Among the Mermaids
Page 1
A
MONG
THE
M
ERMAIDS
A
MONG
THE
M
ERMAIDS
Facts, Myths, and Enchantments
from the Sirens of the Sea
First published in 2013 by Weiser Books
Red Wheel/Weiser,
LLC
With offices at:
665 Third Street, Suite 400
San Francisco, CA 94107
www.redwheelweiser.com
Copyright © 2013 by Weiser Books
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any
form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or
by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from Red
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LLC
. Reviewers may quote brief passages.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ventura, Varla, 1958–
Among the mermaids : facts, myths, and enchantments from the sirens of the sea /
Varla Ventura.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-1-57863-545-0
1. Mermaids. I. Title.
GR910.V46 2013
398.21—dc23
2013006176
Cover design by
www.levanfisherdesign.com
/ Barbara Fisher
Interior by Dutton & Sherman
Typeset in Adobe Jenson Pro text and Incognito display
Printed in the United States of America
MAL
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American
National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Dedicated to Sarah Elizabeth Kahn, who
dove into murky and frightening waters and
emerged, smiling, with a shimmering pearl.
Who would be
A mermaid fair,
Singing alone,
Combing her hair
Under the sea,
In a golden curl
With a comb of pearl,
On a throne?
—LORD ALFRED TENNYSON,
“THE MERMAID”
CONTENTS
Introduction: A Maid Upon the Waves
xiii
1.
THE EMERALD SEA
1
“The Mermaid”
by George A. Birmingham
2
Nautical Terms
22
Batten Down the Hatches!
25
2.
MY HUSBAND WILL EAT MY CHILDREN
29
“Lutey and the Mermaid”
by Mabel Quiller-Couch
30
Lady of the Lake
47
Mermaid Legends
51
3.
IT MOANS ON LAND AND SEA
55
“Flory Cantillon’s Funeral”
by T. Crofton Croker
56
The Practicalities of Piracy
63
No Swimming
64
4.
SEAL WITH A KISS
65
“The Selkies”
by Elizabeth Pepper and Barbara Stacy
65
Amongst the Selkies
67
“Amongst the Mermaids”
by Norman Roe
68
“The Selkie That Deud No’ Forget”
by Norman Roe
76
The Mermaid of San Francisco Bay
87
“The Mermaid of Lighthouse Point”
by Bret Harte
88
5.
MERMAIDS: FIRSTHAND ACCOUNTS AND
LIVING, BREATHING (UNDERWATER)
MERMAIDS!
91
The Mer-Life of Hannah Fraser
91
Underwater Visionaries
94
Haenyeo: Free Diving Mermaids
94
Dreamtime Mermaids
95
Mermaid Mizuko
100
Fishermen Tales
109
Puts Nessie to Shame
110
6.
ALL ABOARD!
111
“The Mermaid of Zennor”
by Lyonnese
112
Then Little Mermaids
115
The Ghost Ship
120
Strange and Sumptuous Seaweed
124
7.
MERMAID JOY RIDE
129
“The Mermaid of Druid Lake”
by Charles Weathers Bump
132
Sorry Kids! The United States Government Officially
Denies Mermaids Exist
149
“The Mermaid’s Prophecy”
by Anonymous
151
8.
COOMARA’S CALLING
157
Lobster Pots
158
“The Soul Cages”
by T. Crofton Croker
159
“The Merrow”
by W.B. Yeats
183
9.
AUNT JUDY’S AQUARIUM
185
“Among the Merrows: A Sketch of a Great
Aquarium”
by Juliana Horatia Ewing
187
THE TAIL END OF THIS BOOK
219
Mermaid Movie Madness
219
Shopping
224
Recommended Reading
226
Bibliography and Online Resources
233
Acknowledgments
237
xiii
INTRODUCTION:
A MAID UPON THE WAVES
What would life be like as a mermaid? How would it feel to
dash from kelp bed to sandy shore, surrounded by the lus-
cious enchantments of the briny deep? If you were a tropi-
cal mermaid, you’d no doubt have a personality as colorful
as your coral reef playground. Surely you’d be cheerful and
you’d sing songs with a decidedly calypso beat, luring the
passing sailors and foolish tourists into your playground just
to have them to the underwater party you would always be
hosting.
If you were a mermaiden of chillier waters—perhaps liv-
ing in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean or in the brash Irish
Sea—maybe your personality would be more biting. You
would be more inclined to spitefulness, and would capture
out of boredom. You’d wait among the sloshing seaweed,
Among the Mermaids
xiv
singing at a pitch just above the crashing waves, and do most
of your hunting at night.
And what if you were a mermaid of the arctic waters?
You’d be a more solitary type, preferring the company of po-
lar bears and penguins to fellow merrow, singing Bjork-like
melodies for passing whales to harmonize with.
Regardless of your latitude or longitude, you’d have long
hair. This would be more enchanting to your victims, for
when they would slip into an aquatic slumber, they would
confuse it with harmles
s tendrils of kelp. And you would
definitely be svelte—all that swimming and the steady diet
of omega-rich seafood would keep your figure in top shape.
And for those of you who fancy yourselves mermen instead
of mermaids, you would be ripped—the constant flicking of
your tail would lead to some serious six-pack abs.
Our fascination with mermaids has a very long history.
Mermaids are one of the oldest mythological creatures. The
first known story of a mermaid dates to about 1000 BC,
when the Assyrian goddess Atargatis, ashamed at having
killed a mortal man that she loved, tried to conceal herself in
Introduction: A Maid Upon the Waves
xv
a lake. When the waters failed to hide her, she turned herself
into a creature that was half woman, half fish.
Mermaids have made appearances in fiction and fairy
tales, and were especially popular in areas surrounded by
water, such as Ireland and the islands of the Carib-
bean Sea. Mermaids waver between being trapped (
The
Little Mermaid
) and being dangerous (the sirens of
The Odyssey
), but most consistently seem to pos-
sess a certain superiority to mere mortals. When
in love, they are vulnerable, so often falling for
gruf sailors or fishermen. Or they are bewitch-
ing, enchanting said men to a watery demise.
Today, mermaids are still as popular as ever.
Hundreds of fun water-side festivals take place across the
country. Every year, Coney Island hosts a Mermaid Parade.
This annual tradition began in 1983, and for the past several
years has included an after-party for participants and parade
goers: a Mermaid Ball. For more than fifty years, the Web-
ster Lions Club in Rochester, New York, has played host to
the yearly Mermaid Festival. And in 2011, the first annual
Mer-Con took place at the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas, com-
plete with mermaid performers, vendors (selling waterproof
mermaid tails, adult and child sizes available), and the World
Mermaid Awards. And lest you think these siren-obsessed
are all costumed comics, you should read about the real-life
Among the Mermaids
xvi
mermaid, Hannah Fraser. A mermaid-performer by trade,
this aquatic Australian is far more than a pretty piece of tail:
she works tirelessly as an eco-activist fighting to keep her
beloved oceans clean and to save her fellow creatures of the
deep.
This collection contains an array of stories from mer-
maids of a variety of sorts. From funerals to weddings, births
to deaths, the themes that run from beginning to end in-
clude love, betrayal, kinship, confusion, and escape. These
stories are set across the globe—from Ireland to China, and
from Bermuda to the San Francisco Bay. I hope this collec-
tion will delight you, enchant you, and reinforce your belief
in the mermaid legend.
1
“And Wendy, there are mermaids.”
“Mermaids! With tails?”
“Such long tails.”
“Oh,” cried Wendy, “to see a mermaid!”
—J.M. BARRIE,
PETER PAN
, 1904
It’s fairly obvious by the title of this book that I have a fas-
cination with mermaids. But what delighted me most about
this Irish story by George A. Birmingham was its setting.
Many years ago, I went on a soul-seeking journey to the re-
mote Aran Islands, off the coast of Galway in Ireland. As in
Birmingham’s story, it is quite true (and especially if you visit
in the off-season months) that everyone on the island lives
CHAPTER
1
T
HE
E
MERALD
S
EA
Among the Mermaids
2
there or has kin living there (and many of the Islanders are
kin to each other).
When I read the first page of this story, I was trans-
ported right back to those craggy limestone cliffs and bitter
winds. Like all of Ireland, the Aran Islands are a very magical
place, and it is not at all hard to imagine a mermaid in those
gray-green waters, her kelpy hair spreading out across the
crest of a wave, her long arms waving in a friendly, come-
hither gesture.
George Birmingham was the pen name of an Irish cler-
gyman named James Owen Hannay. He wrote more than
fifty novels and a number of plays, essays, and commentaries
on rural Irish life as well as politics. To my knowledge, this is
his only mermaid story. It is from a 1919 collection of stories
he called
Our Casualty and Other Stories.
The Mermaid
by George A. Birmingham
We were on our way home from Inishmore, where we had
spent two days; Peter O’Flaherty among his relatives—for
everyone on the island was kin to him—I among friends
who give me a warm welcome when I go to them. The is-
land lies some seventeen miles from the coast. We started on
The Emerald Sea
3
our homeward sail with a fresh westerly wind. Shortly after
midday it backed round to the north and grew lighter. At
five o’clock we were stealing along very gently through calm
water with our mainsail boom out against the shroud. The
jib and foresail were drooping in limp folds. An hour later
the mainsheet was hanging in the water and the boat drifted
with the tide. Peter, crouching in the fore part of the cockpit,
hissed through his clenched teeth, which is the way in which
he whistles for a wind. He glanced all round the horizon,
searching for signs of a breeze. His eyes rested finally on the
sun, which lay low among some light, fleecy clouds. He gave
it as his opinion that when it reached the point of setting it
“might draw a light air after it from the eastward.” For that it
appeared we were to wait I shrank from toil with the heavy
sweeps. So, I am sure did Peter, who is a good man in a boat
but averse from unnecessary labour. And there was really no
need to row. The tide was carrying us homeward, and our
position was pleasant enough. Save for the occasional drag
of a block against the horse we had achieved unbroken si-
lence and almost perfect peace.
Among the Mermaids
4
We drifted slowly past Carrigeen Glos, a low, sullen line
of rocks. A group of cormorants, either gorged with mack-
erel fry or hopeless of an evening meal, perched together at
one end of the reef, and stared at the setting sun. A few terns
swept round and round overhead, soaring or sliding down-
wards with easy motion. A large seal lay basking on a bare
rock just above the water’s edge. I pointed it out to Peter, and
he said it was a pity I had not got my rifle with me. I did not
agree with him. If I had brought the rifle Peter would have
insisted on my shooting at the seal. I should certainly not
have hit it on purpose, for I am averse
from injuring gentle
creatures; but I might perhaps have killed or wounded it
by accident, for my shooting is very uncertain. In any case I
should have broken nature’s peace, and made a horrible com-
motion. Perhaps the seal heard Peter’s remark or divined his
feeling of hostility. It flopped across the rock and slid grace-
fully into the sea. We saw it afterwards swimming near the
boat, looking at us with its curiously human, tender eyes.
“A man might mistake it for a mermaid,” I said.
“He’d have to be a fool altogether that would do the like,”
said Peter.
The Emerald Sea
5
He was scornful; but the seal’s eyes were human. They
made me think of mermaids.
“Them ones,” said Peter, “is entirely different from seals.
You might see a seal any day in fine weather. They’re plenty.
But the other ones—But sure you wouldn’t
care to be hearing about them.”
“I’ve heard plenty about them,” I said, “but it
was all poetry and nonsense. You know well
enough, Peter, that there’s no such thing as
a mermaid.”
Peter filled his pipe slowly and lit it. I could see by