Introduction

THE STORY you are about to read will take you down into the deepest trench of the North Atlantic Ocean, and many other hidden places within the underwater world. You will be joining Prince Octopian on his quest as he tries to find his way home. Throughout his adventures, Octopian will run into a few creatures, who will either help him or lead him down the wrong path.

I chose to place this story underwater because I find the ocean and sea creatures fascinating. One of the most popular sea creatures that people marvel at are mermaids. I noticed that a lot of stories are about mermaids, not mermen, which is why I thought it would be interesting to make my main character, Octopian, a merman. Klepto's character is inspired by the Kraken. The Kraken is a mythical sea creature, "...that is said to dwell off the coasts of Norway and Greenland." Some of the reports on this creature claim that the beast was so large it could take down an entire ship.

The inspiration for the major theme of this story comes from the idea of 'the stolen child's perspective,' listed as number twelve in Dan L. Ashliman's essay on the topic of Changelings. Typically, a changeling is the child of a fairy that is swapped with a human child. A child is stolen because everyone in the family is required to work, so the parents have to leave their child unattended. The fairies leave their own baby with humans because it is understood that they believe their baby will live a better life. The changeling could also be the eldest fairy disguised as an infant so it can live a longer, more comfortable life. The changeling is known for its extreme hunger and poor attitude. This change in behavior, from the human baby to the changeling, is how the parents realize that their child was abducted. In order to get their baby back, they have to conjure the fairies by putting the changeling in harm's way. Sometimes this is carried out by putting the changeling over a fire and the changeling's cry summons it's fairy-parents.

As you drift along through each story, you may recognize that some of the characters and themes resemble popular mythological tales. For example, you will find that Octopian's Escape is based on some of the themes in the Brothers Grimm's, Rapunzel. The Brothers Grimm's story ends with the prince and Rapunzel living happily ever after, however, the storyline in Octopian's Escape has a darker ending.

One of the characters that you will be introduced to is based on another one of Ashliman's works, "the Name of the Helper". A popular character in a 'name of the helper' story that you may be familiar with is Rumpelstiltskin, which is also from the Brothers Grimm. If you are not familiar with this story, I recommend that you find time to read it because I believe it is one of the most creative cynical children's stories that I have come across. Although, the only thing you need to understand for this story is that Octopian will have to guess the name of a character, but you will have to figure out if he will succeed and what the consequences are if he does not.

Before I allow you to dive in any further, I must also tell you about one more important aspect to this story. As you experience the chilly waters with Octopian, you will find that he receives artifacts throughout each story. Sometimes they are given to him and other times he may find them by accident. These artifacts are important for Octopian to complete his journey successfully, however, not all are easily obtainable. Octopian faces life-threatening challenges, but he will use the artifacts to help him through each one.