15. Mermaids Seduced Sailors To Their Deaths
In The Odyssey, Homer told of a mythical, bird-like creature known as a siren. Her song was so enchantingly beautiful that anyone who listened to it would be lured away to certain death. Odysseus, the hero, had his ears stopped up with beeswax so that he couldn’t hear their song. The half-fish, half-human mermaid has its origins in this deadly creature.
In fact, the creature was seen as an omen of impending death. Sometimes, they would lure people into deep waters, where they would drown. A statue of a mermaid on the town of Zennor, in England’s Cornwall region, is a commemoration of a being that was believed to entice youth to come and live with her underwater. These stunningly beautiful creatures could live very long lives, usually hundreds of years, but were entirely mortal and did not have souls. The counterpart to the mermaid was the merman.
Some suggest that the idea of the mermaid originates with seaborne mammals, such as the manatee, which suckles their young much as humans do. They may have been believed to be part human to carry out such functions.
Next time that you see a little girl costumed as a mermaid imagine that she is dressed as a serial killer who would carry people off to a watery grave. Clearly, Disney took some creative license when creating the “merpeople” of The Little Mermaid.
