caught in a storm, was about to founder on the rocks when a mermaid appeared and promised to save him if he, in turn, would promise to give her his firstborn child. As the sea become more and more threatening,the king finally agreed.

On his return to his kingdom, he found his first son had been born and he told the queen what he had promised. They raised their son and when the youth was 16, the king and queen decided to have him leave home so the mermaid would not be able to find him when she came to collect on the promise. The king and queen sent the prince out into the world.

On his first night, the young prince met a hungry lion and shared his food with the beast; the lion repaid the kindness by giving him the tip of its ear and told him this gift would help him transform himself into a lion if he so wished. The prince turned himself into a lion the following day and traveled that way until he tired of it and turned himself back into a man. That night, the same thing happened with a bear asking for food and repaying the kindness with the tip of his ear that would turn the prince into a bear if he so wished. The following day, after he shared his food with a bumblebee he was given a hair from its wing that would transform the prince into a bee so he could fly all day without tiring.

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