Story: Yamato and the Mermaid

Yamato and the Mermaid

There once was a man named Yamato. In all of the land, nobody was his equal as a warrior. Since he was so brave and noble, Yamato could have had any woman in the land as his wife. One day, after saving the king's daughter, Princess Tachibana, from an evil band of thieves, he was rewarded with her hand in marriage. He gladly accepted, proud of his achievements and ability to serve the kingdom.

Yamato and Tachibana lived for many years happily. Yamato slayed villains left and right with Tachibana at his side. Every time he was praised in the city for his bravery, he felt renewed and re-energized by the cheers of his people. However, the criminals soon left the city to get away from Yamato. As crime left, the praise became sparing. Though his beloved wife supported him and admired him all the time, Yamato began to feel unsatisfied. He began to pull away from his wife, little by little, until one day he could not rest any longer.

Yamato left to go on an adventure. To start, he packed up his hunting supplies and took to the forest.

For several days Yamato chased the wooden creatures. At first, he hunted a squirrel. Then, he took down a white-tailed deer. The following day, he even trapped a bear as big as a mountain. Running out of challenges, Yamato pushed further into the darkness of the woods.

As he was bending down to place another trap, he started to hear something. At first, it was just a faint, almost dream-like melody that was barely louder than a whisper. But as the song grew louder, Yamato could not prevent himself from listening to it. As he listened, he didn't even notice that his feet were beginning to move out of the forest and onto a white, rocky beach. He reached the shore and kept going, diving into the ocean, swimming until he found himself in a dark, damp cave.

"Hello Yamato. Welcome to my home.", welcomed a warm, pointed voice.

Yamato snapped out of his daze for a moment. Staring across the cave from him was a mermaid more beautiful than any human woman he had ever laid eyes on.

"How did I end up here? And who are you exactly, fair maiden?", he answered.

"I am Benten, queen of the seas. And you, my dear Yamato, are going to be my newest servant."

Before he could protest, Yamato began to melt at the sound of the mermaid's melodious voice singing. He walked over to her and fell into her arms.

"Shh shhh... that's it. Soon you will be fighting all of my battles and we'll have the greatest kingdom this world has ever seen, land or sea."

Yamato, fading in and out of consciousness, felt his eyes grow heavier by the second. Just before his mind gave into the darkness completely, he was interrupted by a familiar voice.

"YAMATOOOO!" screamed the woman who had just entered the cave, panting.

Rubbing his eyes, Yamato recognized his beloved wife, Princess Tachibana.

Flushed with anger, Benten rose up and lashed out, "HOW DARE YOU ENTER MY CAVE! YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS!"

Benten began channeling some sort of ominous, green orb of light between her long, slender fingers. Before she could finish, however, Yamato realized that that magic was awfully similar to a curse that he had heard about in the Book of Ancient Wickedness. Shaking off the last feint haziness from his previous enchanted state, he rose up and knocked Benten over, causing her to launch her cursed orb at the ceiling, which ricocheted and forced a blood-curdling scream from the siren before she blacked out cold.

Benten, from the UnTextbook

From that day forward, Yamato never ventured off alone in search of adventure. Whenever he was feeling a little unsure of his place in the world, his beloved wife, the great Princess Tachibana, accompanied him in every one of his outings, hunting creatures or bringing evildoers to justice for their city.

Author's Note: This story is based off of Yamato - The Grotto of Love from the Japanese Mythology unit. I decided I like the main premise of the brave, adventuring getting bored of life at home after things settle down a bit because I think it's relateable. The events are kind of similar, as in Yamato getting lured into Benten's home, but the details are mostly of my creation. In this story, Princess Tachibana becomes the hero by following Yamato into the cave before it's too late.

Bibliography: Stories from Romance of Old Japan, Part I: Mythology and Legend by E.W. and F. Champney. Source.