Apart from mermaids, French and Celtic mythology gives us the Melusinas, spirits of the water, part woman, part fairy and half fish. The Melusinas are certain to have existed in France, where they have built castles and married mortal men.
In the Harry Potter saga, mermaids, mermen and mer-people are supposed to be monstrous and ugly, yet I don't think this is true. Mythology and folk stories are firm on the beauty of the mermaid, and they cannot all be false. In fact, I have a strong hunch that myths and stories are all real!
Two writers who realized that, if creatures like the mermaids exist, any love between them and humans must be difficult, are Hans Christian Andersen and Oscar Wilde -- in The Little Mermaid and The Fisherman and his Soul, respectively.
Mermaids and sirens are supposed to be dangerous as well as seductive, but I don't really think that this is true either. It's only fear of female beauty and power. In A.S. Byatt's Possession, the fish tail signifies female freedom as well as the allure of the exotic!
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