A mermaid is a female whose top half is a human girl and whose bottom half is a fish. Mermiads are usually seen as beautiful young girls, or women with long hair, often seen sitting on rocks displaying their tails and combing their hair. The comb was seen, by the Celts, as a magical symbol of female power. Mermaids are said to have slightly webbed fingers.
The sighting of mermaids is suppose to be an unlucky omen, as they are said both to foretell, as well as provoke disasters at sea. Their appearance, therefore, is often a sign of forthcoming marine bad weather. Some sailors have said that they have seen mermaids up to 200 feet high. They are said to lure men to their deaths on the rocks, and also, that no man can resist their allure. Mermaids can also be beneficent, however. There are stories of mermaids rewarding humans for their help. There is tell of a famous mermaid, in Ireland, called Li Ban, who had previously been a human. The Water Maidens of Scotland, called the Ceasgs, lived in the freshwater lakes and rivers.
The word Mermaid comes from the Old English “mere” meaning sea and the OE word for young woman, or girl, is “maid’. The Norse god and goddess of the sea are called Ren and Aegir. They had seven mermaids who live at the bottom of the sea and watch over the World Mill which turns with the seasons to bring fertility and harmony.
The Cornish Celts tell of sightings of Morveren beautiful daughter of Llyr, the Celtic god of the sea.
The Marquess of Beaumont found some vellum accounts that dated from the Middle Ages, in a chest in her home at Bennington Abbey, in Westchelsea, at the beginning of the C20th. These are now in the hands of our researchers. The accounts tell of how her ancestors became wealthy.
A newly married young man, called Garth was once walking back to his hut with a couple of small fish. These fish were to eke out his very small income as a carpenter, in a locale that wasn’t very populated. Garth was a small man, with mousey hair and a lovely smile. He was late for his supper and was hurrying around some large rocks in order to gain the rocky cove from where he could ascend the steps to return to his small hamlet.
Garth was anxiously thinking about his failure to earn much, as he rounded the corner, when he stopped in shock. Before him, on one of the largish rocks, just a few feet out in the water was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen, combing her hair and singing quietly, in a silvery voice. Not only was she naked, but she was half fish. Her hair was a silvery green and her fish scales were silver. She was a mermaid. She smiled and spoke softly to him.
“Little man, I have a request of you”. Garth, who had always been raised to be polite to the supernatural, tugged his forelock “yes ma’am?”
“You will make me a cup that I can drink out of underwater without spilling a drop. If you do not bring it to me by the next full moon I will eat curse your family and eat your children”. She smiled beautifully at him revealing a row of sharks teeth. Garth stood still for a second digesting this. “Uh, may I ask ma’am, why me? Also, I do not have children” The mermaid considered this, “you are a carpenter are you not? And newly married, you have such a pretty wife, you might wish to ask her something when you get home” Garth stared at her confused, she laughed, and slid back into the ocean, leaving him with “ remember, next full moon, or I will devour you”. Garth pinched his brows, he was lucky he supposed, she did not lure him to his death. When he returned home he arrived to find his wife beaming at him waiting at his door. He embraced her inquiring what made her so happy, she silently handed him a tiny pair of woollen boots, and Garth was a very happy man.
later as he lay next to his young wife as she slept, his mind kept turning over the words of the mermaid, he had three weeks at most.
The next morning he went to work early, and worked like a man possessed, he fulfilled his orders and in his spare time and evenings he worked on this cup. He was often seen in the ocean testing out his cups. The villagers became concerned for his mind and body, you see the ocean is not kind to swimmers in the best of times but in the cold autumn days it was not a good idea to go swimming. It still Garth worked, until four days before the full moon, he fell ill. He caught a chill from the ocean and became very ill, but even in his sickness he worked on the cup for the mermaid. His wife was verily afraid he was indeed loosing his mind. Every night he feverishly checked the moon. Two days before it was full, he fell so ill that he was not able to stay conscious for long. His beautiful young wife wept, bitter that his work had made him so ill and begging him to tell her who the cup was for.
On the night of the full moon, Garth dragged himself to his feet half delirious and grabbing the cup, attempted to go to the harbour. His poor wife quite hysterical at this point could do nothing but half carry him down to the cove. When they finally got there, Garth half dead in the icy autumn night, and his pretty wife not far behind, lounging on her rock was the mermaid.
Garth raised the cup in a trembling hand and barely audibly said “ma’am your cup, please let my family live”. His wife was in utter shock, and the mermaid nodded and snatched the cup from him, she flipped back into the ocean leaving Garth and his wife by the ocean. Garth sighed and collapsed, his wife sobbing doing her best to keep him warm. He smiled weakly “see I said you would think me mad, but I kept you safe”. Just as his wife came to respond, there was a splash and the mermaid re-emerged from the ocean holding her cup.
“I am please with this, it works admirably, as thanks I shall give you this.” She flicks a silvery disk towards the exhausted couple, it lands at Garth’s feet. “Keep it, it will bring you luck, and judging by the color of your lips, you will need it”.
The mermaid returned to the ocean with a flip of her tail, just as some village folk hurried down to the cove. They had been alerted by the wife’s crying and had come to see what was wrong. Between them they got Garth back into his home and light a strong fire. Whether it was the mermaid scale or pure dumb luck, Garth was able to fight off his illness, and came away stronger.
He then proceeded to patent his water tight drinking cup, and make a fortune selling them to pearl divers. That fortune and a nack, for inventions followed the family down the generations, along with the mermaid scale.