Introduction

In this storybook, we will be exploring three different types of mermaid variations.

The first is the original mermaid, a woman whose legs are replaced by a tail, or a fish who is altered from the waist up. This ocean-based mermaid often causes shipwrecks, out of a vindictive hatred of humans. This is what most people think of when they hear the term "mermaid," but there are many magnificent stories associated with other variations as well.

A variation of mermaids we will be looking at is melusines. This variation is very similar to mermaids, as they are female freshwater spirits depicted as women with tails from the waist down, but they can change back and forth from human form to mermaid form. They are central to continental European folklore, especially France.

Another variation of mermaids we will be looking at is selkies. Selkies are the most divergent from the original mermaid. They are seen more as shapeshifters that can transform from seals to people by shedding their skin, taking on human form. Selkies are central to Scottish folklore. The word "selkie" even translates to seal in Scots.

We will be following the Bellerose family, a French family with a long history of running into and falling for mermaids. The beauty of these water spirits never fails to capture their attention, and they go to great lengths to give in to this captivation by doing whatever they can to get these mermaids to marry them and bear them children. The Bellerose men strip the mermaids of their freedom by keeping them from the sea, exercising control over them. Sometimes, the men desperately fail in doing so, suffering severe consequences for their attempts. Other times they succeed, creating a family with these sea creatures, if only for a short while. The men in this family are ruthless in their efforts, and they make morally questionable decisions in these conquests for love. Because no matter how happy these women of the sea can appear in their new life, they are essentially being held in captivity on land. These mermaids will always long for their true home, the sea, which they should never be forcibly removed from in the first place, even if it is for love.

The first story you will read is that of Melusina and the Duke, which explains the origin of the Bellerose family's obsession with mermaids.

Mermaids and the Men that Love Them Comment Wall

Picture Information:

"Hylas and the Nymphs" by John William Waterhouse, Web Source.