Mermaids from Japan
1.Ningyo combines the Chinese characters 人魚 for “human” and “fish.”
2.See the comparative work of Japanese Studies scholar Lucy Fraser.
3.As noted in his 1876 account of Chinese mermaids, Nicholas Belfield Dennys recalls seeing “Barnum’s celebrated purchase from Japan, which, so far as could be judged, consisted of a monkey’s body most artistically joined to a fish’s tail.” The Folklore of China (Hongkong: China Mail Office, 1876), 114. Apparently exhibited in Japan as well (see Fraser), ningyo no miira or mummified mermaids were popular attactions in London and New York.
4.See Mayako Murai’s book, From Dog Bridegroom to Wolf Girl: Contemporary Japanese Fairy-Tale Adaptations in Conversation with the West (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2015).
The Mermaid
1.N. A., The Far East. An Exponent of Japanese Thoughts and Affairs, vol. 2, no. 12, 714–17 (Tokyo: The Nation’s Friend Publishing Co., December 20, 1897). Nicholas Belfield Dennys, The Folk-Lore of China (Hongkong: China Mail Office, 1876).
Yao Bikuni
1.Kōji Inada, and Ozawa Toshio, eds., Nihon Mukashibanashi Tsūkan 11: Toyama, Ishikawa, Fukui (Kyoto: Dōhōsha, 1981), 187–89. Translated by Mayako Murai.
2.The version translated here was told by a female informant from Obama City in Fukui Prefecture and recorded by Kasai Noriko.
Water Spirits of the Philippines
1.Tagalog, Ilokano, Visayan, and Mindanao are different ethnolinguistic groups native to the Philippines.
The Mermaid Queen
1.Henry Otley Beyer Collection held by Charity Beyer-Bagatsing.
The Litao and Serena
1.Henry Otley Beyer Collection held by Charity Beyer-Bagatsing.
The American and the Sirena of Amburayan
1.Henry Otley Beyer Collection held by Charity Beyer-Bagatsing.
A Mermaid in Mabini
1.Courtesy of Regie Barcelona Villanueva.
The Mermaid
1.Erlinda K. Alburo, ed. and trans., Ramon L. Cerilles, Marian P. Diosay, and Lawrence M. Liao, researchers; Fred C. Dimay, illus., Cebuano Folktales 2 (Cebu: San Carlos Publications, University of San Carlos, 1977), 16–18.
2.Erlinda K. Alburo, Cebuano Folktales (Cebu: San Carlos Publications, University of San Carlos, 1977), iii.
A Mer-Wife in Northern Australia
1.At translator Erika Charola’s suggestion, we have changed the title from “Karukany” to “Karukayn”; as she explains it, “the bilingual Gurindji-English book has a readership more likely to be familiar with Gurindji orthography, in which a palatal ‘n’ is represented by ‘ny,’ but the pronunciation is much closer to ‘karukine.’”
Karukayn (Mermaids)
1.Told by Ronnie Wavehill and translated by Erika Charola and Ronnie Wavehill. In Yijarni: True Stories from Gurindji Country, edited by Erika Beatriz Charola and Felicity Helen Meakins, (Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press, 2016), 13–20.
Sirena
1.Marianas Island Legends: Myth and Magic, retold by Macey Flood; comp., Bo Flood; illus., Connie J. Adams (Honolulu: The Bess Press, 2001), 43–47.
The Feejee Mermaid Hoax
1.P. T. Barnum, The Life of P. T. Barnum Written by Himself (New York: Refield, 1855), iv, 231, 232, 233.
The Mermaid
1.The New York Herald, July 17, 1842.
Mermaids and Mo‘o of Hawai‘i
1.Mary Kawena Pukui with Laura C. S. Green, col., trans., Folktales of Hawai‘i: He mau Ka‘ao Hawai‘i (Honolulu: Bishop Museum Press, 2008), 48.
2.Mo‘o and ‘ōlelo combined denote “series of talks,” a union reflecting a long history of oral tradition (Mary Kawena Pukui and Samuel H. Elbert, Hawaiian Dictionary [Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 1986], s.v. “mo‘olelo”). Mo‘o has many meanings, including lizard or reptile, thus referring to reptilian water deities. It is also brindled, speaking to the ways that the (Hawaiian) lizard—with its backbone and brindled markings—stands for continuity in the sense of an unbroken sequence. Similarly, other meanings of mo‘o also refer to that which is part of a larger whole or series such as a grandchild or great-grandchild, a smaller piece of kapa or bark-cloth, a smaller land division within a larger land division. And most significantly, the Hawaiian word for genealogy, like the genre known as mo‘olelo, incorporates the term mo‘o—mo‘okū‘auhau—“the story or telling of genealogy.”
3.Pukui and Elbert, Hawaiian Dictionary, s.v. “ka‘ao”; see also Lorrin Andrews, A Dictionary of the Hawaiian Language (Honolulu: Island Heritage Publishing, 2003), s.v. “ka‘ao.”
4.For more on mo‘olelo and ka‘ao, see Marie Alohalani Brown, Facing the Spears of Change: The Life and Legacy of John Papa ‘Ī‘ī (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2016), 15–20, 27–29.
The Mermaid of Honokawailani Pond
1.Sara Keli‘ilolena Nākoa, “Ke Ki‘owai ‘o Honokawailani,” in Lei Momi o ‘Ewa, eds. William H. Wilson (1979), M. Puakea Nogelmeier (1993), and Sahoa Fukushima (Honolulu: Tongg Publishing, 1979; Honolulu: Ka ‘Ahahui ‘Ōlelo Hawai‘i and Short Stack by Native Books, 2016), 6–9.
2.Sarah Nākoa, the teller of this tale, which she heard from her grandmother, was raised in ‘Ewa, on the west side of O‘ahu. Nākoa was familiar with this pond, and like others in the area, had swam in its waters. Lei Momi o ‘Ewa (Pearl Lei of ‘Ewa) is a collection of stories that Nākoa told in Hawaiian. Nākoa’s Hawaiian was strikingly elegant, and consequently Hawaiian-language instructors in Hawai‘i use Lei Momi o ‘Ewa in their classes. The story was translated Marie Alohalani Brown; it is the first time that this tale has been translated into English for publication.
Kalamainu‘u, the Mo‘o Who Seduced Puna‘aikoa‘e
1.John Papa ‘Ī‘ī, “Na Hunahuna no ka Moolelo Hawaii,” Ka Nupepa Kuokoa, September 4, 11, and 18, 1869, trans. Marie Alohalani Brown.
2.John Papa ‘Ī‘ī (1800–1870), a noted nineteenth-century Hawaiian statesman, is the teller of this tale.
Water Beings of South America
1.A British citizen of English and Hungarian descent, Walter E. Roth (1861–1933) was a physician, educator, and museum curator who became interested in the indigenous peoples of the places in which he was stationed, Australia and Guyana.
The Fisherman’s Water-Jug and Potato
1.Walter E. Roth, “An Inquiry into the Animism and Folk-Lore of the Guiana Indians,” Thirtieth Annual Report: Smithsonian Institution of the Bureau of Amerian Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Instutions, 1908–1909 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1915), 245–47.
Oiára, the Water-Maidens
1.Herbert H. Smith, Brazil: The Amazons and the Coast (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1879), 572.
2.*Pontederia. Dr. Barboza Rodriguez says that the oiára has the tail of a porpoise.
The Pincoya
1.Francisco Javier Cavada, “La Pincoya,” in Chiloé y los Chilotes (Santiago: Imprenta Universitaria, 1914), 101–10. Translated by Marie Alohalani Brown.
2.The implication here is that girls with happy dispositions will attract abundance because their disposition is pleasing to the Pincoyes.
The Mermaids
1.Julio Vicuña Cifuentes, “Las Sirenas,” Mitos y Supersticiones Recogidos de la Tradición Oral Chilena con Referencias Comparativas a los de Otros Países Latinos (Santiago de Chile: Imprenta Universitaria, 1915), 85–87. Translated by Marie Alohalani Brown.
African Water Spirits in the Caribbean
1.Misty L. Bastian, “Married in the Water: Spirit Kin and Other Afflictions of Modernity in Nigeria,” Journal of Religion of Africa 27, no. 2 (May 1997): 116–34, 123.
2.Bastian, “Married in the Water,” 124.
Ti Jeanne
1.Alice Besson, Folklore and Legends of Trinidad and Tobago (Port-of-Spain, Trinidad: Paria Publi
shing Co., 2001), 49–51.
Maman Dlo’s Gift
1.Gérard A Besson, Folklore and Legends of Trinidad and Tobago (Port-of-Spain, Trinidad: Paria Publishing Co., 2001), 52–53.
Water Beings of Indigenous North America
1.Bureau of Indian Affairs; First Nations Peoples in Canada. See Bureau of Indian Affairs, “About us,” https://www.bia.gov/about-us; Facing History and Ourselves, “Who are the Indigenous Peoples of Canada,” https://www.facinghistory.org/stolen-lives-indigenous-peoples-canada-and-indian-residential-schools/historical-background/who-are-indigenous-peoples-canada; Facing History and Ourselves, “First Nations,” https://www.facinghistory.org/stolen-lives-indigenous-peoples-canada-and-indian-residential-schools/historical-background/first-nations.
The Horned Serpent Runs Away with a Girl Who Is Rescued by the Thunderer
1.Arthur C. Parker, Seneca Myths and Folk Tales (Buffalo, NY: Buffalo Historical Society, 1923), 218–22.
2.The collector is Arthur C. Parker (1881–1855), a folklorist and archaeologist of both Seneca and Scots-English ancestry. In his discussion of Seneca storytelling customs, Parker notes that “no fable, myth-tale, or story of ancient adventures might be told during the months of summer,” by order of the “little people’ (djogë’o), the wood fairies,” in part because “all the world stops work when a good story is told and afterward forgets its wonted duty in marveling. Thus the modern Iroquois, following the old time custom, reserves his tales of adventures, myths and fable for winter when the year’s work is over and all nature slumbers.” Seneca Myths and Folk Tales, xxvi.
Of the Woman Who Loved a Serpent Who Lived in a Lake
1.Charles G. Leland, Algonquin Legends of New England or Myths and Folk Lore of the MicMac, Passamaquoddy, and Penobscot Tribes, third ed. (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, and Company, 1884), 273–74.
2.Folklorist Charles G. Leland (1824–1903) collected this tale and the two others that follow it from the Passamaquoddy (an Anglicization of Peskotomuhkat, their autonym) in 1882.
How Two Girls Were Changed to Water-Snakes
1.Charles G. Leland, Algonquin Legends of New England or Myths and Folk Lore of the MicMac, Passamaquoddy, and Penobscot Tribes, third ed. (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, and Company, 1884), 268–69.
Ne Hwas, the Mermaid
1.Charles G. Leland, Algonquin Legends of New England or Myths and Folk Lore of the MicMac, Passamaquoddy, and Penobscot Tribes, third ed. (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, and Company, 1884), 270–71.
2.This teller of this story is Mrs. W. Wallace Brown, the wife of an Indian agent, known for her knowledge of Passamaquoddy customs in Maine.
Legend of the Fish Women (Mermaids)
1.Herbert Earl Wilson, The Lore and Lure of the Yosemite (San Francisco: A. M. Robertson, 1922), 125–26.
2.Alternatively termed Awahnichi.
3.Alternatively termed Awani.
4.The collector of this tale is Herbert Earl Wilson (1891–1980), a long-term resident of Yosemite Valley who gave talks and wrote books about Yosemite history and folklore.
The Woman Who Married the Merman
1.Leo J. Frachtenberg, Coos Texts, vol. 1 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1913), 157–61.
2.Harry Hull St. Clair II (1879–1953), who received a master’s degree in linguistics under the famed anthropologist Franz Boas, collected this tale from the Coos people of coastal Oregon in 1903.
This page constitutes an extension of the copyright page
Grateful acknowledgment is made for permission to reprint the following copyrighted works:
“Kāliya, the Snake” from Classical Hindu Mythology: A Reader in the Sanskrit Purānas by Cornelia Dimmitt (ed.).
“The Mermaid of Kessock” and “The Grey Selchie of Sule Skerrie” from Selected Highland Folktales, 4th ed. by Ronald Macdonald Robertson (ed.). Used by permission of House of Lochar.
“In the Jaws of the Merman” from The Turnip Princess and Other Newly Discovered Fairy Tales by Franz Xaver von Schonwerth, edited by Erica Eichenseer, translated by Maria Tatar, copyright © 2015 by Erica Eichenseer. Translation copyright © 2015 by Maria Tatar. Used by permission of Penguin Classics, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.
“The Nixie in the Pond” from The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm, translated by Jack Zipes, translation copyright © 1987 by Jack Zipes. Used by permission of Bantam Books, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House LLC and Jack Zipes. All rights reserved.
Introduction to “Estonian Water Spirits” and translation of Three Estonian Water Spirit Legends from the Estonian Folklore Archives of the Estonian Literary Museum by Ülo Valk. © Estonian Literary Museum. Translation copyright © Ülo Valk. Used by permission of Estonian Literary Museum and Ülo Valk.
Introduction to “Two Greek Mermaids” by Marilena Papachristophorou. “New Tunes” from Legends, Vol. 1, edited by Nicholas Politis (1st edition 1904) and “The Mermaid” from Skiathos’ Popular Culture, Vol. 2, edited by George Rigas (1962) translated into English by Marilena Papachristophorou. Used by permission of Marilena Papachristophorou.
“Cola Pesce” and “The Sailor and the Mermaid of the Sea” from Fiabe e leggende popolari siciliane by Giuseppe Pitrè, translated into Italian by Bianca Lazzaro, copyright © 2016 Donzelli Editore, Roma. Translated into English by Cristina Bacchilega with the permission of Donzelli Editore.
“Fortunio and the Siren” from The Great Fairy Tale Tradition: From Straparola and Basile to the Brothers Grimm by Giovan Francesco Straparola, translated by Jack Zipes (Norton Critical Edition, 2001), translation copyright © Jack Zipes. Used by permission of Jack Zipes. All rights reserved.
“A Mermaid’s Tears” from “Two Tales from Cruel Fairy Tales for Adults” by Kurahashi Yumiko, in Marvels & Tales: Journal of Fairy-Tale Studies, Vol. 22, No. 1. Copyright © 2008 by Wayne State University Press. Used by permission of Wayne State University Press. All rights reserved.
“Abyssus Abyssum Invocat” from Lightspeed Magazine, February 2013. Copyright © Genevieve Valentine. Used by permission of Genevieve Valentine.
“Julnar the Mermaid and Her Son Badar Basim of Persia” from The Arabian Nights: The Marvels and Wonders of the Thousand and One Nights translated by Jack Zipes, translation copyright © 1991 by Jack Zipes. Used by permission of New American Library, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC and Jack Zipes. All rights reserved.
Introduction to “A Persian Sea Fairy” and “The Sea Fairy,” collected from Iranian oral tradition, by Moḥammad Jaʿfari Qanavāti and translated from Persian by Ulrich Marzolph. Copyright © Moḥammad Jaʿfari Qanavāti, translation copyright © Ulrich Marzolph. Used by permission of Moḥammad Jaʿfari Qanavāti and Ulrich Marzolph.
Introduction to “Three Khasi Narratives about Water Spirits” and translations of “About—, the River Goddess Who Exists in Jaintia Hills,” “How Water Tied a Covenant with Man and the Divine Nature of Water” and “About a Puri Enchantment” by Margaret Lyngdoh. Translation copyright © Margaret Lyngdoh. Used by permission of Margaret Lyngdoh.
Introduction to and translation of “Yao Bikuni” by Mayako Murai. Originally collected and transcribed by Noriko Kasai in Nihon Mukashibanashi Tsūkan 11: Toyama, Ishikawa, Fukui. Used by permission of Noriko Kasai and Mayako Murai.
“The Mermaid Queen,” “The Litao and Serena” and “The American and the Sirena of Amburayan” from the Henry Otley Beyer Collection. Used by permission of Charity Beyer-Bagatsing.
“A Mermaid in Mabini” as told by Regie Barcelona Villanueva. Used by permission of Regie Barcelona Villanueva.
“Mermaid” from Cebuano Folktales 2 edited and translated by Erlinda K. Alburo (ed.). Used by permission of Erlinda K. Alburo.
“Karukany (Mermaids)” from Yijarni: True Stories fro
m Gurindji Country translated by Erika Charola and Ronnie Wavehill and edited by Erika Beatriz Charola and Felicity Helen Meakins (Aboriginal Studies Press 2016). Translation Copyright © Ronnie Wavehill. Used by permission of Ronnie Wavehill.
“Sirena” from Marianas Island Legends: Myth and Magic by Macey Flood, compiled by Bo Flood (The Bess Press 2001). Copyright © The Bess Press Inc. Used by permission of The Bess Press, besspress.com.
“The Mermaid of Honokawailani Pond” from Lei Momi o ‘Ewa by Sara Keli‘ilolena Nākoa. Used by permission of Ka’Ahahui ‘Ōlelo Hawai‘i 1993.
“Ti Jeanne” by Alice Besson and “Maman Dlo’s Gift” by Gérard A. Besson from Folklore and Legends of Trinidad and Tobago, copyright © 2001 bu Paria Publishing Co. Ltd. Used by permission of Paria Publishing Co. Ltd.
Images on this page and this page: Reproduced from The Reliquary: Quarterly Archaeological Journal and Review, vol. XIX (1878–1879), p. 195, and vol. XX (1879–1880), p. 9.
Image on this page: Robinson, W. Heath. Reproduced from Hans Andersen’s Fairy Tales (New York: Henry Holt, 1913), p. 48.
Image on this page: Courtesy of Marie Alohalani Brown.
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Index
The page numbers in this index refer to the printed version of this book. The link provided will take you to the beginning of that print page. You may need to scroll forward from that location to find the corresponding reference on your e-reader.
Note: Page numbers after 298 refer to Notes.
“‘Abdallâh the Fisherman and ‘Abdallâh the Merman” (Arabian Nights), 172, 311
“About a Puri Enchantment” (India), 195
“About K—-, the River Goddess Who Exists in Jaintia Hills” (India), 191–92
“Abyssus Abyssum Invocat” (Valentine), 152–61
The Penguin Book of Mermaids Page 30