MERMAIDS are legendary creatures who have the upper bodies of lovely women and the tails of fish, though the Scots say that under the fish scales are normal human legs. They may occasionally be seen sunning themselves on rocks as they gaze into mirrors while combing their long hair. Like the Sirens, they have sweet voices and sing to lure human lovers into the depths of the waves, or to summon storms that wreck ships. The early church took a dim view of mermaids, saying that they were demons who tempted the righteous. In Irish legend, St Patrick banished old Pagan women from the earth by turning them into mermaids. The mermaid of Iona was offered redemption if she relinquished her sea home, but this she was unable to do and her tears became the grey-green pebbles of the island’s shore. Like other fairies, mermaids are said to have no souls but they can gain one by marrying a human. They make good wives and caring mothers and for this reason many men have sought them. The Clan McVeagh in Sutherland claim descent from a union between a mermaid and a fisherman. To capture a mermaid it is first necessary to secure her magic cap, her belt or comb and hide it. If she finds it she will return to the sea, which is her greatest desire. In a Scottish tale Johnny Croy got round this by contracting a seven-year marriage with a mermaid and agreed to leave with her at the end of the contract. They duly sailed away to sea after the seven years, together with six of their children, having to leave the seventh because Johnny’s mother had taken the precaution of branding it with a cross. Belief in mermaids was still widespread in coastal areas of Britain in the nineteenth century and as recently as 1947 an eighty-year-old fisherman from the Isle of Muck claimed he had seen a mermaid near the shore, combing her hair. The word ‘mermaid’ may derive from the French for sea, mer, or be a corruption of meremaid or merrymaid. It is possible that the concept of mermaids derives from ancient beliefs of fish tailed goddesses such as Atargatis, the Semitic moon and love goddess, known in Greece as Derketo, and from later forms of such deities like Aphrodite who was ‘foam born’ in the sea. Aphrodite [Roman Venus] is the goddess of love, fertility, and fair sailing, often accompanied by her sacred dolphins, Tritons and Tritonids. Like mermaids she is depicted with a mirror and comb, the Greek names of which signify the female vulva. In early astrology her mirror represented the planet Venus. Like the goddesses, mermaids are connected with love and the moon. In Tudor England mermaid was a term for a prostitute, with Anne Boleyn being characterised as a mermaid.

SEA MITHER [‘Sea Mother’] appears in the lore of Orkney. She represents the powers of summer and life, is the mother of all that lives in the sea and brings seasonal calm to the island waters. Her enemy is Teran, the spirit of winter, who stirs up the waves and winter gales. Every spring, at the equinox, the Sea Mither begins to battle with Teran to bring in the summer. At the end of the fight, which may go on for weeks, he is bound and imprisoned at the bottom of the sea. Then the Mither will bring warmth and growth back to the sea and the islands until the autumn, when the Teran escapes and they fight once again at the autumn equinox. This time Teran is victorious and the sea Mither is banished. During the winter, he will wreak havoc on both sea and land, whipping up storms, bringing ice and cold, and drowning the fishermen. Lying at the bottom of the ocean the Sea Mither hears their cries and waits for spring, when she will rule once more.

LADY OF THE LAKE is a beautiful fairy that appears in one of the Arthurian tales. She snatched the baby Lancelot from his real mother and disappeared with him into the depths of a lake where she tenderly brought him up in her underwater kingdom, preparing him for greatness. She also supplied Arthur with his magical sword Excalibur, a gift from the land of the fairy, whose sheath safeguarded its owner from harm. Some call her Vivienne, in the Morte d’Arthur Thomas Mallory called her Nimue and she has also been called Niniane. She may have been one of the Gwragedd Annwn, the Welsh fairy maidens who dwell beneath lakes in underworld kingdoms.

Jenny Greenteeth is a water fairy of the River Ribble in Northern England. When green weeds wave in the flowing water, it indicates that Peggy is lurking beneath the surface, ready to take another victim. She haunts the stepping stones near Brungerley and every seven years claims a human life by grabbing some hapless traveller and pulling him beneath the water to drown. Children are warned not to go near the water, or Jenny Greenteeth will take them.

Jenny is only one such fairy. Another is Peg Prowler who haunts the River Tees. She is also green with long hair and sharp teeth. If people wade in the water she pulls on their ankles and drags them down to drown. Peg O’Nell also demands the sacrifice of a life every seven years and will be satisfied with a small animal or bird, though if this is not offered she will take a human life.

The River Ribble was sacred to Minerva during the Roman occupation of Britain, and to an unknown water goddess before that, and Peg and Jenny are likely to be folk memories of this goddess. Human sacrifices may once have been made to the water deities, and this may account for predatory figures such as Jenny.

Such practices survive in folk tales, like the story of the Scottish guardian water-demons. It is said that in older times, when a castle was sacked, a crafty servant might contrive to throw some portion of the family treasure into a nearby pool. On one occasion, a diver was brought in to bring the treasure to the surface, but when he dived, he encountered the water guardian of the lake who told him to leave immediately and not come back. However, the diver disobeyed and moments after his second dive his heart and lungs were found floating on the surface of the water, torn out by the demon.

WATER FAIRIES

There are large numbers of water fairies around the world. These fairies are temperamental in character and can either curse with storms or drowning or bless with treasure or the power of healing or magic. The females are generally lovely and seductive, singing bewitching songs to lure young men into their clutches. However, their looks are misleading. They often want to drown the young men and steal their souls. Male water fairies are usually bad tempered and ugly with green hair, though there are exceptions.

A 'prototype' of water fairies is the Greek sea god Proteus, known as The Old Man of the Sea who is the most masterful shapeshifter of all. He is able to assume any shape he desires. Most water fairies are said to be shapeshifters, perhaps because of the fluid and changeable nature of water itself, which is only given shape by the vessel that holds it.

The Celts and other tribes also sacrificed treasure to lakes and river spirits. At the site of Flag Fen in Cambridgeshire over three hundred bronze artefacts were found including PINS and ornaments, rings and a large number of weapons including swords and daggers and tools such a chisels and awls.  The swords were either unsharpened or broken, and there was a pair of bronze shears, which would have been too soft to cut anything, the shields were too thin to be used, the spears too large, so they were clearly ritual objects. Human sacrifices may once have been made to the water deities, and this may account for figures such as Peg O’Nell of the River Ribble in Lancashire who demands sacrifices. She will be satisfied with a small animal or bird but if this is not offered, she will take a human life.

Such practices survive in folk tales, like the story of the Scottish guardian water demons. It is said that in older times, when a castle was sacked, a crafty servant might contrive to throw some portion of the family treasure into a nearby pool. On one occasion, a diver was brought in to bring the treasure to the surface, but when he dived, he encountered the water guardian of the lake who told him to leave immediately and not come back. However, the diver disobeyed and moments after his second dive his heart and lungs were found floating on the surface of the water, torn out by the demon.

Water has often been considered to be a living thing, or certainly to have the power of sustaining, bestowing and even restoring life. Every ancient society honoured springs, wells and water sources as sacred.