The most commonly accepted image of a beautiful mermaid with long hair began in the Middle Ages. People usually describe her sitting on a rock singing irresistible sweet songs. At the same time, she will fantastically stare at herself in the mirror and comb her long hair. There are many different explanations about why people think mermaids like to comb their hair. One school thinks that it is because an artist once copied the original description of the mermaid and accidentally painted her like that. Later artists followed this painting method. According to this school, the so-called "mirror" is actually a mermaid playing the piano (her posture is actually fiddling with the strings), while the "mirror" is actually a musical instrument, possibly a harp. Others explained that combs and mirrors symbolize the beauty and emptiness of women. This school believes that mermaids can destroy men.
In fact, although mermaids are beautiful, they are often described as magical species that seduce sailors with beauty, cause them to die and imprison their souls in the sea. The most vicious mermaids will even eat humans as prey. Therefore, seeing a mermaid is considered a bad omen. Her appearance will cause storms, shipwrecks and drowning. The angry mermaid will retaliate against the person who offended her, drown him, and even drown the house and village where that person lives.
Fortunately, not all mermaids are so bad. Some mermaids know a lot about herbs. If we can persuade them, they will help people cure diseases. Their superpowers can help them predict the weather, predict the future, realize people's wishes or find treasures in sunken ships. It is precisely because of these magical powers that the mythical mermaids are often captured by human beings, and people force them to realize human wishes. Besides, it is not difficult to catch a mermaid. You just need to steal her things, such as combs, mirrors, belts or hats. Once a mermaid is caught, she can only be free if she gets what she has lost.
Some people who covet the beauty of mermaids want to marry them, and mermaids also want to find human husbands, not only for love, but also because only in this way can they get souls, and all non-human creatures have no souls. In the medieval church, whether the marriage between a shemale and a shemale violated morality and ethics, and whether the mermaid gained her soul because of this marriage has always been the focus of debate. But in any case, their children are easily recognized because of their webbed hands and feet, but they are no different from human children in other respects.
The story of men and mermaids marrying human women also happens from time to time, but it is not as common as mermaids, which may be related to the fact that men and mermaids are famous for their ugliness. In fact, some cultures clearly distinguish between male and female mermaids. They think that male mermaids hate humans and they don't want souls. They are rude husbands and even eat their own children.
Although the story about mermaid has been circulating for hundreds of years, no one has really seen it. From the Middle Ages until recently, many celebrities claimed to have seen mermaids. These include Christopher Columbus and Henry Hudson, but people have never found physical evidence to support this. Some bad guys who want to make money exhibited the so-called "Mermaids", but it was later discovered that these were all fake. A man once sewed the upper body of a monkey and the lower body of a big fish together to make a mermaid. As for the mermaids reported by serious scholars and upright people, most of them are seals, walruses, manatees and dugong (a manatee living in Asia). These animals often float on the sea and like to feed their cubs like human mothers. Of course, if you see these animals with your own eyes, you will understand that they have nothing in common with beautiful mermaids. It is difficult to confuse these ugly animals with hairy, charming and beautiful mermaids. But most people who report seeing mermaids are sailors. They are at sea all the year round, which is not difficult to explain. Only they can mistake the fat and ugly dugong for a beautiful mermaid.
Relatives of mermaids
Many mythical figures or elves are closely connected with water, but they are not necessarily mermaids. These creatures include water fairies and temptresses. Although people often confuse them with mermaids, they actually have their own characteristics.
The water fairy, from Greek mythology, is one of the three main Ondin goddesses (the other two are Neri Ides fairy living in the Mediterranean and the sea goddess living in the ocean). The water fairy only appears in fresh water sources, such as rivers, lakes, springs and mountain springs. In ancient times, people thought that there was a water fairy living in every big spring, so they couldn't bathe in such a spring. Although these little fairies live in water, they look like people and have no fins like mermaids.
Water witches also originated from Greek mythology and lived in the river like water fairies. However, because they offended Aphrodite, the goddess of love, she turned them into creatures with bird bodies and women's heads and deported them to an island in southern Italy. Although they don't look like mermaids at all, people often confuse them because they all have outstanding musical talents. Sailors sailing at sea can't help hearing their songs. In the legendary Odyssey, the hero Odysseus told his soldiers to plug their ears to escape the robbery, and his fleet successfully sailed through the island where the fairies were located.
The whistle looks like a seal. It is said that they live in orkney, Shetland and other British Isles. The siren puts her skin on the coast, pretends to be a beautiful woman and seduces human males. If a man finds the skin of a siren, he can force her to marry himself. If she can still find her own skin, she can leave her husband and children and go back to the sea. Like mermaids, siren will take revenge on people. They can cause serious storms or shipwrecks.