# How the Mermaid Found Her Tail 🧜♀️ Magical Story for Kids

An episode of [Snuggle: Kids bedtime stories](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1714672018), 12 Nov 2023, 23 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/62031753/2390223f_64a0_02d8_9b31_48b1404e27d9.mp3

Friends come together under the sea to help Maria the Mermaid find her tail. Narrated by: Thomas Jones Written by: Laila Weir Welcome to Snuggle! The best kid's story-telling podcast. Enter a cozy world of imagination perfect for bedtime, quiet time, or any time you want to embark on an enchanting adventure. Learn more at slumberstudios.com/snuggle To enjoy ad-free listening and exclusive bonus episodes, start your 7-day free trial of Snuggle Premium: https://snuggle.supercast.com/ November only: try Premium free for 90 days. Ad-free listening and more at slumber.supercast.com

## Transcript

[0:04] Speaker 1: Welcome to snuggle Cozy Stories for kids. This episode is
[0:10] Speaker 1: called How the Mermaid Found Her Tail. Hey, friend, my
[0:18] Speaker 1: name is Tom, and I'm so glad you're here because
[0:22] Speaker 1: it's story time. Whether it's for a nap, for bed,
[0:27] Speaker 1: or just for fun, story time is my favorite part
[0:31] Speaker 1: of the day, especially when friends like you are here
[0:35] Speaker 1: to join me. If it's not your favorite yet, then
[0:40] Speaker 1: I bet it will be soon. Because in stories, we
[0:45] Speaker 1: can go anywhere and do anything. There are no limits.
[0:51] Speaker 1: All we have to do is use our imaginations. The
[0:56] Speaker 1: story I'll read in this episode is about a murmurad.
[1:01] Speaker 1: Mermaids are magical sea creatures, half human, half fish. If
[1:08] Speaker 1: you only saw their face, you'd think they were just
[1:11] Speaker 1: like you and me, but instead of legs and feet,
[1:16] Speaker 1: they have big, long fish tails. It helps them swim
[1:21] Speaker 1: through the ocean. The mermaid in this story has lost
[1:27] Speaker 1: her tail, though, so she's going on an adventure to
[1:31] Speaker 1: find it. Now. I don't know about you, but I've
[1:36] Speaker 1: never been to the bottom of the ocean before, and
[1:40] Speaker 1: that's where our story takes place, so we'll have to
[1:44] Speaker 1: imagine going there. Let's take a nice deep breath together
[1:51] Speaker 1: to warm up our imaginations. Breathe in nice and fully
[2:02] Speaker 1: and breathe out perfect. Now we're ready to head to
[2:11] Speaker 1: the ocean and help the mermaid find her tail. Once
[2:29] Speaker 1: upon a time, in a sunny little bay, turquoise water
[2:35] Speaker 1: splashed against silvery sand, a young mermaid lay in the sun,
[2:43] Speaker 1: stretched out on a flat, smooth rock at the edge
[2:47] Speaker 1: of the bay. The yellow sun was bright in the
[2:53] Speaker 1: blue blue sky, and the sun's rays had heated the
[2:59] Speaker 1: rock until it felt warm and cozy. The warm rock
[3:06] Speaker 1: was smooth and flat. It felt just right for a
[3:12] Speaker 1: young mermaid to lie on, watching the birds swooping through
[3:17] Speaker 1: the blue sky and the turquoise waves lapping the sand.
[3:25] Speaker 1: The young mermaid's name was Maria. She lay comfortably across
[3:32] Speaker 1: the rock, feeling just as cozy as could be. In fact,
[3:40] Speaker 1: the rock felt so cozy and warm and smooth and
[3:46] Speaker 1: flat that Maria began to feel sleepy. The warm sun
[3:56] Speaker 1: on her skin and the peaceful sound of the way
[4:00] Speaker 1: leaves splashing the sand made her grow sleepy, and before
[4:08] Speaker 1: she knew it, Maria's eyelids began to close. Her head
[4:16] Speaker 1: was resting on the warm, smooth rock, and it felt
[4:22] Speaker 1: so good to let her eyes rest too, As she rested,
[4:30] Speaker 1: She heard the birds calling and the sound of their
[4:34] Speaker 1: wings swooping through the warm sea air. She heard the
[4:41] Speaker 1: water splashing softly, softly against the sand and against her
[4:49] Speaker 1: own rock. She felt the warm, smooth rock beneath her.
[4:58] Speaker 1: She felt the warm, damp air above her, and she
[5:05] Speaker 1: felt the soft spray of water when a wave struck
[5:10] Speaker 1: her rock, then again when another wave came, and another,
[5:20] Speaker 1: and slowly, Maria the Mermaid drifted off to sleep. She
[5:30] Speaker 1: dozed in the sunshine of her beautiful bay. She dozed
[5:38] Speaker 1: and dozed until she heard a different kind of sound.
[5:46] Speaker 1: It wasn't the waves splashing the rock. It wasn't the
[5:51] Speaker 1: birds calling or their wings swooping through the warm air.
[5:58] Speaker 1: It wasn't the water lapping the silvery sand. It was
[6:05] Speaker 1: something else, a kind of quiet, dragging sound that was
[6:12] Speaker 1: different from all the other sounds of the bay. Maria
[6:18] Speaker 1: the Mermaid blinked her tired eyes slowly, once, twice, three times.
[6:30] Speaker 1: She stretched her arms out over her head. She stretched
[6:35] Speaker 1: her back, and she yawned, a big, satisfying yawn. Then
[6:46] Speaker 1: she wanted to stretch her tail. But when she started
[6:51] Speaker 1: to stretch it, she felt something missing, so she looked
[6:59] Speaker 1: down at where the end of her tail should be,
[7:03] Speaker 1: and there was nothing there. Now you may not know it,
[7:11] Speaker 1: but the end of a mermaid's tail can come off
[7:15] Speaker 1: the same as you and I might take off a
[7:18] Speaker 1: pair of shoes. At least in Maria the Mermaid's World,
[7:26] Speaker 1: mermaid's tails can come off. You see, in Maria's world,
[7:34] Speaker 1: the mermaids have a long part of their tail. That's
[7:39] Speaker 1: where you and I have our legs. That part doesn't
[7:45] Speaker 1: come off anymore than our legs do. But at the
[7:51] Speaker 1: tip of their tails, they have their fins where you
[7:55] Speaker 1: and I have feet, and that part can come off,
[8:02] Speaker 1: just like you can slip off your shoes when you're
[8:05] Speaker 1: ready to go to bed. And that thin part of
[8:11] Speaker 1: her tail was missing when Maria woke up from her
[8:16] Speaker 1: nap on the rock well. When she realized her tail
[8:23] Speaker 1: was missing, Maria knew that it wouldn't do at all
[8:28] Speaker 1: to lose her tail. She had to go and look
[8:32] Speaker 1: for it. So she sat up and stretched again, reaching
[8:41] Speaker 1: her arms way way up over her head towards the
[8:46] Speaker 1: yellow sun in the deep blue sky. Then she took
[8:53] Speaker 1: a deep breath of the salty sea air, and she
[8:59] Speaker 1: began to look around in search of her tail. She
[9:05] Speaker 1: turned this way, and she turned that way. She looked here,
[9:12] Speaker 1: and she looked there. But nowhere did she see her tail.
[9:20] Speaker 1: What could have become of it? Now? The good thing
[9:27] Speaker 1: is mermaids can still swim without their tails, at least
[9:33] Speaker 1: in Maria's world anyway. They just can't swim quite as
[9:38] Speaker 1: fast or as well. So Maria the mermaid slid off
[9:46] Speaker 1: her rock into the cool, salty water of the Turquoise Bay,
[9:54] Speaker 1: and she swam off a little bumpily to look for
[9:58] Speaker 1: her missing tail. First, she went to visit the old
[10:05] Speaker 1: grandfather Fish, who lived among the rocks in the deepest
[10:10] Speaker 1: part of the bay. There, the water was a blue
[10:16] Speaker 1: green color. Under the shadows of the rocks, green seaweed
[10:22] Speaker 1: waved slowly moving in the gentle currents of the water.
[10:31] Speaker 1: Old Grandfather Fish came out from the rocks as she
[10:35] Speaker 1: swam towards his home. He welcomed her kindly in his
[10:42] Speaker 1: deep rumbling grandfather voice. Hallo, grandfather Fish, Maria said politely,
[10:52] Speaker 1: for she was a very polite little mermaid. Have you
[10:57] Speaker 1: seen my tail? Grandfather Fish peered where her tail should
[11:04] Speaker 1: have been. He raised his eyebrows when he saw that
[11:10] Speaker 1: the fins were missing, but he shook his head. No,
[11:18] Speaker 1: he hadn't seen Maria's tail. Grandfather Fish suggested that she
[11:25] Speaker 1: visit Missus Seahorse, who lived in the waving field of
[11:30] Speaker 1: sea grass not so far away. So Maria the Mermaid
[11:38] Speaker 1: thanked old Grandfather Fish and said goodbye to him. Then
[11:46] Speaker 1: she swam away from the blue green shadows of the rocks.
[11:54] Speaker 1: She glided through the water to the waving field of
[11:59] Speaker 1: sea grass. Here the sunlight filtered down through the water.
[12:07] Speaker 1: It made beautiful lights that danced through the waving sea grass,
[12:14] Speaker 1: which drifted very gently in the currents of the bay.
[12:22] Speaker 1: She swam through the waving sea grass and it felt
[12:27] Speaker 1: silky soft as it brushed against her skin. She peered
[12:34] Speaker 1: around and in between the sea grass, looking for Missus Seahorse. Now,
[12:44] Speaker 1: Missus Seahorse was a beautiful light green color, and it
[12:49] Speaker 1: was hard to spot her at first in the waving
[12:53] Speaker 1: light green grass. But after a few moments, Maria saw
[13:01] Speaker 1: Missus Seahorse. She was floating calmly with her sea horse
[13:09] Speaker 1: tail wrapped around a piece of sea grass. This made
[13:15] Speaker 1: Maria sigh a little, for it reminded her of her
[13:20] Speaker 1: own missing tail, but she took a big breath and
[13:27] Speaker 1: smiled brightly at missus Seahorse. Hallo, she said, politely, have
[13:38] Speaker 1: you seen my tail? No, missus Seahorse hadn't seen her
[13:45] Speaker 1: tail either. She suggested that Maria go and ask the
[13:52] Speaker 1: crab family that skittered over the rocks on the sandy
[13:57] Speaker 1: bottom of the bay. So Maria thanked Missus Seahorse and
[14:07] Speaker 1: swam out of the waving sea grass. She swam towards
[14:13] Speaker 1: the sandy bottom of the bay, where the crab family
[14:18] Speaker 1: spent their time. There, she found farther crab running across sand,
[14:28] Speaker 1: far beneath the waves that splashed above. He was followed
[14:35] Speaker 1: by two smaller crabs, two of his many children. Now,
[14:44] Speaker 1: the crab family were a special kind of crabs called
[14:49] Speaker 1: decorator crabs. That meant they liked to decorate their shells
[14:56] Speaker 1: with bits of seaweed and other things. This disguises them
[15:04] Speaker 1: so that they blend in among the rocks or coral
[15:08] Speaker 1: of their homes. Because of this, father Crab and his
[15:15] Speaker 1: two children looked a good deal like seaweed covered rocks
[15:21] Speaker 1: skittering along. But Maria knew all about decorator crabs, and
[15:30] Speaker 1: she knew just who she was seeing skittering over the sand,
[15:38] Speaker 1: so she greeted Father Crab politely and asked him if
[15:44] Speaker 1: he had seen her tail. He told her that no,
[15:51] Speaker 1: he had not seen her tail, but he suggested that
[15:57] Speaker 1: she come with him to ask Mother Crab. Maria followed
[16:05] Speaker 1: Father Crab and the two little crabs over the sandy
[16:10] Speaker 1: bottom of the bay. They led her towards a bigger
[16:16] Speaker 1: rock nearby, where Mother Crab was waiting. And just as
[16:23] Speaker 1: they reached Mother Crab, who should come along but another
[16:29] Speaker 1: little crab skidding around the corner of the rock. It
[16:36] Speaker 1: was Junior, another of the Crab family's many children, and
[16:44] Speaker 1: he was dragging something large behind him, something that was
[16:51] Speaker 1: staring up a cloud of sand. As Junior dragged it
[16:56] Speaker 1: across the bottom of the bay, the cloud of sand
[17:03] Speaker 1: swelled through the water, making it hard to see just
[17:08] Speaker 1: what it was that Junia the Crab was dragging behind him.
[17:16] Speaker 1: But as he came closer, huffing and puffing with the effort,
[17:22] Speaker 1: Maria and the others began to catch glimpses of whatever
[17:28] Speaker 1: it was. They saw glints of shiny purple and blue
[17:36] Speaker 1: and green shimmering through the water. Look what I found
[17:43] Speaker 1: to decorate myself with, said Junior when he saw mother
[17:49] Speaker 1: and Father Crab watching him. Silly Junior, the object he
[17:57] Speaker 1: had found was much too big to decorate his little shell.
[18:04] Speaker 1: But it was certainly beautiful. It was shiny, and it
[18:10] Speaker 1: glimmered with all the lovely colors of the deep. In fact,
[18:18] Speaker 1: it looked very familiar. And what do you think it was? Why?
[18:27] Speaker 1: It was Maria's missing tale? Goodness, poor Maria was too
[18:36] Speaker 1: surprised to say anything at all, But luckily, the moment
[18:44] Speaker 1: mother and father Crab spotted what Junior had found, they
[18:50] Speaker 1: took charge. Mother Crab explained to Junior that the tale
[18:57] Speaker 1: belonged to Maria. Father Crab explained that he must return
[19:05] Speaker 1: it at once. Well, little Junior hadn't meant to cause
[19:14] Speaker 1: any harm, so he gave back Maria's tail right away
[19:21] Speaker 1: and told her he was very sorry. Indeed, he promised
[19:27] Speaker 1: never to take her tail again, and to make up
[19:34] Speaker 1: for his mistake, Junior gave Maria a beautiful piece of
[19:40] Speaker 1: shell that he had been saving. Mother Crab helped Maria
[19:48] Speaker 1: string the beautiful shell onto a long strand of seaweed.
[19:55] Speaker 1: Then she tied it around her neck. And so it
[20:04] Speaker 1: is that these days. Maria the Mermaid not only has
[20:10] Speaker 1: a beautiful, shiny tail that glimmers with all the colors
[20:14] Speaker 1: of the deep and that helps her swim fast and well.
[20:21] Speaker 1: She also wears a lovely shell necklace that drifts through
[20:26] Speaker 1: the water when she swims through her beautiful bay, saying
[20:33] Speaker 1: hello to all her animal friends. Her lovely necklace reminds
[20:42] Speaker 1: her of the time she lost her tail, and of
[20:47] Speaker 1: all the kind friends who helped her find it again.
[20:55] Speaker 1: And that, little ones is the story of Maria the
[20:59] Speaker 1: Mermaid and her tale. Perhaps we'll have another story next time.
[21:10] Speaker 1: For now, sleep well and dream of mermaids in beautiful
[21:17] Speaker 1: bays and friends who help each other in times of need.
[22:00] Speaker 1: La

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