Hmmmmm! What Is A Mermaid?
Where Did She Come From?
I am not sure if any one really knows. But, maybe they came from the hearts of men who were away from home, and had their dreams. As a Mother of a son in the Coast Guard, I hope that there are these wonderful creatures, to guide and protect the ones who have to make their living on the ocean.
The next few pages will be of how the legend started in different areas of the world.
Ancient water gods or spiritual personifications took on the form of a mermaid or a merman. Water-nymphs for example can be mistaken for mermaids, they are beautiful in their appearance and are also musically talented, which mermaids are well known for, be it their singing or playing of a musical instrument. Sirens too are forever being mistaken for mermaids. Even the ancient writers and medieval Bestiary writers would get the two confused or mention only one when infact both have to be mentioned to make sense of the literatures and archaeological evidence.
The Siren and the Mermaid are two seperate entities, one having the upperbody of a young woman and the lowerbody of a bird, the other the upperbody of a young woman and the lower body of a fish.
THE BRITISH ISLES...
Too had their fair share of merfolk mythology. The Cornish knew mermaids as Merrymaids; the Irish knew them as Merrows or Muirruhgach and some sources write that they lived on dry land below the sea and had enchanted caps that allowed them to pass through the water without drowning, while the women were very beautiful the men had red noses, were piggy eyed, with green hair and teeth and a penchant for brandy. Other sources write that the Merrow were believed to forebode a coming storm.
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