The Penguin Book of Mermaids

by The Penguin Book of Mermaids (retail) (epub)

  Just then a woman of the people, but of good standing in the land, came along and enquired of the girl her trouble, and when Hina told her, the woman whose name was Rû-roa (Great-haste), said comfortingly:

  “Be not troubled for this land is ours; come and sojourn with me so as to watch the growth of your new tree, which shall always be yours.”

  Hina, comforted, accepted the woman’s kind invitation, and after sending her companion on to the canoe with word for her people to return home, she committed herself to the care of her new friend, who soon made her very comfortable in her home not far off.

  After partaking of a hearty breakfast, Hina threw herself down upon a mat, and fell asleep, which rest she needed, and towards evening as she awoke, she heard voices outside not far from the house. Looking out she perceived two handsome young men, sons of Rû-roa, who had been out fishing; and she heard them enquire of their mother as to the cause of flashes of lightning that they saw coming out of their dwelling, to which she replied:

  “It is Hina, princess of Papeuriri, and child of the sun and moon. She has a young coconut tree growing yonder, which she is staying here to watch until it matures.”

  Awe-struck, the young men would not enter the house but remained outside. The younger brother went to see the new tree, and found it loaded with coconuts. So he picked one and husked it and took it to his mother and brother, and while they were examining and admiring it, Hina, wishing to place them all at ease in her presence, called to them to come in. She said to the elder brother:

  “Your name must be Mahana-e-anapa-i-te-po’ipo’i” (Sun-that-flashes-in-the-morning). And to the younger brother she said: “You must be called Ava’e-e-hiti-i-te-ahiahi” (Moon-that-rises-in-the-evening).

  By giving them these names, which plebeians never dared to adopt in times of yore, she created them nobles, an act which also gave rank to their mother. Thus united in bonds of friendship, they all lived happily together, the family being charmed with the beautiful and affable Hina, and they enjoyed eating the coconuts, which had become the admiration of all Tai’arapu.

  Hina and Mahana-e-anapa-i-te-po’ipo’i became much attached to each other, and they were married, and in due time she had a daughter whom they named Te-ipo-o-te-marama (Pet-of-the-moon). But to her great sorrow Hina’s husband soon died. She afterwards married the younger brother, who reminded her much of her deceased husband, and by him she had another daughter, whom they named Te-ipo-o-te-here (Pet-who-loved).

  One day, as each child held a matured coconut in her hand, they were caught up by the gods on to a rainbow, by which they were conducted to Taka-horo, in the atoll of Ana (Chain Island), in the Tuamotus. The younger sister, finding that her coconut was without water, changed it for that of her elder sister, unbeknown to her, which displeased the gods; and causing her to drop the coconut, which was sprouting, they carried her away in the clouds, and she was never seen again. So Te-ipo-o-te-marama became the sole owner of this, the first coconut tree that grew at Ana, from which were produced all the coconut trees that have spread throughout the group and have developed into many varieties. The tree stood, towering high above all other trees of the group, until the cyclone of February 8, 1906, broke it off in three pieces, which were washed away by the sea.

  Hina lived long and happily with her husband, sometimes in Tai’arapu, sometimes in Pape’uriri, and she had numerous issue.

  MERMAIDS AND OTHER MERBEINGS IN EUROPE

  MERFOLK IN THE WATERS OF GREENLAND AND ICELAND

  There have been accounts of human-merfolk encounters on these northern islands ever since they were settled. Set in the waters of Greenland, the account we include here, “The Marvels of the Waters About Greenland,” comes from the translation of a Norwegian manuscript dating back to approximately 1250. In it, mermen and mermaids are referred to as “monsters” and “prodigies”—that is, amazing beings that are not ordinarily found in nature—and as omens of possibly fatal sea storms. More generally, in another Icelandic account from the twelfth century the marmennill (merman) is consulted for his power to foretell the future.1

  In addition to these accounts, which were presented as nonfiction, we have merfolk legends and folktales in Iceland dating back to the fourteenth century. In those narratives, the merman (also called a marbendill) is a seer who makes use of his superior knowledge to poke fun at human ignorance and regain his freedom. In the version included here, “The Merman,” the unenlightened man gets a happy ending, but in other versions, things don’t turn out so well for him.2

  The Marvels of the Waters About Greenland1

  It is reported that the waters about Greenland are infested with monsters, though I do not believe that they have been seen very frequently. Still, people have stories to tell about them, so men must have seen or caught sight of them. It is reported that the monster called merman is found in the seas of Greenland. This monster is tall and of great size and rises straight out of the water. It appears to have shoulders, neck and head, eyes and mouth, and nose and chin like those of a human being; but above the eyes and the eyebrows it looks more like a man with a peaked helmet on his head. It has shoulders like a man’s but no hands. Its body apparently grows narrower from the shoulders down, so that the lower down it has been observed, the more slender it has seemed to be. But no one has ever seen how the lower end is shaped, whether it terminates in a fin like a fish or is pointed like a pole. The form of this prodigy has, therefore, looked much like an icicle. No one has ever observed it closely enough to determine whether its body has scales like a fish or skin like a man. Whenever the monster has shown itself, men have always been sure that a storm would follow. They have also noted how it has turned when about to plunge into the waves and in what direction it has fallen; if it has turned toward the ship and has plunged in that direction, the sailors have felt sure that lives would be lost on that ship; but whenever it has turned away from the vessel and has plunged in that direction, they have felt confident that their lives would be spared, even though they should encounter rough waters and severe storms.

  Another prodigy called mermaid2 has also been seen there. This appears to have the form of a woman from the waist upward, for it has large nipples on its breast like a woman, long hands and heavy hair, and its neck and head are formed in every respect like those of a human being. The monster is said to have large hands and its fingers are not parted but bound together by a web like that which joins the toes of water fowls. Below the waist line it has the shape of a fish with scales and tail and fins. It is said to have this in common with the one mentioned before, that it rarely appears except before violent storms. Its behavior is often somewhat like this: it will plunge into the waves and will always reappear with fish in its hands; if it then turns toward the ship, playing with the fishes or throwing them at the ship, the men have fears that they will suffer great loss of life. The monster is described as having a large and terrifying face, a sloping forehead and wide brows, a large mouth and wrinkled cheeks. But if it eats the fishes or throws them into the sea away from the ship, the crews have good hopes that their lives will be spared, even though they should meet severe storms.

  The Merman1

  Long ago a farmer lived at Vogar, who was a mighty fisherman, and, of all the farms round about, not one was so well situated with regard to the fisheries as his.

  One day, according to custom, he had gone out fishing, and having cast down his line from the boat, and waited awhile, found it very hard to pull up again, as if there were something very heavy at the end of it. Imagine his astonishment when he found that what he had caught was a great fish, with a man’s head and body! When he saw that this creature was alive, he addressed it and said, “Who and whence are you?”

  “A merman from the bottom of the sea,” was the reply.

  The farmer then asked him what he had been doing when the hook caught his flesh.

  The other replied, “I was turning the cowl of my
mother’s chimney-pot, to suit it to the wind. So let me go again, will you?”

  “Not for the present,” said the fisherman. “You shall serve me awhile first.”

  So without more words he dragged him into the boat and rowed to shore with him.

  When they got to the boat-house, the fisherman’s dog came to him and greeted him joyfully, barking and fawning on him, and wagging his tail. But his master’s temper being none of the best, he struck the poor animal; whereupon the merman laughed for the first time.

  Having fastened the boat, he went towards his house, dragging his prize with him, over the fields, and stumbling over a hillock, which lay in his way, cursed it heartily; whereupon the merman laughed for the second time.

  When the fisherman arrived at the farm, his wife came out to receive him, and embraced him affectionately, and he received her salutations with pleasure; whereupon the merman laughed for the third time.

  Then said the farmer to the merman, “You have laughed three times, and I am curious to know why you have laughed. Tell me, therefore.”

  “Never will I tell you,” replied the merman, “unless you promise to take me to the same place in the sea wherefrom you caught me, and there to let me go free again.” So the farmer made him the promise.

  “Well,” said the merman, “I laughed the first time because you struck your dog, whose joy at meeting you was real and sincere. The second time, because you cursed the mound over which you stumbled, which is full of golden ducats. And the third time, because you received with pleasure your wife’s empty and flattering embrace, who is faithless to you, and a hypocrite. And now be an honest man and take me out to the sea whence you have brought me.”

  The farmer replied: “Two things that you have told me I have no means of proving, namely, the faithfulness of my dog and the faithlessness of my wife. But the third I will try the truth of, and if the hillock contain gold, then I will believe the rest.”

  Accordingly he went to the hillock, and having dug it up, found therein a great treasure of golden ducats, as the merman had told him. After this the farmer took the merman down to the boat, and to that place in the sea whence he had caught him. Before he put him in, the latter said to him:

  “Farmer, you have been an honest man, and I will reward you for restoring me to my mother, if only you have skill enough to take possession of property that I shall throw in your way. Be happy and prosper.”

  Then the farmer put the merman into the sea, and he sank out of sight.

  It happened that not long after, seven sea-grey cows were seen on the beach, close to the farmer’s land. These cows appeared to be very unruly, and ran away directly the farmer approached them. So he took a stick and ran after them, possessed with the fancy that if he could burst the bladder which he saw on the nose of each of them, they would belong to him. He contrived to hit out the bladder on the nose of one cow, which then became so tame that he could easily catch it, while the others leaped into the sea and disappeared. The farmer was convinced that this was the gift of the merman. And a very useful gift it was, for better cow was never seen nor milked in all the land, and she was the mother of the race of grey cows so much esteemed now.

  And the farmer prospered exceedingly, but never caught any more mermen. As for his wife, nothing further is told about her, so we can repeat nothing.

  TWO MERMAIDS AND A SELKIE FROM THE SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS

  Story has it that the cold waters surrounding the Scottish Highlands and the Hebrides and Orkney Islands are populated with merfolk.1 Two of the three tales that follow were collected from Scottish fishermen and peasants in the first half of the twentieth century; the third one is extracted from a volume of Gaelic lore, Carmina Gadelica.

  In “The Mermaid of Kessock,” which is clearly related to tales about Irish mermaid or selkie wives, the trick to keep the mermaid from returning to the water is to pull a few scales from her tail. Like Mélusine and the Irish sea maidens also represented in this volume, once married, the mermaid of Kessock is a good mother, but she is clearly not happy in her human life and form. Her beauty is described in detail, and she has golden hair, which is common in literary accounts but is often green or dark in oral tradition.

  Selkie or selchie refers to sealfolk, and “The Grey Selchie of Sule Skerrie” recounts the tale of a woman who marries a seal man; like the mermaid of Kessock, he disappears to return to the sea, but then returns for his son. In another version, the seal foretells his own and his son’s death.

  “The Mermaid’s Grave” is presented not as a legend, but as a report of islanders in the Hebrides encountering a mermaid and carelessly causing her death. Notably, she is a small being, the size of a child, but with a woman’s breasts; she has a fishtail, but no scales. A time frame for the mermaid’s appearance—the 1830s—and the existence of her grave, seen by many, give credence to the account. But in the words of Ronald Macdonald Robertson, who published the other two tales, readers are “free to draw [their] own inferences from the tales; with regard to responsibility for their accuracy, the writer can only say—‘Ma’s breug bh’ uam e, is breug dhomh e’ (‘If it be a lie as told by me, it was a lie as told to me’).”

  The Mermaid of Kessock1

  A Legend from the Black Isle

  A man named Paterson was once walking along the shore near Kessock Ferry, when he saw, “’na suidhe air an aigein dhorcha” (sitting on the dark misty deep), a mermaid, whom he tried to detain by wading into the water and pulling some of the scales from her tail, in obedience to the old belief that if even part of her fish-tail was removed, a mermaid was compelled to assume human form. Before his eyes the transformation took place, and the sea-maiden stood up before him, tall and fair. She had long, silky hair that was as yellow as gold and soft as the curling foam of the sea; her eyes were wide and clear and blue as the sky; her lips were as red as winter berries and as tempting as fruits of summer—and in place of the fish-tail she had slim white feet.

  Paterson fell desperately in love with the sea-maiden and took her home as his bride. The scales he carefully hid in an outhouse.

  He lived in a cottage by the shore; and “nuallan nan tonn” (the raging noise of the waves), which sounded night and day at the foot of the cottage garden, filled his mermaid bride with longing to return to her home in the land-under-the-waves where she had been “nursed by the ocean and rocked by the storms.” She used to plead with her husband to let her go, promising that if he did so their family would always be blessed with a plentiful supply of fish, and that no members of it would ever be drowned at Kessock Ferry; but he remained adamant.

  One day one of the children, named Kenneth, discovered the scales in the outhouse and took them to his mother, who straightway made for the shore and became a mermaid again.

  Not since that day has the mermaid of Kessock been seen; but there are still local people who firmly believe in her existence, and declare that she still watches over her descendants and keeps them from peril at sea.

  The Grey Selchie of Sule Skerrie1

  The rocky islet of “Sule Skerry” (skerry of the solan goose) some twenty-five miles west of Hoy Head in Orkney, is to this day the resort of thousands of seals—or “selchies” as they are called in Orkney. There is a very old Orcadian ballad with the above title which tells of a maiden who dwelt in Norway who fell in love with and married a seal-man called “Hein Mailer.” Shortly after their marriage he disappeared, and the maiden was left to weep as she rocked her infant son on her knee.

  One day as she sat by the shore, a “good grey selchie” came and sat down by her feet. The seal addressed her in human speech and said:—

  “I am a man upon the land,

  I am a selchie in the sea;

  And when I’m far frae every strand,

  My dwelling is in Sule Skerrie.”

  On hearing this, the girl realised that she was looking on none other than her husband
, transformed once more into a grey seal. The “selchie” disappeared as suddenly as it had come. At the end of seven years he returned—this time as a man—and put a gold chain round the neck of his son, who thereafter followed him on his journeyings.

  With the passage of the years, the woman forgot her seal-husband and married “a gunner good” who went out one May morning and shot two—an old grey seal and a younger one. Round the neck of the younger animal he found a gold chain; and when he brought it to his wife, she realised that her son had perished, and gave vent to her grief:—

  “Alas! alas” this woeful fate!

  This weary fate that’s been laid for me!

  And once or twice she sobbed and sighed,

  And her tender heart did break in three.”

  The Mermaid’s Grave1

  Some seventy years ago, people were cutting seaweed at Sgeir na duchadh, Grimnis, Benbecula. Before putting on her stockings, one of the women went to the lower end of the reef to wash her feet. While doing so she heard a splash in the calm sea, and looking up she saw a creature in the form of a woman in miniature, some few feet away. Alarmed, the woman called to her friends, and all the people present rushed to the place.