Читать книгу Mermania - Rachel Federman - Страница 14

‘Dugong’

COMES FROM A MALAY WORD THAT MEANS

‘lady of the sea’.

The world’s

biggest mermaid

WAS SAID TO BE 610 METRES (2,000 FEET)

long from head to tail.

Are mermaids good or bad?

IN SOME STORIES, MERMAIDS APPEAR AS GENTLE, ROMANTIC FIGURES, ABLE TO

grant wishes, heal, foretell the future,

AND WARN SAILORS AND FISHERMEN OF IMMINENT DANGER.

IN OTHER TALES, MERMAIDS ARE

dangerous.

THEY LURE SHIPS TO CRASH ON THE ROCKS OR USE THEIR SWEET SINGING VOICES AND RAVISHING LOOKS TO

tempt men into their underwater domain

IN ORDER TO DROWN OR CAPTURE THEM.

IN HIS NATURAL HISTORY, WRITTEN IN THE FIRST CENTURY CE

Pliny the Elder

DOCUMENTED SIGHTINGS OF MERMAIDS

riding upon other marine creatures.

‘AND AS FOR THE MERMAIDS CALLED

Nereides,

IT IS NO FABULOUS TALE THAT GOETH OF THEM: FOR LOOKE HOW PAINTERS DRAW THEM, SO THEY ARE INDEED:

only their body is rough and scaled all over,

EVEN IN THOSE PARTS WHERE THEY RESEMBLE A WOMAN.’