CAPTURED MERMEN.
But captured mermen have not always been so irreverent. A Father of the Society of Jesus, returning to Rome from India, reported that during his travels he had seen “ a seamen adorned with an episcopal mitre.” It did not bear its confinement well, and having been let loose it made its way down to the sea ; but ” before it finally disappeared it turned and bowed in thanks for its liberty.”
As a general thing the mermaids captured proved to be far more devout when brought into the church than merman. In 1403 a mermaid taken in a lake in Holland, “ thrown thither forth of the sea,” was carried into the city of Haerlem, where she “ suffered herself to have garments upon her, and admitted the use of bread, milk and similar articles of diet. Also she did learn to spin, and to do many things after the manner of women ; also she did devoutly bend the knees to the image of Christ crucified, being docile in all things of which she was commanded of her master ; but living there many years she always remained mute.” Stories are told of other mermaids that became quite domesticated and made themselves useful about the house, although, owning to the singular formation of their lower member, and the absence of feet, their movements on land were necessarily constrained, and were at times awkward.
A REAL ONE.
In 1761 two girls on the island of Noirmoutiers came upon a strange form in a grotto. When discovered it was leaning upon its hands, surveying its face in the water. One
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of the girls, nothing daunted, struck a knife into the creature, which, wounded, groaned audibly. It had the
breast of a full-chested woman. The chin was adorned with a beard formed of shells, and over the whole body there were tufts of similar shells—probably goose barnacles. The tail was that of a fish, and on it there was an excrescence that was neither a foot nor a fin, but which no doubt served some useful purpose.
BABIES.
Numbers of baby mermaids have been caught. One seen sporting with its mother on the coast of New Spain was taken alive and kept in a tub of water for several days, when it died for want of proper nourishment. This specimen, when examined by the Royal Academy of Science at Paris, was pronounced very childlike in the upper part of the body ; but the fingers were webbed, and “the hair on its head was rather coarse and more weedy than that of an infant.” Of other merchildren interesting accounts have been preserved. Of two taken on the shore of the Isle of Man one died of the injuries it had received, but the other lived and seemed quite contented in, a tub of water. Its skin was of pale-brown color, the scales were tinged with violet, and the hair, or what was taken for hair, was of a greenish cast. Its mouth was very small and delicately shaped, and although, it had no teeth, it fed with avidity on shell fish, and drank freely of milk and water, which it sucked through a quill, showing that it had learned to feed from a bottle.
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