Mermaids are mysterious creatures of the seas, rivers and lakes, which since ancient times have worried people with their mystery: who are they - intelligent beings, like ourselves, or just animals? And do they really exist?
In the memoirs of some missionaries, you can read about trying to catch a mermaid. For example, a missionary who belonged to the Capuchin order said that he saw from the deck of a ship sailing to the Congo how mermaids and newts (sea men) collected seaweed from the bottom in shallow water. The ship dropped anchor, and the sailors quietly lowered the nets, but the underwater inhabitants noticed them and deftly avoided the trap.
Captured mermaids
Father Francis, an Italian missionary from the city of Pavia, in 1701. visiting Angola, at first he did not believe the locals when they told him about the mermaids living in the waters of their lake. Then the aborigines caught one of them in the net and presented it to the preacher as proof of their veracity. The missionary examined and described in detail the mermaid, adding that she died a day after being caught. The question of whether these creatures have a soul remained open for Father Francis, but it was very important, since, among other things, the Angolans hunted mermaids and ate their meat. So who did they actually eat: fish or people?
In 1560. the church was as close as ever to the answer to this question. Then, off the coast of the island of Mannar near Ceylon, Dutch sailors simultaneously caught seven mermaids! Researchers debated for a long time, but did not come to an unambiguous conclusion.
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Much more fortunate was the personal physician of the Dutch Viceroy in Goa M. Bosque, who was there. After dissecting the mermaids caught near Mannar, he concluded that these creatures are similar to people in everything - both externally and in their internal structure. It must be assumed that the respected doctor did not cut on the living, since all the mermaids placed in large containers with water died after a few days …
The same sad fate befell other "underwater people" as soon as they fall into captivity. In 1682. near the Italian town of Sestri (not far from Genoa), the so-called. "Sea man", and many townspeople were able to see him up close. One of the witnesses wrote that during the day the prisoner was repeatedly seated on a chair, and this indicates that his body is quite flexible and there are joints (unlike fish). The "Sea Man" lived only a few days and during all this time he did not eat or drink anything, but only cried and uttered plaintive cries …
At the beginning of 1738. The London Daily Post reported that a mermaid was caught in a bay near the town of Topsham, Devon. It was subsequently shown to the public in Exeter, Bristol and Bath. It is not known how long this unfortunate creature lived in captivity and what happened to him afterwards.
According to testimonies that have come down to us from the past, mermaids in the seas were not so rare, but people considered them outlandish creatures. It is not surprising that when in 1531. a mermaid was caught in the waters of the Baltic Sea, she was immediately sent as a gift to King Sigismund II of Poland. The ruler and his court saw the captive with their own eyes, only, unfortunately, not for long: she died in captivity on the third day …
Mermaids in captivity
In 1430. in Holland, a dam was eroded, and the sea flooded large areas, forcing residents to move by boat. One morning, girls from the small town of Edam set out to milk the cows in this way. In shallow water, they saw a mermaid stuck in the mud. The girls took her to the boat and then brought her to their home. The mermaid stayed with them and lived for … 15 years! True, she did not learn to speak, but she learned to wear a dress, eat like a person, and knit. In addition, good Catholics taught their ward to worship the holy cross, and this gave a reason to bury her in a Christian way.
But if only records remained about this mermaid, then even a portrait, painted by "the famous Sue Gaultier", was preserved from another. In 1758. in Paris, the mermaid was put on public display, placed in a large aquarium, at the fair in Saint-Germain. As an eyewitness wrote, the captive was fed fish and bread. She was very mobile and splashed with pleasure in the water. The mermaid was resting in an upright position. The appearance was vile and ugly. (It is difficult to disagree with this when looking at Gaultier's drawing.)
It should be said that the descriptions of mermaids do not differ too much, despite the fact that eyewitnesses are separated by centuries or thousand kilometers.
Captured mermaids were often released
In one English chronicle, a "sea man" is mentioned, who in 1187. caught in Suffolk. It is not known how long he spent in captivity, but then somehow escaped from captivity. The fugitive threw himself into the waves of the sea, and was not seen again. But it also happened when the fishers themselves released the caught "sea people".
In 1619. two Danish royal advisers sailed to Sweden from Norway. Suddenly, they saw from the board some kind of humanoid creature, sailing parallel to their ship. The sailors hid a hook attached to a sturdy string in a piece of bacon and threw the bait into the water. The "sea man" caught on it was dragged onto the deck. However, he shouted so loudly and this cry was so threatening that the frightened sailors hurried to throw their captive back into the water.
Sometimes the fishermen also released unexpected prey. Once a similar thing happened near one of the Shetland Islands. An Edinburgh magazine reported that a mermaid was caught in a fishing net. She was grayish in color, without any scales on her tail. The fishermen, having held their captive in the boat for some time, decided that it was better to get rid of her. After all, if then some misfortune happens in the sea, they will blame those who tormented the unfortunate creature …
Probably, the same thought and six of their "colleagues" from the island of Yell, who in 1833. had to meet a mermaid. She got entangled in the net that the fishermen were taking out. As they later said, the mermaid was about three feet tall. There were no gills on the body, as well as scales on the tail. The captive did not resist people and only moaned piteously. After keeping her for three hours in the boat, the fishermen released the mermaid into the sea. Diving, she immediately went to the depth.
Mermaids of Russia
In Russia, sometimes they also caught mermaids - "river" or "meadow" - as follows from the stories, tailless. In a recording made in 1891. from the words of the peasants, it was said that once upon a time (they know this from the old people) two mermaids were brought to the village. These creatures looked like women with long hair. Without saying anything, they just cried bitterly. When the mermaids were released, they sang, began to play and fled into the forest.
At one time, V. I. Dal also recorded a story about one such capture. The events took place in the village, which the peasants called the Monastery, and which stood on the shore of a large lake. Once upon a time, men pulled a child out of the lake with nets. When he was lowered into the water, the child frolicked and played, and when they brought him to the hut, he languished and cried. A man who caught a strange kid once told him: listen, I won't torment you anymore, I will let you go back, only you will serve me. In the evening I will arrange the nets, and you will catch more fish in them. The child sitting on the pole trembled, his eyes sparkled with joy. The peasant placed strong nets on the lake, put the boy in a tub, brought him to the shore and threw it into the lake. And in the morning I came to inspect the net, and it is full of fish!
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Mermaids are seen today, but less and less often, let alone catch … Either they are gradually dying out in the reservoirs that our civilization is so intensely poisoning, or they have become more cautious, seeing what perfect technologies for catching sea animals modern man has. Or maybe something else is to blame: we stopped believing in mermaids, writing poems and songs about them, as our ancestors did, and therefore forever lost contact with their world, which, perhaps, only comes into contact with our physical reality. However, there are researchers who are seriously studying this problem, and they have evidence that "water people" actually exist …