Many years ago in a bog there lived a demon otter who fancied himself a king, and had even convinced the other otters to follow him under such a title. From his home he could spy upon a castle of the Emperor. In this castle lived the daughter of the Emperor’s mightiest retainer.
A girl who through her own acts had been elevated to the rank of princess of the empire, as well she had been given many other gifts by the. The second greatest of the gifts was to allow her two drinks of the elixir of life so that with the first she may live forever, and with the second she may give to the man she would marry, the emperor's own child.
For many years she lived in the castle waiting for her fiancé to come and bring her to the Emperor’s most magnificent palace. As she waited the evil otter would climb up from the bog and find his way to her window. From there he would speak to her, telling her lies of his grand kingdom and all the treasures that were contained within it. When in truth there was not a single spec of gold that he would speak so glowingly of.
The Otter proved himself to be a clever demon, with each word that he spoke to the princess confused her mind ever more. Until she could no longer tell what was the kingdom of her benevolent Emperor and what was the rotten swamp that the demon otter called his kingdom.
One day on his way to poison the mind of the princess ever more the otter heard a pair of servants speaking of the Emperor’s second son coming to finally to take his bride back to the imperial capital and marry her.
This threw the otter into such a rage that he returned to his swamp that night and rallied the other otters to attack the castle and cause as much chaos at the castle as they could. As they rioted on the far side of the castle the demon otter stole up to where the princess was asleep and kidnapped her. In addition to the taking of the princess the otter tricked the princess into revealing that she was to present her fiancé with a gift of the elixir of life when he arrived. The demon otter stole the elixir and drank it right then and there, freeing its very soul from the punishment of death that it so deserved.
The demon otter whisked the princess to a far away land and took her live among rice patties. Without the staff of the castle to give her reprieve from the demon otter’s silver tongue she was tricked into believing she loved the vile Demon Otter King.
In time the two had children. When their children were born each was hideous, having a tail that even though it was the tail of an otter many saw the tail of a fish. Like their father these children were conniving and greedy stealing the forms of both their mother and father. Each child took a little bit of its parents’ life, until finally one child was born so hungry for the life of its parents that it killed both. So thrilled by this act the other children declared this child their new king. The king of the mermaids.
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