Do You Believe In Mermaids ?

Some say they are real...

I like to believe they do exist, somewhere out there beneath the ocean or sat waiting on a rock. In folklore a Mermaid is an aquatic creature with the head and upper body of a female human and the tail of a fish. I have always been fascinated by them, although to this day have not seen either a Mermaid or Merman while at the beach or on a boat trip. Sometimes known as Sirens it is said that Christopher Columbus reported seeing them during his ocean travels in the Caribbean many moons ago. I have found them a beautiful subject to feature in arty makes including this digital collage I designed.  Credit to G&T Designs & Lauren C Waterworth for the elements used to make it.

I remember reading  Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale "The Little Mermaid", a beautiful yet hauntingly sad story. The youngest of the Merman-king's daughters, must wait her turn to reach the age when she will be allowed to emerge from the sea and sit on a rock to observe the upper world. The mermaid falls in love with a human prince and longs for an eternal soul like humans. Only by achieving true love will her soul bind with a human's and become everlasting. But the mermaid's fish-tail poses an insurmountable obstacle for enticing humans, and the sea-witch offers a potion to transform her into human form. This however comes at a price! The mermaid's tongue and beautiful voice. The mermaid endures the excruciating pain of having human legs, and despite her inability to speak, almost succeeds in wedding the prince, but for a twist of fate. The mermaid is doomed unless she stabs the prince with a magic knife before his marriage. But she does not have the resolve and dies the mermaid way, dissolving into foam. 

Whatever you believe for me it will always be a yes they do exist and that one day I may be lucky enough to see one - Heather xx 

***

Credit to Wikipedia for some information used in this post.