The Lady Of The Sea

"One more story, Grandmere, s'il vous plait?" I would beg. "Tell me the one about the Lady of the Sea?" My grandmother would then sigh and say, "d'accord, one last story and you go to sleep, ma cherie."

When I was young, I used to stay with my grandmother in France every holiday. She had the prettiest little cottage by the sea and I loved it. Every night, I listened to the thrashing sound of the waves when it hit the sand and then wait for it to recede only to crash headlong onto the perfect white sand again. Sometimes, I sat by the window and marvelled at the reflection of the moon or the diamond sparkles glinting off the surface of the smooth water.

My grandmother would tuck me deeper into the bundle of warm blankets and finally begin her story. "Once upon a time, there was a lovely maiden whose name was Helena." She would pause here to tuck my hair behind my ears. "And she had long, dark auburn hair like yours. Now, there was this handsome young man, who was madly in love with her and had asked for her hand in marriage.

"Helena's father, who was the chief in this little village did not approve of their relationship for Etienne was a poor boy who could offer nothing for his daughter. In an attempt to get rid of this boy, Monsieur de Volange, Helena's father, sent him on a war with the other young men. Promising Helena that he would be back, he gave her a stalk of rose and set off." My attention would then automatically shift to the vase of blood red roses on the table by the window.

"For months, Helena waited for her beloved Etienne. She would creep out of her house every night and wander aimlessly along the rocky shore." Here, my grandmother would turn her gaze to the opened window and stare at the sea for a moment before giving a secret little smile as if she had just seen Helena wandering past.

 "Years passed by and Helena had finally accepted that her Etienne was never coming back. She had given her heart and soul to Etienne and when his ship sank, her heart had also drowned with him. "Brokenhearted, the girl plunged into the dark water one night and they never found her body. Legend has it that she had finally joined her lover under the sea where his ship lies. Some people even claimed that they saw her wandering by the shore and out in the sea a pearly white ghost ship had resurfaced from the bottom of the ocean floor. And so, Helena and her Etienne are together again. People have since then called her, The Lady of the Sea."

My grandmother would lean down and kiss my forehead gently. "Sleep, mon amour. And never may your fate be as terrible as Helena's." It was in those nights, that I would dream of Helena, with her long flowing gown of blue silk, billowing in the wind like waves. Only in my dream, I was Helena and I never saw my Etienne again.