The Legend of Mama Dlo and Other Strange Tales

The Legend of Mamma Dlo

"Mama D'Leau (derived from the French Maman de l'eau or "Mother of the River"), also known as Mama Dlo and Mama Glo, is the protector and healer of all river animals, according to folklore Trinidad and Tobago. She is usually depicted as a beautiful woman with long, golden hair who sits on a rock at the river's edge. When angered, Mama D'Leau becomes serpent-like..."

- Wikipedia 2017

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Long ago, there was a poor village that rested on the seashore. Life in this village was peaceful and happy enough, except for the fact that there was not enough food for everyone. The village needed the sea to survive, and without fish, the town was doomed. They did not have enough fish to survive, and without fish, they had no money to buy supplies from the mainland.

The men of the village went to sea daily, casting their nets hopefully, only to come back with rocks and seaweed. The people cried out, wondering if their gods had abandoned them if they had angered the spirit of the sea.

They grew thin from hunger, and angry from frustration. Fights broke out among friends, each blamed the other for the lack of fish, and for their protruding ribs. A village that was once safe and friendly became dangerous. Thieves would steal from those who had managed to catch anything. Lucky fishermen would lay, beaten, on the sand. Their nets stolen and their catch used to feed other hungry mouths. Those who could keep a hold on their catch no longer shared with the rest of the community, they hoarded it away, turning even their friends away from their door.

No one felt the pain of her town more than Suki, the wife of the chief. She was heavy with her first child, and though she and her husband were hungry, they shared what they could with the townspeople. Still, she knew in her heart that if the fish did not come back soon, the village would die. She too became desperate and asked the gods to have mercy upon her starving village.

When there was no answer, she took matters into her own hands.

The legend on the island was that, when the moon was full, Mamma Dlo, the water spirit, could be found, combing her silvery hair by the sea caves. You could not find her without calling, but if the proper words were said, she would appear before your eyes.

Suki left her cabin in the middle of the night to travel down to the sea caves. She stood at the entrance to the largest one, with her feet knee-deep in water, and chanted the words that would reveal Mamma Dlo.

Thee Thee down below.
Come to me, Mamma Dlo!

She chanted this over and over again, three times, before she heard a loud crack, as Mamma Dlo's tail clashed with a wave. The spirit was before her, sitting on a rock just out of reach, her sparkling, green tail swirling lazily in the water.

"You called me?" she asked, as she combed her moonlight-colored hair.
Suki nodded, looking at the water spirit in awe. This was not the hideous creature her mother warned her about. Instead, she saw a beautiful, dark mermaid, with kind eyes and a gentle smile.

"Mamma Dlo, you must help us! There are not enough fish to feed our people!"
Suki clasped her hands together and knelt in the water, soaking the hem of her nightgown.

Mamma Dlo looked thoughtful, "My fish are very precious to me. If I send them to you, what will you send to me?"

"Anything! Anything! Please Mamma Dlo, help us!"

"Anything? Anything I ask?"

"Yes!"

"When your first son is born, bring him here to see me."

Suki placed a hand over her stomach protectively.

"If you do not, I could figure out another way to be paid. But I will have my payment."

Suki shook her head furiously.

"Oh, no no no Suki, you already agreed! You said 'anything'. You cannot change your mind now," the water spirit combed her fingers again through her silky, silver hair. She gave a dazzling smile, revealing a row of shining, sharp teeth.

Suki screamed, and as Mamma Dlo's tail struck the water, she woke up in her own bed, with water soaking through the sheets. Her baby was being born. Her scream had already woken her husband, who had run for the midwife.

The entire village waited breathlessly as the son of the chief was born. The midwife and her attendants were happy to see that the child was born in the caul, even though so much water had already flown out. It was seen as a sign, an omen, for better days ahead.

The entire village celebrated. The son of a chief was born with the blessing of the gods. Perhaps this meant that the village would be blessed as well.

Indeed, it was. As the sun rose over the village the next morning, and the fishermen went out to cast their nets, schools and schools of fish were caught.

There were so many fish that the sea seemed to take on a silvery sheen wherever the fishermen's boats went. They could simply reach their hands in and grab fish as they liked, and the swarm never depleted.

The number of fish caught in the morning alone were more than the entire village had seen in three months. This was credited to the auspicious birth of Suki's son. A celebration was immediately planned.

The days continued on in this manner, as the great amounts of fish produced prosperity for the tiny village. Every plate was filled, and pockets began to fill as the villagers were able to return to the market on the mainland.

Seeing or touching Suki's little child was seen as good luck, especially because of his constantly wet appearance. He was thought to be a gift from the sea spirits, and he was the reason for the grand fishing.

Suki believed the same thing and forgot about her pact with Mamma Dlo. She passed it off as only a dream and believed that her son was the only reason. A month passed, and the moon became full again. Suki dismissed her foolish dream and did not travel with her newborn son to the sea caves, as she promised.

Mamma Dlo waited patiently, combing her hair all night in the light of the moon, yet she never heard the call to reveal herself. Suki would not come, so someone else would have to.

The next morning, Suki woke to the sound of wailing. Four mothers had lost their firstborn children to the sea in the night. The fisherman who went to the sea first, before the sun had fully come up, saw the youngest of the children simply wander into the sea, and disappear.

Four sets of tiny footprints in the sand told the rest of the story. The children had snuck out of their beds and ended up in the sea. All they could hope for was to find their bodies washed ashore.

Though the village was in mourning, they continued their lives as they had before, still thankful to the gods and Suki's precious son for the blessing. The pain was lessened until the same tragedy befell the village on the next full moon, only this time, eight first-born children wandered into the sea.

The villagers couldn't understand it. The children of the village were warned sternly to stay inside at night, and not to play near the sea when no one could watch them. Yet, every month, on the night of the full moon, more and more children would wander into the sea. Even those who were too young to walk were carried by older ones.

Those children who were not entranced by the sea tried to sound the alarm, but by the time anyone could reach them, they were already gone, the only sign, a trail of tiny footprints into the water.

The people of the village clung to their livelihood to keep their spirits up. So far, only children who had siblings had wandered away. And as there were no bodies, they could not be sure that they had really died. Perhaps they were kidnapped, villagers thought. They spent much of their money searching on the mainland for their lost children, refusing to believe the worst.

Even Suki shied away from the nagging fear in the back of her head. Deep inside she knew. It was Mamma Dlo who was taking their children. Yet every time this thought occurred, she silenced it. She would not give up her wonderful son.

The fishing was better than ever. The fishermen's nets brought in more and larger fish. The fish seemed to jump into their boats, and some were even the size of toddlers and older children. With such prosperity, every month the tragedy of losing children seemed to lessen until it happened again, and again.

The people began to take notice. The loss of their children was directly related to the amount of fish the men caught the next day. On the days following a full moon, the amount of big, jumping fish would be near a number of children lost. Perhaps the sea was trying to replace their lost children.

They ran to Suki, trying to find out if her son had anything to do with this. They begged her to send him to Mamma Dlo so that he could convince her to stop stealing the village children.

Suki shook her head vehemently, remembering her pact very clearly now, and the shining row of sharp teeth in Mamma Dlo's mouth. The villagers were at a loss and began to resent her because her firstborn was one of the few spared. It had been two years since the fish had come to the village, and two years since the firstborns had begun to disappear. Now, all but a few first-born children were left on the island. The full moon was coming that night, and everyone was terrified.

They decided to stay up all night with their children and watch over them so that Mamma Dlo could not take them away. They gathered in the center of the village and held a small dance, in order to stay awake. There were guards stationed on the beach, to catch the children before they reached the sea, should they sneak away.

The dancing lasted long into the night, and the full moon shone brightly over the villagers. Still, bodies tired from a hard day's work found themselves dozing by the warmth of the fire, and vigilant guards found themselves lulled to sleep by the sound of crashing waves.

Suki woke up in the middle of the night, to find the fire extinguished and her little son gone. The remaining firstborns were missing as well. She let out a scream and ran down to the sea, only to see her small son leading the group into the water.

As their little feet reached the water, they disappeared, and the resounding crack of Mamma Dlo's tail could be heard. Her son, the youngest of all, looked gently up at her and smiled, revealing a row of glistening, sharp teeth, before he too disappeared.

The villagers came running behind her, everyone was alerted by the scream, though everyone was far too late. Suki, overcome by grief, would not be satisfied until she retrieved her son from Mamma Dlo's clutches.

She ran headlong for the sea caves.

Thee Thee down below.
Come to me Mamma Dlo!

There was a crack of her tail, and Dlo appeared, smiling and beautiful as always, with the dismembered torso of a small child in her hands. She took a hearty bite, pulling the skin off and slurping it down.

"You called?" she asked innocently, through a mouthful of blood.
The sight terrified Suki, so much so that she could not move. She felt bile rising in her throat.

Mamma Dlo took another bite, delicately tearing raw, pink flesh from bone. She smacked her lips gratefully as the blood washed down her chest.

"How could you do this?" Suki screamed suddenly, "These are our children! How could you take them from us, when you have all of the food in the sea?"

Mamma Dlo looked puzzled as she looked down at her dinner, "Children? I do not eat children. Only fish."

The clouds that often covered the moon suddenly moved back, unleashing the full ray on Mamma Dlo.

She was indeed a hideous creature. The glistening green tail was not that of an emerald fish, but rather a dingy snake. Her once beautiful brown skin was grey and wrinkled, clinging to thin flesh and protruding bone. Her face was more like that of a piranha than a woman, and her shining, silvery hair, was not hair at all, but rather a decorated headdress of fish bones and scales, over a coif that seemed to be seaweed.

Suki screamed at the wretched and terrifying sight. Yet at the same time, as the moonlight hit was had seemed to be a child's body, it was only a fish. Mamma Dlo took another bite with her sharp teeth.

"I told you I would have my payment," she said, finishing the fish, and casting its bones back into the sea, "I told you to bring your son to me. He was born with my blessing after all."

"So that you could eat him? I would not be a mother if I had," Suki burst into tears.

Mamma Dlo laughed, "I told you already. I only eat fish. Why would I want to eat a child that I blessed?"

Mamma Dlo raised her tail out of the water, to pluck another speared fish from it, "I am not so cruel as to take a life as payment. And the children who left did return. You just didn't notice."

Mamma Dlo took another hearty bite, "Though I suppose you are here now because he's come to see the one who helped him live. You shouldn't have been so selfish in the first place. Isn't that right, Dembo?"

A smaller sound alerted Suki, and she saw her son, sitting calmly on the rock beside Mamma Dlo, eating a fish. At least, he looked like her son, except he also had the same tail as Mamma Dlo. He smiled gently at Suki, his sharp teeth glistening in the moonlight.

"Only monsters eat children," He said in his tiny voice, "Those of the water eat fish!" He took a bite and whipped his tail on the water.

The clouds above the village rolled back, and the terrified screaming could be heard from the mainland.

Every fish that had been caught that day was no longer a fish when the light of the moon hit it. Instead, it was the twisted and mangled body of someone's child. They were everywhere, hanging from hooks and stuffed into barrels, lying neglected on chopping boards and shriveled from baking in the sun. The dish of fish head soup that had been made for the dance now had more terrifying heads bobbing in the broth.

It was worse in the harbor, where the largest catches of the day still hung by their neck from weighing hooks, blood spilling out of their eyes. Fishermen worked desperately, trying to untangle the nets they'd left out at night, only to bring up infants who immediately suffocated in the air.

The children who wandered into the sea did not drown. They had become fish. And upon seeing their parents from the water, they had happily jumped into the boats. Only to be slaughtered without mercy.

The clouds that blocked the moon moved back into place, but the children did not become fish again. Their bodies stayed as they were, accusing the villagers with their mangled forms.

Mamma Dlo, once more beautiful as the clouds obscured her form, snapped her tail and vanished into the night.

Dembo too snapped his tail and vanished into the sea, leaving Suki alone at the caves, as the sun began to rise over the little village.

It is said that every man woman and child in that village went mad from what they had seen, and could no longer bear the sight of fish. Some managed to make it to the mainland, while others starved to death or decided that they too, would wander into the sea. The few that remained on land, managed to continue living, though they farmed and refrained from even eating fish, or allowing any visitors to do so either.

Even today, on a full moon, it is said that Mamma Dlo will send her little child Dembo onto land so that he can steal away children from negligent or selfish parents, and turn them into fish.