In South Africa, every decade or so, the residents of Suurbraak report that they have seen “the legendary ‘mermaid’ known as Kaaiman” in the Buffelsjags River.” Suurbraak resident Daniel Cupido spoke about his encounter with Kaaiman in the late evening of January 5, 2008, as members of his family and some friends were relaxing near the river. After hearing what “sounded like someone ‘bashing on a wall,’” Cupido and his friends investigated “the sound coming from the nearby low water bridge. At the bridge, he said he saw a figure, ‘like that of a white woman with long black hair thrashing about in the water.’ Thinking to save her, he waded toward her, but said he stopped in his tracks when he noticed a reddish shine in her eyes. He said the sight sent shivers down his spine.” The creature matched the description of the Kaaiman as “a half-human, half-fish creature that lived in deep pools in the river. It is white in colour and has long black hair and red eyes.” One member of the party said the woman they saw “had an eerie silver-white glow,” and another said, “the figure was making ‘the strangest sound, like a woman crying.’”11 These reports we have shared are just a sample of the news articles that evidence ongoing beliefs in mermaids and other water spirits in Africa.
Aganju and Yemaja1
Before her amour with the hunter, Odudua bore to her husband, Obatala, a boy and girl, named respectively Aganju and Yemaja. The name Aganju means uninhabited tract of country, wilderness, plain, or forest, and Yemaja, “Mother of fish” (yeye, mother; eja, fish). The offspring of the union of Heaven and Earth, that is, of Obatala and Odudua, may thus be said to represent Land and Water. Yemaja is the goddess of brooks and streams, and presides over ordeals by water. She is represented by a female figure, yellow in colour, wearing blue beads and a white cloth. The worship of Aganju seems to have fallen into disuse, or to have become merged in that of his mother; but there is said to be an open space in front of the king’s residence in Oyo where the god was formerly worshipped, which is still called Oju-Aganju—“Front of Aganju.”
Yemaja married her brother Aganju, and bore a son named Orungan. This name is compounded of orun, sky, and gan, from ga, to be high; and appears to mean “In the height of the sky.” It seems to answer to the khekheme, or “Free-air Region” of the Eẇe peoples; and, like it, to mean the apparent space between the sky and the earth. The offspring of Land and Water would thus be what we call Air.
Orungan fell in love with his mother, and as she refused to listen to his guilty passion, he one day took advantage of his father’s absence, and ravished her. Immediately after the act, Yemaja sprang to her feet and fled from the place wringing her hands and lamenting; and was pursued by Orungan, who strove to console her by saying that no one should know of what had occurred, and declared that he could not live without her. He held out to her the alluring prospect of living with two husbands, one acknowledged, and the other in secret; but she rejected all his proposals with loathing, and continued to run away. Orungan, however, rapidly gained upon her, and was just stretching out his hand to seize her, when she fell backward to the ground. Then her body immediately began to swell in a fearful manner, two streams of water gushed from her breasts, and her abdomen burst open. The streams from Yemaja’s breasts joined and formed a lagoon, and from her gaping body came the following:—(1) Dada (god of vegetables), (2) Shango (god of lightning), (3) Ogun (god of iron and war), (4) Olokun (god of the sea), (5) Olosa (goddess of the lagoon), (6) Oya (goddess of the river Niger), (7) Oshun (goddess of the river Oshun), (8) Oba (goddess of the river Oba), (9) Orisha Oko (god of agriculture), (10) Oshosi (god of hunters), (11) Oke (god of mountains), (12) Aje Shaluga (god of wealth), (13) Shankpanna (god of small-pox), (14) Orun (the sun), and (15) Oshu (the moon).2 To commemorate this event, a town which was given the name of Ife (distention, enlargement, or swelling up), was built on the spot where Yemaja’s body burst open, and became the holy city of the Yoruba-speaking tribes. The place where her body fell used to be shown, and probably still is; but the town was destroyed in 1882, in the war between the Ifes on the one hand and the Ibadans and Modakekes on the other.
The myth of Yemaja thus accounts for the origin of several of the gods, by making them the grandchildren of Obatala and Odudua; but there are other gods, who do not belong to this family group, and whose genesis is not accounted for in any way. Two, at least, of the principal gods are in this category, and we therefore leave for the moment the minor deities who sprung from Yemaja, and proceed with the chief gods, irrespective of their origin.
MERFOLK IN THE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS
In The Thousand and One Nights or The Arabian Nights (from now on the Nights), Shahrazâd becomes a storyteller in order to stop the king from serially putting to death the women he marries, whom he considers inherently deceitful. Shahrazâd’s voice may charm the king, although she is no mermaid, but it is the variety and wonder of her stories that eventually turn him away from his obsession with death and misogynist violence.
The Nights contains tales from the Indian, Persian, Arabic, and Jewish traditions that were transmitted in Arabic manuscripts for many centuries before Antoine Galland first translated them into a European language—French—in the early eighteenth century.1 Now mostly known through movies featuring Aladdin, Ali Baba, and Sindbad, as well as for its iconic genies, magic lamps, flying carpets, and extraordinary riches, in the West the world of the Nights has become a fantasyland that often perpetuates a highly gendered Orientalism. Since many tales prominently feature merchants, sea voyaging is often part of the plot.
“Jullanâr the Sea-born and Her Son King Badr Bâsim of Persia” is a mermaid-wife tale that has little in common with its European counterparts. This female protagonist, like Hans Christian Andersen’s little mermaid, is silent—but only during the first year of her life in the palace of the White City, when she chooses not to speak, not only because she misses her merfolk family but also because she is observing the king and deciding whether he is worthy of her. Jullanâr has beauty, virtue, and magic; she has strong family ties in the high seas and onshore, where she becomes the king’s wife and the mother of the future king Badr Bâsim; and she is an expert diplomat, bringing about respectful relations between the two realms. First a virgin, then a mother, and in the conclusion of the tale, a warrior and wise counselor, Jullanâr is a leader who believes in cross-cultural communication and puts it in action.
Notably, the tale “‘Abdallâh the Fisherman and ‘Abdallâh the Merman,” also from the Nights, presents a different take on merfolk and their interactions with humans. The relationship between the two ‘Abdallâhs—one of whom is a fisherman, the other a merman—is based on trade and friendship, but even as they honor the promises they make to each other, they are never like family. In her tale, Jullanâr affirms, “There are so many kinds of people in the high seas and various forms and creatures on land, but the differences are not that great”; but on a grand tour of the underwater world, ‘Abdallâh the Fisherman is quite dissatisfied with the food—raw fish only—and is publicly mocked because he is tailless.2
“Jullanâr the Sea-born and Her Son King Badr Bâsim of Persia” has two parts, with the second one focusing on Jullanâr’s son, Badr Bâsim, and his quest for the sea princess Jauharah. This part of the story takes place in a dreamlike sequence involving bodily transformations, betrayals, and magic competitions. While the characters are underwater, their appearances, behaviors, and customs are completely humanlike. Jullanâr makes a deus ex machina appearance at the end.
What follows is the first part of the tale only. The names of characters in the Nights have different spellings in English-language translations (e.g., Jullanâr, Julnar), and we have chosen to let these differences stand.
Julnar the Mermaid and Her Son Badar Basim of Persia1
Many years ago there was once a mighty monarch in the land of Ajam called King Shahriman, who lived in Khorasan. He owned a hundred concubines, but none of them had blessed him by giving birth to a chil
d. As time passed, he began to lament the fact that he was without an heir, and there would be nobody to inherit his kingdom as he had inherited it from his father and forebears. One day, as he was grieving about this, one of his mamelukes came to him and said, “My lord, there is a merchant at the door with a slave girl, who is more beautiful than any woman I’ve ever seen before.”
“Send them in,” the king said.
After they had entered, Shahriman saw that the girl had a marvelous figure and was wrapped in a silk veil lined with gold. When the merchant uncovered her face, the place was illuminated by her beauty, and her seven tresses hung down to her anklets in lovelocks. She had coal-black eyes, heavy lips, a slender waist, and luscious thighs. Just the sight of her could heal all maladies and quench the fire of hearts longing for love. Indeed, the king was amazed by her beauty and loveliness, and grace, and said to the merchant, “Oh sheikh, how much for this maiden?”
“My lord,” answered the merchant, “I bought her for two thousand dinars from a merchant who owned her before I did. Since then I have traveled with her for three years, and she has cost me another three thousand gold pieces up to the time of my arrival here. Despite all these expenses, she is a gift from me to you.”
As a reward for this gesture, the king presented him with a splendid robe of honor and ten thousand ducats, whereupon the merchant kissed his hands, thanked him for his generosity, and went his way. Afterward the king gave the damsel to the slave girls and said, “Go and bathe her. Then adorn her and furnish her with a bower, where she is to reside.” In addition, he ordered his chamberlains to bring her everything she requested and to shut her doors after they left.
And Scheherazade noticed that dawn was approaching and stopped telling her story. When the next night arrived, however, she received the king’s permission to continue her tale and said,
Now, the king’s capital was called the White City and was located on the seashore. Therefore, the chamber in which the damsel was installed had windows that overlooked the sea. When Shahriman eventually went to visit her there, she did not speak to him, nor did she take any notice of him.
“It would seem that she’s been with people who never taught her any manners,” he said. Then he looked at the damsel and marveled again at her beauty, loveliness, and grace. Indeed, she had a face like the rondure of the full moon or the radiant sun shining on a clear day. And he praised Almighty Allah for having produced such a splendid creature, and he walked up to her and sat down by her side. Then he pressed her to his bosom, and after seating her on his thighs, he sucked the dew of her lips, which he found sweeter than honey. Soon after this he called for trays spread with all kinds of the richest viands, and while he ate, he also fed her by mouthfuls until she had had enough. All the while she did not speak a single word. Even when the king began to talk to her and asked her name, she remained silent and did not utter a syllable or give him an answer. Only her incomparable beauty saved her from his majesty’s wrath. “Glory be to God, the Creator of this girl!” he said to himself. “She would be perfectly charming if she would only speak! But perfection belongs only to Allah the Most High.” And he asked the slave girls whether she had spoken, and they said, “From the time of her arrival until now she has not uttered one word, nor has she even addressed us.”
Then he summoned some of his women and concubines and ordered them to sing to her and make merry so that perhaps she might speak. Accordingly they played all sorts of instruments and games before her so that all the people present enjoyed themselves except the damsel, who looked at them in silence and neither laughed nor spoke. The king became extremely distressed because of this, and he dismissed the women and the rest of the company. When everyone was gone, he took off his clothes and disrobed her with his own hand. When he looked at her body, he saw that it was as smooth as a silver ingot, and his love for her was aroused. So he lay down next to her and began making love. Soon he took her maidenhead and was pleased to find that she was a pure virgin. “By Allah,” he said to himself, “it’s a wonder that a girl so fair of form and face should have been left untouched and pure by the merchants!”
From then on he devoted himself entirely to her and gave up all his other concubines and favorites. Indeed, he spent one whole year with her as if it were a single day. Still, she did not speak one word, until one morning he said to her, “Oh love of my life, my passion for you is great, and I have forsaken all my slave girls, concubines, and favorites, and I have made you my entire world and had patience with you for one whole year. So I now beseech Almighty Allah to do me a favor and soften your heart so that you’ll speak to me. Or, if you are mute, tell me by some sign so that I’ll give up hope of ever hearing you speak. My only prayer is that the Lord will grant me a son through you so that there will be an heir to the kingdom after me. May Allah bless you, and if you love me, you’ll now give me a reply.”
The damsel bowed her head awhile in thought. Eventually she raised it and smiled at him, and it seemed to him as if the rays of the sun had filled the chamber. Then she said, “Oh magnanimous lord and valorous lion, Allah has answered your prayer, for I am with child by you, and the time of my delivery is near at hand, although I am not sure whether the baby will be a boy or girl. But one thing is certain: if I had not become pregnant by you, I would not have spoken one word to you.”
When the king heard her talk, his face shone with joy and gladness, and he kissed her head and hands out of delight. “Praise the Lord!” he said. “Almighty Allah has granted all my wishes—your speech and a child!”
Then he got up, left her chamber, and seated himself on his throne. In his ecstasy he ordered his vizier to distribute a hundred thousand dinars to the poor and needy and widows as a way of showing his gratitude to Allah Almighty. The minister did as he was commanded, and then the king returned to the damsel, embraced her, and said, “Oh my lady, my queen, your slave desires to know why you were silent so long. You spent one whole year with me, and yet you did not speak to me until this day. Why?”
“Listen to me carefully, my lord,” she replied, “for I want you to know that I am a wretched exile and brokenhearted. My mother, my family, and my brother are far away from me.”
When the king heard her words, he knew how she felt and said, “There’s no more need for you to feel so wretched; for I swear to you my kingdom and goods and all that I possess are at your service, and I have also become your husband. But as for your separation from your mother, brother, and family, I understand your sorrow, but just tell me where they are, and I will send for them and fetch them here.”
“Gracious king, you must listen to the rest of my story,” she answered. “First, let me tell you that my name is Julnar the Mermaid, and that my father was a descendant of the kings of the High Seas. When he died, he left us his realm, but while we were still upset and mourning him, one of the other kings arose against us and took over our realm. I have a brother called Salih, and my mother is also a woman of the sea. While all this was happening, I had a falling out with my brother and swore that I would throw myself into the hands of a man of the land. So I left the sea and sat down on the edge of an island in the moonshine, and a passerby found me. He took me to his house and tried to make love to me, but I struck him on the head so hard that he almost died. Once he recovered, he took me away and sold me to the merchant from whom you bought me. This merchant was a good man—virtuous, pious, loyal, and generous. If it were not for the fact that you fell in love with me and promoted me over all your concubines, I would not have remained with you a single hour. Rather, I would have sprung into the sea from this window and gone to my mother and family. Now, however, I’ve become ashamed to travel to them, since I am carrying your child. They would consider this to be sinful and would no longer regard me with esteem, even if I were to tell them that a king had bought me with his gold, given me his property, and preferred me over all his wives. —This then is my story.”
And
Scheherazade noticed that dawn was approaching and stopped telling her story. When the next night arrived, however, she received the king’s permission to continue her tale and said,
Then the king thanked Julnar for telling him her story, kissed her on her forehead, and said, “By Allah, oh lady and light of my eyes, I can’t bear to be separated from you for more than one hour. If you were ever to leave me, I would die immediately. What are we to do?”
“My lord,” she replied, “the time of my delivery is near at hand, and my family must be present so that they can tend me. You see, the women of the land do not know how women of the sea give birth to children, nor do the daughters of the ocean know the ways of the daughters of the earth. When my people come, we will all be reconciled to one another.”
“But how do people of the sea walk about in the water and breathe?” asked the king.
“We walk in the water and breathe as you do here on ground,” she said, “thanks to the names engraved on the ring of Solomon David-son. But now, listen to me, when I call for my kith and kin to come here, I’ll tell them how you bought me with gold and have treated me with kindness and benevolence. It will be important for you to show them that you have a magnificent realm and that you’re a mighty king.”
The Penguin Book of Mermaids Page 18