The idea of mermaids has fascinated people for a long time, the first
recorded tales being those from Assyria in 1000 BC. Later, the ancient
Greeks and the cultures that followed had their own unique renditions of
the myth.
In Greek mythology, the merpeople existed in the form of Triton and
his offspring.... Greek geographer and writer, Pausanias claimed to have
seen two Tritons. He wrote this of them in his Description of Greece.
“Their bodies are bristling with very fine scales. They have gills
behind the ears and a human nose, but a very big mouth and the teeth of
a wild beast . . . from the breast and belly down they have a dolphin
tail instead of feet.”
In 1608, English navigator, Henry Hudson described something two of
his crewmen saw in his journal. He wrote this of their account. “From
the naval upward, her back and breasts were like a woman’s . . . her
body as big as one of us; her skin very white and long hair hanging down
behind,of the color black; in her going down they saw her tail, which
was the tail of a porpoise, and speckled like a mackerel.”
Mermaid sightings have continued throughout history, one of the most
famous being off the coast of Wales in 1603.
The creature was first seen by Thomas Raynold, a yeoman from Pendine,
who then summoned others to keep watch for three hours.
William Saunders of Pendine later examined Raynold and some of the
other witnesses. Stories of mermaids were fairly common during the
fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and there is even
reference to a sighting in the journal of Christopher Columbus
(1451-1506) for 9 January 1493.
 It was believed that mermaids could save sailors from drowning but
could also lure ships to their doom. Belief in mermaids, fairies and
other mythical creatures persisted in many areas of Britain until the
eighteenth century and sometimes even later.
Gradually, however, opposition by the Protestant Church, greater
levels of literacy, and industrialisation led to a demise of the belief
in such creatures, although many stories have survived.
The Romantics and Victorians enshrined their interest in legends
about mermaids in art and poetry, one of the famous stories being The
Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen. Showmen such as P.T. Barnum
made a great deal of money by charging people to view his hoax of a
mermaid.
But in spite of the hoax, as well as the scientific expeditions which
claimed that mermaids were none other than manatees, merpeople have
never quite gone away. Beneath it all perhaps lies a mystification with
the otherness of the sea and the creatures, both real and imaginary,
that dwell therein.
The Mermaids
The Mermaids in jolly mood,
With fun and frolic, they swim about,
With long black hair, that floats in and around,
Around and around, up and down,
Down and up in the waters below, in the dark blue sea.
They spy the ships which move about,
To and fro from far away.
They sit on rocks in playful mood,
In the starry nights of silvery clouds,
They dash their tails, now and then,
Sprinkling water at the moon,
Which smiles at them with winking eyes,
The moon that plays hide and seek, among the clouds,
That move away!!!
Vimalothayam Pathmanathan |
