History Literature / TheSeaFairies

''The Sea Fairies'' is a 1911 fantasy novel by Creator/LFrankBaum. It was designed as the first volume in a new series for children, to replace the ''[[Literature/LandOfOz Oz]]'' books. It was followed by ''Literature/SkyIsland'' in 1912.

Mayre Griffiths, nicknamed Trot, is a small girl living on the coast of California, her close friend and companion is Cap'n Bill, formerly her father's employer and now a retired seaman with a wooden leg. As they walk along the beach one day, Trot wishes that she could see a mermaid, but Cap'n Bill cautions her that no man has ever lived to tell the tale after seeing a mermaid. Trot questions this, since if no one lived to tell the tale Cap'n Bill logically would never have heard it, but he doesn't have a good answer for her. Nearby mermaids overhear them, and the next day when the two of them are boating and row into a sea cave, grant Trot her wish. The mermaids explain that they are "sea fairies," and offer the girl a chance to experience their world. Trot is eager to go; Bill is not, but is too loyal to let Trot go by herself. Magically transformed into mermaid and merman, the two embark on an underwater adventure.

The two see amazing sights in the domain of King Anko and Queen Aquareine including an octopus who is mortified to learn that he is the symbol of the Standard Oil Company. They also encounter a villain called Zog the Magician, a monstrous hybrid of man, animal, and fish. Zog and his sea devils capture Trot and Cap'n Bill and hold them prisoner. The two protagonists discover that many sailors who are thought to have drowned have actually been transformed into zombie-like gilled slaves by Zog. Although protected by magic, Zog wishes to find a way to kill Cap'n Bill and Trot, only to spite his enemy who they have recently befriended, King Anko the sea serpent.

* CoolOldGuy: Cap'n Bill, who is said to have had many adventures before this, such as being stranded on a deserted island and CapturedByCannibals.

* AtlantisIsBoring: The addition of Zog does a lot to spice the story up a bit, but the adventures before he shows up are mostly {{Filler}}, WackyWaysideTribe fare, mainly due to the lack of many adventures one can have underwater, which may explain why the book didn't sell terribly well, especially compared to the ''Oz'' books.

* MeaningfulName: The mermaid queen, named "Aquareine", "Aqua", invokes the water in which a mermaid lives, while "reine" is similar to "Siren", also used as a word for mermaids.

!!Tropes

* WeirdnessMagnet: Even before she gets to Oz, Trot has several weird and magical adventures quite by accident. This is hinted to be because she was marked by fairies at birth.

Mayre Griffiths, nicknamed Trot, is a small girl living on the coast of California, her close friend and companion is Cap'n Bill, formerly her father's employer and now a retired seaman with a wooden leg. As they walk along the beach one day, Trot wishes that she could see a mermaid, but Cap'n Bill cautions her that no man has ever lived to tell the tale after seeing a mermaid. Trot questions this, since if no one lived to tell the tale Cap'n Bill logically would never have heard it, but he doesn't have a good answer for her. Nearby mermaids overhear them, and the next day when the two of them are boating and row into a sea cave, grant her wish. The mermaids explain that they are "sea fairies," and offer the girl a chance to experience their world. Trot is eager to go; Bill is not, but is too loyal to let Trot go by herself. Magically transformed into mermaid and merman, the two embark on an underwater adventure.

* AtlantisIsBoring: The addition of Zog does a lot to spice the story up a bit, but the adventures before he shows up are mainly {{Filler}}, WackyWaysideTribe fare which may explain why the book didn't sell terribly well, especially compared to the ''Oz'' books.

* HandicappedBadass: His wooden leg might have forced him to retire from the sea, but it doesn't stop him from going on all kinds of magical adventures. It does, however, give him some genuine trouble; with a wooden leg he can't run fast and has problems with uneven ground. The badass part is that he refuses to let this stop him.

The two see amazing sights in the domain of King Anko and Queen Aquareine including an octopus who is mortified to learn that he is the symbol of the Standard Oil Company. They also encounter a villain called Zog the Magician, a monstrous hybrid of man, animal, and fish. Zog and his sea devils capture Trot and Cap'n Bill and hold them prisoner. The two protagonists discover that many sailors who are thought to have drowned have actually been transformed into zombie-like gilled slaves by Zog. Trot and the Cap'n survive Zog's challenges, and the villain is eventually defeated by the forces of good. Trot and Cap'n Bill are returned to human form at the end of their undersea adventure.

* WeirdnessMagnet: Even before she gets to Oz, she has several weird and magical adventures quite by accident. This is hinted to be because she was marked by fairies at birth.

* {{Expy}}: Cap'n Bill is an expy of Naboth Perkins from Baum's earlier ''Sam Steele'' books. [[WeirdAlEffect Of course, Cap'n Bill, thanks to his role in a much more popular book series, is much more widely known than Naboth Perkins.]]
* FunetikAksent: Cap'n Bill certainly talks like an old sailor -- minus the swearing, that is. If you've watched any ''ComicBook/{{Popeye}}'' cartoons you get a sense of how Cap'n Bill speaks.

* WackyWaysideTribe: The trope which Baum was so fond of using in the ''Oz'' series shows up here as well, with random encounters with types of fish and sea creatures. Up until Zog appears, it is almost like ''Literature/TheRoadToOz'' but underwater.

* VileVillainSaccharineShow: Zog is one of the most unambiguously evil characters in Baum's works; up to the point where he appears the novel is a cutesy, carefree adventure under the sea, but takes a very dark turn suddenly.

Tropes!!