The mythical animals

Press, 13 June 1978, Page 10

The mythical animals

NO, B—MERMAID

Mermaids, who are part woman and part fish, with curved tails instead of legs, are lovely creatures. People who believe in mermaids look for them on moonlit nights around shallow waters. There, they hope to find them resting on rocks and combing their long hair. The mermaids may be singing, too, and their voices, it is said, have a haunting beauty. Sometimes they leap gracefully through the waves, or they shed their skins and dance on the shore. Legends tell how they bewitch sailors with their musical voices. Often, the men are so charmed by rhe 1 songs that they steer their boats into the rocks and are

: drowned. Then the mermaids 1 seize their victims and take ■ them down into their king- ’ dom on the sea bed. Although a mermaid may : live for a long time she has no soul, and stories tell of her longing for one. Without a soul, she can hope for no ' life after death. Sometimes she will try to possess a soul by marrying a human being who loves her, even though she may be lonely on earth and lose her speech. You can read about one of the most lovable of all mermaids — one who left her wonderful home in the sea for a prince — in “The Little Mermaid” by Hans Christian Andersen, People often believe that the sight of a mermaid is an ,

5 omen of storms and dis- ; astors. There is a legend on ■ the Isle of Man, nevertheless,, about some fisn- ’ ermen who were determined 1 to capture one. They used to see the mermaids • combing their long hair on the rocks, but whenever ' they called out to them the mermaids disappeared into the waters. So, one night the men spread out their nets for a . great distance. In the morning they were thrilled when they drew up a lovely mermaid with a handsome tail. Two of the fishermen, a father and his son, carried her home and kept her prisoner. Locking the door, they tried to make her comfortable and offered her tempt-

ing food and drink. But the mermaid refused to eat and would not talk. At the end of three days she looked pale and ill, and the men decided to free her.

They were frightened, too, - for they sensed • that some ] awful curse might fall on them if they kept her cap- ' tive. They opened the door, and 1 at once the mermaid glided swiftly out ot> her tail. They followed her at a disi tance and, at the shore, saw • her swim out on the wav ;. : Her mermaid friends were waiting for her and called out: “What was it like on t earth?” i t very pi-"s2nt.” - mermaid replied bluntly. i “The people are isnonnt. ■ They throw away the water ■ they boil the eggs in.” As for the fishermen they agreed in future *o ’ea- • mermaids well alone. Another legend *el's how a boy was more than a

match for a mermaid. He name was Sabrina and siilived in the Severn. River Nobody liked her. She wa bad-tempered and 'tied < wreck the fishermen’s .oats

At last a daring boy sailed J his boat up to her rock where she sat singing end combing her shining amber hair. I The boy ignored Sabrina and began to fish for con-ger-eels. Sabrina liked to be noticed but the boy fisned on and caught 11 fat eels without so much as glancing at her. Sabrina was furious, and when he pulled up his twelfth, eel, her unlucky number, she plunged into the river and was never seen again. There are legends about mermaids in many countries and some of them are verv old. Perhaps those we er.ibv most are about, kind and gentle mermaids who Idbk after animals and fishes of the sea. and nurse them when they suffer injuries. z