A large tree stump is wheeled past the minister of a local church and laid upon the ground ready to be sculpted into a beautiful statue. Upon completion, though, the priest doesn't care for it so it's creator chucks a tin of paint over this angelic looking character and sells it to a ship for use as the harbinger of it's voyages the world over. One of these travels sees it strike a silver-voiced mermaid, who falls in love with the inanimate effigy and visits it every evening. Her affections are unrequited, though, and so she asks her father to conjure up a mighty storm to sink the ship. All tha...