The Justice of a Body Snatcher
– a love story by renan goksin –
Episode Eight: The Fish-Girl
There was a woman in Lake Valda whose three year old daughter had been missing for fifteen long years; she pushed the crowd aside and threw herself upon the creature, believing it to be her lost daughter. The little girl had grown scales all over her body and her hands had become large fins, while a multitude of shellfish and crabs nested on her skull, making the head look like a large rock with tearful green eyes. The mother held the fish-girl in her arms and wailed bitterly. The onlookers, moved by the mother-daughter reunion, ceased their passionate debate over the fish species of their beloved lake and joined in a communal effort to keep the creature alive. Buckets of water were thrown onto the fish-girl; they couldn’t have tried harder if the Chapel of Saint Sebastian had been on fire. A stretcher was quickly assembled, and a midwife attempted to ascertain the creature’s pulse. Meanwhile, the mother shrieked with joy; while caressing her daughter, she had noticed a tiny blue spot by the tail, and now, examining it through the thick silvery scales, she was convinced that it was the lapis lazuli talisman her daughter had once worn around her ankle. The chain had long broken, but the stone had remained embedded in the skin. All her doubts dispelled, she became delirious, grabbing the villagers to point out her auspicious discovery. Although on closer examination, many thought that the blue spot may not necessarily be a precious stone, since many fish have such markings, and in any case, it was so badly weathered that it could not be convincingly distinguished from a turquoise or a sapphire. The sad truth was that the creature lay with the dead mullet and the carp, and she too would soon be dying. They placed the fish-girl on the stretcher and carried her in a solemn procession to the shore, pausing briefly in front of the Chapel of Saint Sebastian to make the sign of the cross; all the while, the mother held the fish-girl’s head and continued to kiss it profusely, her mouth bleeding from the cuts inflicted by the sharp shells. In the end, they had no choice but to release the creature back into the lake. It floated on its back for a while, seeming at first as if she were in two minds, then suddenly she splashed and darted into where she had come from.
‘The fish-girl?’ pondered Herman. Although he didn’t believe a word of it, the story had made him uneasy. As he spoke, Gabriel’s moon-shaped face was flickering in silvery streaks from the light of the oil lamps in the tavern. Herman blinked a few times to recollect himself and then ordered another round of drinks.
“They are very reluctant to fish the lake now,” Gabriel thoughtfully added. “They think all the people who have gone missing over the years are now living at the bottom of the lake. You can’t really blame them, can you Herman?”
“Your story is not as miraculous as it first sounds. It is possible for people to live under water and become like fish; it is a logical conclusion, if one lived under water, one would have to become like fish. Niet soe? I read somewhere that the Turks throw their male offspring into a river as soon as they are born. This is meant to strengthen their constitution and make them more resilient in life. If, for some reason of forgetfulness, they are left in the water for too long, the babies metamorphose into fish and cannot be recovered.”
Having said this, Herman burst into sanguine laughter, delighted by his own humorous invention. Gabriel believed anything; Gabriel wanted to believe everything, but over the years, he had learnt to be cautious with Herman, who would tell a fabulous tale only to disclose in the end that he had just made it up. He examined Herman’s face intently but still could not figure out whether or not he was serious.
“I don’t know about the Turks, but mine was not a story,” he protested. “It is all true. The fishermen are coming here to look for work now, because no one buys their catch anymore, since people can’t trust what they eat from the lake. I met one the other day at Vanhausen’s Vineyard, and that’s how I know what happened.”
“I thought there was an old saying that one would eat even one’s father as long as it was fetched from the sea.”
“Don’t joke Herman; strange things are happening these days, and we people just carry on oblivious to what is around us. The end of the world is near.”
to be continued…
next episode: 9- “I guess I am a Storyteller”
