They only knew the sea, and they meant no harm.  She brought them sweets, and they invited her into the water. 

“I can’t swim,” she said with a smile.

They did not understand.  They had no word for “swim;” they moved, and they saw that she moved too.  They laughed at her joke and pulled her into the water, as they pulled their children into the depths when they were afraid of the blackness.

She turned blue, and they became excited.  They said to each other, “Look how she loves us, so much she wants to become us.”

But her eyes were closed, and her limbs were still.

They watched as she sank, and they did not understand.