A Strong and Peculiar Friendship (An Original Children's Story)

^{Image Source}

Once upon a time, there was a small island where the humans and mermaids had lived together in harmony. For centuries, they had developed a strong bond and friendship despite of their differences. The people in the island had pledged to protect the sea at all cost, and in return, the mermaids vowed to provide them with bountiful harvests for their daily needs. The mermaids had remained true to their promise through the years, and the people never starved.

One day, a group of sailors got lost in the sea and found the island. They had come from a faraway land, and were supposed to go somewhere else, but because of the storm, their ship had stirred to a different direction. They asked the residents of the island if they could stay with them for three days, as their ship was badly damaged and had to be repaired.

The residents, who seldom has any visitors, gladly accepted the sailors into their homes. They were given enough food and a comfortable place to sleep in. They slept very well that night. But what the residents didn't know was that their visitors were thieves who'd fled from their land to avoid being imprisoned. The thieves woke up early the next day and quietly broke into the homes of the residents and took everything that they believed to be valuable -- jewelries, money, fine clothes and other expensive things.

They stashed their loots in a hidden compartment inside their ship and went back to their tent and pretended to be asleep. When the residents woke up, they noticed that their valuables were missing. This had never happened before, so they instantly had a hunch that it was their visitors' doing. When they checked the tent, the men were still asleep. They decided to let it pass.

The thieves started repairing their ship that day, wondering why the residents had never said anything about their lost goods. In fact, the residents had remained nice and hospitable to them. The thieves felt guilty, and knew that they had to leave the island as soon as possible.

It took them three days to repair the ship, and at last, it was time to go. The residents all gathered by the shore and brought them barrels of fishes for their journey. As soon as the ship was sailing away with the thieves along with their stolen valuables, the residents called on to their magical friends for help.

They told the mermaids everything, and the sea creatures didn't hesitate to help. Once the ship was right in the middle of the ocean, the mermaids shook the waters, strong enough that the ship had capsized in no time.

The mermaids searched the ship for the stolen items. Luckily, the compartment broke down when the ship had upturned, so the mermaids easily found the bag where all the valuables were hidden. They brought the bag to the residents at once, while the thieves were still struggling to stay afloat.

Needless to say, the thieves never came back, and no one ever dared to steal anything from the island again.