alnahn’cina’resdul
Fable Fourteen
The Child of the Councilor
ne summer’s day, a councilor was walking along the market in her splendid regalia, attended by her many servants.
²She was so splendid that a small mer in the crowd told his mother,
“I wish my mother was a councilor, instead of you!”
³The little mer never expected the councilor to hear him, nor did he expect her to turn toward him in the crowd.
⁴“I have heard your wish, little one, and I accept,” she told the open-mouthed little mer. ⁵“You will be my child, and you will have all that you wish.”
⁶The little mer was immediately taken to the councilor’s manor and placed in a room with toys and sweets. ⁷He laughed and clapped his hands, playing and eating all he wished. But soon he grew bored and went to speak to a servant.
⁸“It’s no fun playing by myself,” he told the servant. “Can I have someone to play with?”
⁹“The child of the councilor has no equal,” the servant told him. “There is none worthy to play with you.”
¹⁰The little mer had little time to think on this when a scholar came to his room. ¹¹The scholar looked upon the little mer with scorn and said,
“Your lessons should have begun hours ago! The child of the councilor must know many great things.”
¹²The little mer was made to listen to the scholar’s lectures for hours and hours, and soon his head ached with all that he was to know.
¹³Eventually it was time for dinner, but the little mer’s troubles were not over.
“In those clothes? In that state?” cried his servant, horrified. ¹⁴“You must be washed and clothed if you are to be presented as the child of the councilor!”
¹⁵And so the little mer was scrubbed roughly and forced into very uncomfortable clothes.
¹⁶By this point the little mer was almost in tears. He missed his home, and his clothes, and his friends. But most of all he missed his mother, who he had never gone a day without.
¹⁷When the little mer was finally sent to the dining hall, he was met with a surprise. Seated at the dining table was his family, all laughing and smiling. ¹⁸He ran to his mother’s arms and cried,
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I want you to be my mother after all!”
¹⁹The councilor, who was seated at the head of the table, smiled and told the little mer,
“You have learned a very important lesson, my child. ²⁰We often forget to be thankful for what we have, when thinking only of what we want.”