"The Mermaid and the Dragon"
The "Mermaid and the Dragon" is an apocryphal tale popular in merfolk but generally worthy only of an eyeball roll in presence of non-merfolk Scaraquans.
Summary
Some time ago, a village of merfolk was suffering and starving.
A dragon named Jinshe laired nearby and demanded an exorbitant tribute of sphaeracibu from them, or else she would slay and eat all the villagers.
One day it was a young mermaid named Malila's turn to swim to the Jinshe's cave with a delivery of tribute, but she was very hungry and could not resting eating one of the spheres.
The dragon of course noticed that her tribute was below the norm and (correctly) accused the young mermaid of cheating her. Malila was also slightly late and the Jinshe's store of sphaeracibu was very low.
In desperation, Malila challenged the dragon to an eating contest. "I bet I can eat more sphaeracibu than you can."
Jinshe laughed at the notion that a tiny mermaid could beat a mighty dragon in an eating contest and swore by the Seeyirah that if the mermaid won, she would leave the village alone forever.
Malila stuffed her face with all the sphaeracibu she had brought and the tiny handful left in the dragon's cave. She could barely restrain herself from vomiting, she was so full.
Malila said, "I can't eat another bite. Let's see how many spheres you can eat."
The dragon laughed "That's nothing, I can easily eat a hundred sphaeracibu!" but she looked in dismay to see that all the sphaeracibu were gone.
Malila said, "I ate more than you could, I won."
Jinshe slew Malila, but she kept her oath and left the village alone. The village was then named Malila in her honor.
Historical Basis
Due to fuzzy Scaraquan views on time and a relative dearth of written records, no one is sure where, when, or if this story happened.
"Like most mercrone's tales, the historical veracity is about as solid as a tower made out of loose sand in stormy waters. As if a merchild could outwit a dragon. A young ojiongo...maybe. While the story is almost certainly a lie, it holds an important truth in it that can teach children. The lesson it teaches is that that one can defeat a physically more powerful opponent if one is quick witted and manipulates the surroundings correctly. It also teaches one not to make oaths to Seeyirah lightly. Perhaps an even more important lesson." -Nurzuz, ojiongo historian
Spread
The story existed in one form or another for countless generations among many varied agrarian merfolk communities.
The best known version of the tale names the mermaid as Malila, supposed namesake for the village of Malila. The dragon's name in this tale is Jinshe.
The previous insignificant village of Malila became a major trade hub after the Oshamni Empire magically created an artificial current which put them on them map and by extension help this story spread far and wide.
Date of First Recording
"Some time ago"
Date of Setting
"long ago"
I love this story! It's super cute and clever! Love that twist!