There once was an explorer in a distant land who was granted an audience with the ruler of the kingdom. After being taken through a large, ornate castle, he was introduced to the king. The king was an impressive figure except for one unusual feature, his head was quite small, about the size of a small grapefruit. After talking with the king for some time, the explorer could not contain his curiosity any longer, and asked the king about the size of his head.

After a pause, the king explained that he had not always been a king, and had in fact, been a fisherman when much younger. One day, while out fishing, he had pulled in his net, and found a mermaid in the net.

From the waist up, the mermaid was a very beautiful woman, from the waist down, a fish. The fisherman was preparing to take the mermaid to market to sell as a curiosity, when the mermaid spoke, and told him that she was a magic mermaid.

The mermaid told the fisherman that if he would let her go, she would grant him three wishes. The fisherman agreed to this, and asked for gold, jewels, and other riches. Immediately, these appeared. Next, he asked to be made a king, and to have a kingdom to rule, with a fabulous castle. These appeared also.

The mermaid asked what his third wish was. Since he had been noticing how beautiful her woman half was, he said that he wanted to make love with her. To this, the mermaid replied that since she was only half woman, this was not possible. The fisherman then said Well in that case, can you give me a little head?