It should be noted that references to the existence of mermaids can be found in the works of ancient authors. So, the Roman scientist Pliny the Elder wrote: "… sometimes their dead bodies were found on the shore …", emphasizing at the same time that we are not talking about idle inventions, but about real facts. From century to century sailors and travelers told about meetings with mermaids. So, in the book of Seago de la Fonda "Wonders of Nature, or a Collection of Extraordinary and Notes of Worthy Phenomena and Adventures …" it is said that in Holland "in 1403, after a terrible storm that tore apart the West Friesland dam, they found a mermaid entangled in seaweed … They brought it to Harlem, dressed, taught to knit stockings and bow before the crucifixion. She lived among people for several years without learning to speak, and when she died, she was buried according to Christian tradition.
And here is an entry from the logbook of Henry Hudson, who sailed off the coast of the New World: “This morning one of my crew looked overboard and saw a mermaid. He began to call the rest of the sailors. The mermaid, meanwhile, swam very close to the ship and carefully examined it. A little later, a wave overturned her. When she dived, everyone saw her tail, similar to that of a brown dolphin, speckled like a mackerel. Date: June 15, 1608.
The entry in the book of memoirs by the captain of the English fleet, Richard Whitburn, is also credible: “I cannot but say a few words about the strange creature that I first met in 1610. Early in the morning, as I stood on the river side of St. John's Harbor in Newfoundland, an amazing creature swam towards me very quickly. He had a woman's face, eyes, nose, mouth, chin were proportional and very beautiful."
As for the last centuries, the descriptions and testimonies of encounters with mermaids for some reason diminished. One of the possible reasons is the pollution of rivers and seas, contributing to the extinction of amazing creatures of nature. In addition, the speed of water vehicles has increased many times over: in the era of sailing ships, sailors had much more time and opportunity to examine aquatic life. And yet, here are the stories noted in modern times.
On a warm summer day in 1890, teacher William Monroe was walking along a beach in the Scottish county of Catness. Suddenly, on a rock protruding from the sea, he noticed a creature that looked like a seated naked woman. But this did not seem strange to the teacher. The lower body was underwater, and Monroe could clearly see bare hands brushing his long, shiny brown hair. A few minutes later, the creature slid off the rock into the sea and disappeared from view. After much hesitation and doubt, Monroe nevertheless sent a note to the London Times.
In the letter, he very carefully and briefly described the unusual creature: “The head was covered with brown hair, slightly darker at the crown, the forehead was bulging, the face was plump, the cheeks were ruddy, the eyes were blue, the mouth and lips were naturally shaped, similar to human ones. I could not make out the teeth, because the mouth was closed, the chest and stomach, hands and fingers were the same size as that of an adult human race. Monroe wrote that although other trustworthy people claimed to have seen this creature, he did not believe them until he saw it with his own eyes. And when he saw, he was convinced that it was a mermaid. The teacher expressed the hope that his letter could help to confirm "the existence of a phenomenon hitherto almost unknown to naturalists, or to reduce the skepticism of those who are always ready to challenge everything that is not able to comprehend."From this quite logical letter it follows that not only sailors who went crazy with boredom and abstinence on long ocean voyages believed in sea maidens …
More modern history tells that on January 3, 1957, the traveler Eric de Bishop sailed on a reconstructed model of an ancient Polynesian raft from Tahiti to Chile. Suddenly the watchman on the raft behaved very strangely: he shouted that he saw an incomprehensible creature jumping out of the water onto the raft. Balancing on its tail, this creature with hair like the finest seaweed stood right in front of him. Having touched the intruder, the sailor received such a blow that he lay flat on the deck, and the creature disappeared into the waves. Since the sailor's hands were still sparkling fish scales, de Bishop did not doubt the veracity of what had happened.
Amphibian women have been met more than once in the Caspian. Researchers explain their appearance in the area of human habitation by intensive oil production, geophysical explosions in the search for new deposits, that is, a violation of the ecosystem of habitual habitats. In March 2007, the sailors of the fishing trawler "Baky" also presented a photograph of this mysterious creature. Answering journalists' questions, captain Gafar Hasanov said that “it sailed for a long time not far from us, following a parallel course. At first we thought it was a large fish. But then they noticed that hair was clearly visible on the monster's head, and the front fins were not fins at all, but … hands!"
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Behind the legends of mermaids lies romantic dreams and a striving for the ideal - for a fantastic woman, not like mere mortals.
In Scotland, in the very place where Monroe had an "amazing story", there have been even more amazing incidents before. Local legends say that once a mermaid presented a certain young man with gold, silver and diamonds, collected by her on a sunken ship. He accepted gifts, but gave some of the jewelry to his girlfriend. But, even worse, he did not meet the mermaid the promised number of times, which caused her jealousy and anger. One day she swam to his boat and directed her to the cave, saying that there are all the treasures ever lost in this bay. At that moment, the young man fell asleep. When he woke up, he found himself chained to a stone with gold chains so that he could only reach the pile of diamonds at the entrance to the cave.
Mermaids take cruel revenge, being deceived or somehow offended. The source of these ideas may be the sexual fantasies of men about a recalcitrant creature obsessed with the fulfillment of only their own desires. According to some legends, the mermaid is a fallen angel who feeds on living flesh. With her singing and wonderful music, she lures sailors into her nets. (And here this image is again mixed with the siren.) If, which is rare, this method of attraction does not work, she relies on a unique smell of her body, which no man can resist. Catching and putting her victim to sleep, she tears it to pieces with sharp green teeth. According to a more humane legend, mermaids and newts live in the underwater kingdom and keep many treasures.
It has a lot in common with mermaids and Indian river nymphs, which also have a human appearance. They skillfully play the lute, are unusually beautiful and seductive. Fickle and looking for new victories, they never take revenge on men and strive to bring only joy and pleasure.
With the establishment of Christianity, a new theme appeared in the legends of mermaids: they were described as creatures eager to find the soul inherent in humans. But they could fulfill their dream only by promising to leave the sea and settle on land. This gave rise to a violent internal conflict in the mermaid, since for a being who is only half human, such a life seemed almost unbearable.
There is a touching and sad story dating back to the 6th century about a mermaid who visited a monk from the holy brotherhood of Jonah on a small island near Scotland every day. She prayed for a soul, and the monk prayed with her to give her the strength to leave the water element. But it was all in vain, and in the end, crying bitterly, she left the island for good. It is said that the tears she shed turned into pebbles, and the gray-green pebbles on the coast of Iona are still called mermaid tears.
For a long time, these sea maidens have been associated with seals - with their smooth skin and human-like behavior. In Scandinavia, Scotland and Ireland, there are many legends about people forced to live in the sea in the guise of a seal and only sometimes, on the coast, transforming into a man. In some places they thought that seals were fallen angels, somewhere they considered them the souls of drowned people or victims of a spell imposed. Moreover, in Ireland there was a belief that seals were the ancestors of people.
Apparently, mermaids and nymphs have a lot in common, so in many ancient legends it is difficult to understand who they are talking about. They both love to sing and dance and have the gift of prophecy. There are stories about how sea nymphs and mermaids, having fallen in love with a person, lived on the shore for many years. Many believed that every mermaid has a crown, without which she cannot return to her water element. And if a man manages to steal her and hide her, then he can marry a virgin; but if she ever finds her crown, she will immediately disappear with her in the waves.
In the same way, a man can marry a sea nymph, but for this he must steal and hide her second, "seal" skin. There are many legends about this, one of which belongs to the Scottish Highlanders. The man passionately fell in love with the beautiful sea nymph, stole her skin and hid it in a safe place. Then they got married, they had children, and everyone lived peacefully and happily. But one day one of the sons found the hidden skin and showed it to his mother. Without a moment's hesitation, she put it on and happily threw herself into the sea, leaving her children forever.
In some areas, mermaid legends have a long history. In 1895, the inhabitants of the Welsh port of Milford Harbor believed that mermaids, or sea fairies, regularly visit the city's weekly fair. They get to the city by the underwater road, quickly buy everything they need (tortoiseshell combs and the like) and disappear until the next fair day.
Mermaids have been featured in both Thailand and Scotland. There, in May 1658, mermaids were seen at the mouth of the Dee, and the Aberdeen Almanac promised the travelers that they would “surely see a lovely flock of mermaids, amazingly beautiful creatures.” As rumors about mermaids multiplied, forgeries inevitable in such cases began to appear. Usually they were made by connecting the top of the monkey with the tail of a large fish. One of these, possibly from the 17th century, was featured in a counterfeiting exhibition held by the British Museum in London in 1961.
The most popular mermaid stories circulated among sailors. Earlier skeptical Christopher Columbus noted on his first trip that he saw three mermaids frolicking in the sea off the coast of Guiana.
Most of these so-called mermaids were unusually ugly, but aroused continued interest. One edition from 1717 contains an image of a supposedly genuine mermaid. Caption: “A siren-like monster caught on the coast of Borneo, in the administrative district of Amboina. It is 1.5 meters long and has an eel-like constitution. She lived on land for 4 days and 7 hours in a barrel of water. Periodically made sounds resembling a mouse squeak. The proposed mollusks, crabs and sea crayfish are no longer eaten …"
At one time Peter I was interested in mermaids. He turned to the Danish colonial priest François Valentin, who wrote on this topic. The latter could add little, but nevertheless described another mermaid from Amboina. She was seen by over 50 witnesses as she frolicked with a flock of dolphins. The priest was completely convinced of the veracity of these stories.
Pernatiev Yuri Sergeevich. Brownies, mermaids and other mysterious creatures