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Dave's Mythical Creatures and Places |
Merman
| Description | A
large half-man, half fish. Often depicted with a beard, green hair, and a
trident.
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| Features | Usually
more violent than mermaids- may cause storms or attack ships.
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| Might be | Many sea
creatures may have contributed to these rumors: manatees, walruses, seals,
or the now-extinct sea-cow.
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| Also called | Triton
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| Described By: | Pliny- "Ambassadors
from Olisipo, sent on a mission with this purpose in view, reported to the
Emperor Tiberius that a Triton, whose appearance is well known, had been
seen and heard playing on a shell in a certain cave. I have
illustrious knights as authority for the assertion that a Triton has been
seen by them in the Gulf of Gades, perfectly resembling a man in his
physical appearance. They say that he climbs aboard ships during the
night, and that the side of the ship on which he sits is weighed
right down, and, if he should happen to stay there an unduly long time,
the ship is submerged. The bones of this monster...were bought by Marcus
Scaurus from Joppa in Judea... The monster was over 40 feet long, and the
height of its ribs was greater than that of Indian elephants, while its
spine was 1 1/2 feet thick." (Healy
1991, Book IX
9-11.)
Speculum Regale (also called the King's Mirror, written in Norway around 1250): "It is reported that the monster called merman is found in the seas of Greenland. This monster is tall and of great size and rises straight out of the water. It appears to have shoulders, neck and head, eyes and mouth, and nose and chin like those of a human being; but above the eyes and the eyebrows it looks more like a man with a peaked helmet on his head. It has shoulders like a man's but no hands. Its body apparently grows narrower from the shoulders down, so that the lower down it has been observed, the more slender it has seemed to be. But no one has ever seen how the lower end is shaped, whether it terminates in a fin like a fish or is pointed like a pole. The form of this prodigy has, therefore, looked much like an icicle. No one has ever observed it closely enough to determine whether its body has scales like a fish or skin like a man Whenever the monster has shown itself, men have always been sure that a storm would follow. They have also noted how it has turned when about to plunge into the waves and in what direction it has fallen; if it has turned toward the ship and has plunged in that direction, the sailors have felt sure that lives would be lost on that ship; but whenever it has turned away from the vessel and has plunged in that direction, they have felt confident that their lives would be spared, even though they should encounter rough waters and severe storms."
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