The Story of the Two Rock Men

A long, long time ago in a time of gentle peace, there was a young sailor. He
was a silent man with a kind heart. On one of his many voyages, he met, by
chance, a beautiful mermaid. Now, he immediately fell in love with her. He
would sit and watch her as she swam in the ocean. Then , as many other
sailors did, he would go to the tavern.

As chance would have it, one night our young man met with another tougher
bully. He was smaller but meaner and stronger. He boosted about a mermaid
he had seen. But then he said more and claimed her as his. The young man,
unable to bear such things said about his friend, confronted the bully and the
rest of the men. He told them she could not be claimed and what was said
was not true.

Unfortunately, for the young man the bully liked to fight. The brawl that
took place that night was just the beginning of a long war between the two
men. Neither man would give in. The mermaid watched both men fight but,
truly, in her heart she loved the young heroic man she met first.

It was stormy day when the two men met on the shore. The bully was in a
rage when he met the younger man walking down the beach. Unable to
control his rage, he came out at the young man with a rock from behind. He
smashed him with the rock and killed him.

The mermaid saw the murder of her lover and went to ask for Poseidon's
help. Poseidon liked this young woman and, being the God of the seas
and oceans, agreed to help. On the shore where the two men had been
fighting lay the body of the sailor. The murderer stood on a rock looking
extremely pleased at his victory. Poseidon, not liking such disobedience
turned the bully into a rock forever to wash up on the shore, the same way
he'd left the sailor's body. For the mermaid, he also turned the young man's
body into a rock so he could forever be close to his mermaid.

So now, today, the rocks can still be found. A small triangular one with a
picture of an oval head and an angry expression. That is the bully's head,
still angry and unhappy. In a more square rock is a bigger head with the
round smiling face of the young sailor.

©1999 by bluebear

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