The Inevitable Curse

Malangi and Talakad are two small towns near T Narasipur on the banks of Cauvery where the river takes a bend. Talakad's temples lie buried in the vast expanse of sand and are dug up and exposed every 12 years. On the other hand, at Malangi, the river is at its deepest. Whether these phenomena started only after Alamelamma's curse in AD 1610 is a matter of conjecture.
What can be stated with certainty is the fact that the curse on the royal family seems to have come true.
After Raja Wodeyar’s death in 1617 to Chikka Devaraja Wodeyar in 1704 (there were four rulers in between), Kingdom was ruled by the surviving progenies of Yaduraya, but none could beget legal heirs! Incidentally Chikka Devaraja Wodeyar is credited with the composition Gita Gopala – an opera in Kannada.
The sole exception was Chikka Devaraja's deaf and dumb son Kantheerava Narasaraja Wodeyar II - also known as mookarasu.
He was succeeded by his son Dodda Krishna Raja Wodeyar who Ruled from 1714 to 1732. With him Yaduraya’s direct lineage came to an end.
What followed was a succession of nominal rulers adopted by the surviving queens to continue the tradition. Traditional Army commanders known as Dalvoy’s virtually Ruled the Kingdom and paved the way for the ascendancy of a foot soldier like Hyder Ali by 1762. After the famous Mysore War IV and the resultant death of Tipu Sultan, the legendary Arthur Wellesley (also Known as Iron Duke) conquered Srirangapatna in 1799. There were five Rulers from 1732 to 1796. In this period a definite pattern emerged wherein none of the natural heir to the throne born to a King (adopted or otherwise) could beget children, whereas one who became a King by virtue of adoption or otherwise was blessed with a legal heir. Even Hyder and Tipu continued with the tradition of having a nominal Wodeyar King on the throne and even the Dasara Celebrations continued as usual.
What follows is recent history:
Mummudi personal life is very fascinating. He was a modern day Krishna in which ever way you look. He survived a Kamsa in Tipu. He fought the Kaurava’s in British and took the war to the British Parliament and got the Kingdom restored to his adopted son. He wrote his Gita in SriTattvanidhi and svara choodamani and other epics. He had his Rukmini and Satyabhama’s (Five pattamahishi’s) and he had his share of Radha’s too (Fifteen gandharva vivahas). Surprsisngly he had children from his other wives. He had three sons and many daughters from these minor queens. He had one son- Nanajaraja Bahadur- from a Brahmin lady known as Puttarangamba Devi and even today this lineage survives and is known by the name Bahadur (Nanjaraja Bahadur Choultry is a famous heritage structure in Mysore). But ironically none of the three sons survived him! One of the descendants, a successful American citizen, has recently started B.N. Bahadur Institute of Management under the auspices of Mysore University.
Mummudi adopted Chamaraja Wodeyar X as his legal heir in 1865 and when British refused to accord recognition and restore the Kingdom to him, he took the campaign to the British Parliament where under immense pressure from many Parliamentarians, British Government accepted the adoption and agreed to restore the Kingdom to the adopted son on his coming of age. Thus in 1881 the famous Rendition of power took place and Chamaraja Wodeyar X, ascended the throne. Chamaraja Wodeyar X died in 1894 at Calcutta, leaving behind two minor sons and three daughters. While the elder seven-year-old boy was crowned as Nalvadi (the fourth) Krishnaraja Wodeyar, the Regency was entrusted to his mother, who came to be referred to as Vani Vilas Sannidhana. On turning 18, Krishnaraja Wodeyar IV was invested with full authority personally by the Viceroy, Lord Curzon, in 1902. His brother Kantheerava Narasimharaja Wodeyar was given the title of Yuvaraja. Krishnaraja Wodeyar IV died without children and as his brother had predeceased him, His son, Jaya Chamaraja Wodeyar was crowned in. His only son, Srikanta Datta Narasimha Raja Wodeyar, is now the scion of the Wodeyar family. He has no children.
It is notable that the conditions of the curse, barring the exception noted above, has survived from the year 1610 until today, for almost 400 years spanning 17 Maharajas.
A recent research, which was conducted by the National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS) in collaboration with the state archaeology department, Karnataka, found a well-developed canal system extending a few kilo metres from Talakad to Cauvery. They analyzed the site through geospatial maps recorded by a satellite using infrared and radar technology. A GPS survey was also done on the site for more accuracy. By analyzing the data and comparing it with historical evidence

NOSTRADAMUS

Could he see the future?Born in the early 16th century, Nostradamus has become one of the world's most widely known and read prophets.
His poetic yet cryptic quatrains are claimed by some to conceal information about future events. He completed a total of 942 quatrains which he organized into Centuries - groups of 100 quatrains (one Century only had 42 quatrains).
Do these writings actually predict the death of popes, rise of tyrants, and natural catastrophes to come?
Read his prophecies, hear the arguments, and decide for yourself.

NADI IN INDIA

Nadi astrology (nāḍi jyotiṣa) is a form of Hindu astrology practised in Tamil Nadu, India. It is based on the belief that the past, present and the future lives of all humans were foreseen by Hindu sages in ancient times and written down as Palm Leaf Manuscripts (nāḍi grantha).The texts are written in Vatteluttu, which is an ancient Tamil script. There are different schools of thought as to the author of these leaves. They were written by a great Tamil sage called Agathiyar who had divine revelations. This doctrine of astrology was made famous by astrologers around the Vaitheeswaran Temple in the state of Tamil Nadu and is still practiced around the temple by their descendants.

These Nadi leaves were initially stored in the premises of Tanjore Saraswati Mahal Library of Tamilnadu. The British rulers later showed interest in the Nadi leaves concerned with herbs and medicine, future prediction etc; but ironically left most of the Nadi prediction leaves to their loyal people. Some leaves got destroyed and the remaining were auctioned during the British rule. These Nadi leaves were obtained and possessed by the families of astrologers in Vaitheeswaran Temple. This is an art passed down the years from one generation to the other.

Kailash Temple(Kailashnath Temple), also Kailasanatha Temple is one of the 34 monasteries and temples, extending over more than 2 km, that were dug side by side in the wall of a high basalt cliff in the complex located at Ellora, Maharashtra, India, and represents the epitome of Indian rock-cut architecture.

It is designed to recall Mount Kailash, the abode of Lord Shiva. While it exhibits typical Dravidian features, it was carved out of one single rock. It was built in the 8th century by the Rashtrakuta king Krishna I.

Of the Hindu caves, No. 16 is the most celebrated as the Kailasha, Lord Shiva's mountain abode. It is one of India's most famous monuments, a marvel of rock-cut architecture at the apex of technical skills. Excavated in the eighth and ninth centuries AD .

The Buddhist University of Stone Carvings.............

It is regarded as the greatest monolithic structure in the world, combining immensity with grace, power with jewel-like execution, and the awesome talents of hundreds of sculptors and architects who created this grandeur out of the living rock! It is estimated that the task of quarrying and chiseling out its three million cubic feet of rock took over a century! A square trench, over a hundred feet deep and a hundred and fifty feet wide surrounds the huge Shiva temple in the center.

Ajanta and nearby Ellora are two of the most amazing archaeological sites in India. Although handcrafted caves are scattered throughout India's western state of Maharashtra, the complexes at Ajanta and Ellora - roughly 300 kilometres northeast of Mumbai (Bombay) - are the most elaborate and varied examples known. The caves aren't natural caves, but man-made temples cut into a massive granite hillside. They were built by generations of Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain monks, who lived, worked, and worshipped in the caves, slowly carving out elaborate statues, pillars, and meditation rooms.

The Ajanta caves were discovered in the 19th century by a group of British officers on a tiger hunt.

Ajanta began as a religious enclave for Buddhist monks and scholars more than 2,000 years ago. It is believed that, originally, itinerant monks sought shelter in natural grottos during monsoons and began decorating them with religious motifs to help pass the rainy season.

They used earlier wooden structures as models for their work. As the grottos were developed and expanded, they became permanent monasteries, housing perhaps 200 residents.

The artisans responsible for Ajanta did not just hack holes in the cliff, though. They carefully excavated, carving stairs, benches, screens, columns, sculptures, and other furnishings and decorations as they went, so that these elements remained attached to the resulting floors, ceilings and walls.

They also painted patterns and pictures, employing pigments derived from natural, water soluble substances. Their achievements would seem incredible if executed under ideal circumstances, yet they worked only by the light of oil lamps and what little sunshine penetrated cave entrances.

The seventh century abandonment of these masterpieces is a mystery. Perhaps the Buddhists suffered religious persecution. Or perhaps the isolation of the caves made it difficult for the monks to collect sufficient alms for survival.

http://www.veoh.com/browse/videos/category/educational/watch/v7029823meQRWm3B#watch%3Dv7029821w7XSJ2c3

THE GREAT PYRAMIDS(OR SUN TEMPLES)

http://www.veoh.com/browse/videos/category/educational/watch/v7029823meQRWm3B

A pyramid is a building where the outer surfaces are triangular and converge at a point. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilateral, or any polygon shape, meaning that a pyramid has at least four faces (base plus at least three triangular faces). The five-face square pyramid is a common version.

A pyramid's design, with the majority of the weight closer to the ground,[1] means that less material higher up on the pyramid will be pushing down from above: this distribution of weight allowed early civilizations to create stable monumental structures.

INDIA

Gangaikondacholapuram and the Airavatesvara Temple at Darasuram

THE TANJAVUR TEMPLE-BUILT BY THE CHOLAS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCHeeGpy4eo&feature=player_embedded

Many giant granite temple pyramids were made in South India during the Chola Empire, many of which are still in religious use today. Examples of such pyramid temples include Brihadisvara Temple at Thanjavur, the Temple of Gangaikondacholapuram and the Airavatesvara Temple at Darasuram. However the largest temple pyramid in the area is Sri Rangam in Srirangam, Tamil Nadu. The Brihadisvara Temple was declared by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in 1987; The Temple of Gangaikondacholapuram and the Airavatesvara Temple at Darasuram were added as extensions to the site in 2004.

Chichen Itza(El Castillo)

(pronounced /tʃiːˈtʃɛn iːˈtsɑː/;[1] from Yucatec Maya: Chi'ch'èen Ìitsha',[2] "At the mouth of the well of the Itza") is a large pre-Columbian archaeological site built by the Maya civilization located in the northern center of the Yucatán Peninsula, in the Yucatán state, present-day Mexico.

The site contains many fine stone buildings in various states of preservation, and many have been restored. The buildings are connected by a dense network of formerly paved roads, called sacbeob. Archaeologists have found almost 100 sacbeob criss-crossing the site, and extending in all directions from the city.

The buildings of Chichén Itza are grouped in a series of architectonic sets, and each set was at one time separated from the other by a series of low walls. The three best known of these complexes are the Great North Platform, which includes the monuments of El Castillo, Temple of Warriors and the Great Ball Court; The Ossario Group, which includes the pyramid of the same name as well as the Temple of Xtoloc; and the Central Group, which includes the Caracol, Las Monjas, and Akab Dzib.

The Sphinx of Giza





WHAT WAS THE PURPOSE OF THIS GREAT TEMPLE OR MONUMENT?

WHAT DID REPRESENT ?

WHO BUILT IT-WHEN WAS BUILT IT?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PotS7hPQZTU

The majestic Sphinx, with the body of a lion and the head of a king, presides over the Giza necropolis as if it were it’s guardian. It wears a pharaohs nemes and faces the east. A beard used to hang from it’s chin, but it has long since fallen away.

The Greek word "sphinx" may have derived from the Egyptian shesep-ankh, which translates to "living image". It stands taller than a six-story building and as long as a city block. It is made from megaliths, which are estimated to weigh 200 tons apiece, the smallest weighing 50 tons. The megaliths are fashioned from a single knoll of rock.

Many scholars believe that the face of the Sphinx was carved to represent Khafre, who the Greeks knew as Chephren. Khafre reigned from 2520 to 2494 BC. Some also believe that it dates back to the Old Kingdom during the fourth Dynasty. However, the Sphinx is carved of rock, so it cannot be dated by the radio carbon technique. The only other method of dating is by using contemporary texts that refer to its construction. There are none of these, therefore, no definite facts are known.

Another notion is that it was built when the Sahara was still green. We know that the Sahara was once fertile, but over the millennia, it slowly eroded. This could be an explanation for the water damage done to the outer walls of the Sphinx.

The awe-inspiring monument lies on an east-west axis. The east and west walls each have six secluded places, perhaps used in rites of the rising and setting of the sun. They also have twenty-four pillars, which may represent the twenty-four hours in a day. There are many legends about the Sphinx. One such legend claims that it is a sole remnant of an advanced civilization lost to archaeology.

A small number of people believe that the evidence for this lost civilization is under the right paw. There is no archaeological data to support this claim. Another legend states there are secret underground passages. The Egyptian Antiquities Organization excavated and found three tunnels under the monument.

The first tunnel is found under the head of the Sphinx. It travels inside the body for five meters. The second is found in the tail and is thirty feet long. The third is located on the north side. All of these tunnels date to pharaoh times, but the purpose for them is unknown.

A red granite Stella sits between the front paws. It tells a story of King Thutmose IV when he was still a prince. He went hunting near Giza and fell asleep in the shade of the Sphinx. The awesome lion appeared before him in a dream and complained that his body was falling into ruin.
The creature promised that Thutmose IV would be king one day if he restored the monument. The rest of the inscription has eroded away, but Thutmose IV did become king. He removed sand from around the Sphinx and reset some of the facing stones that had fallen off. He erected the Stella that tells his story.1 The present damage done to the face of the Sphinx was done in 1380 by Arab sheikh and later by the Mamelukes who used it for target practice.

Back to Giza to the year 10,500 BC. If we looked at the skies, what would we see? If we sat at the paws of the Sphinx just before sunrise, we would see the zodiacal constellation of Leo- a constellation that resembles a lion. At the exact moment of which the solar disc breaks over the horizon ahead of us, we make a ninety-degree right turn to face due south. Consummating at the altitude of nine degrees twenty minutes, we see before us the three stars of Orion’s belt forming a pattern in the sky that is identical to the ground plan of the Giza Pyramids.




Graham Hancock, the author of "The Message of the Sphinx", believes that it is a lion because it was built in the Age of Leo. The Age of Leo lasted from 10,970 to 8810 BC. He supports his argument by stating that in the Age of Pisces the symbol of Christianity if the fish. In the proceeding Age of Aries we find rams sacrificed in the Old Testament. Egyptians worshiped Apis, the bull, in the Age of Taurus and the bull-cult flourished in Minoan Crete. 4 Coincidence?

The Riddle of Machu Picchu

There in the cloud forest of the Andes mountains, 2,000 feet above the roaring river below, Bingham believed he had stumbled upon the fabled “Lost City of the Incas.” But was it really that?


In 1911, the lost Inca city of Machu Picchu was discovered by chance by mountaineer and archaeologist Hiram Bingham. He was in Peru with three companions to climb the highest mountains of the region, and he had been impressed by Inca ruins two years earlier when he visited South America on a Yale University tour of ceremonial sites. A wealthy explorer, he was fascinated by the idea of Peru’s legendary “lost city,” which had disappeared with the Inca civilization in the 1500s.


By chance in 1911, the Peruvian government had blasted a rough trail through the river gorges to make a new road that would aid in transporting products such as cocoa, sugar, and rubber from the Amazon. Bingham was one of the first to use the road in his search for lost Inca sites. As a climber, he decided at one point to scramble up through the dense rainforest around him with a companion and an Indian guide, and he unexpectedly arrived at mid-day at a high Indian farm 1,000 feet above the plunging river.


With a 10-year old Indian boy as a guide, Bingham kept on climbing. He suddenly came upon “a magnificent flight of stone agricultural terraces, rising 1,000 feet up the mountainside.” He climbed upwards for an hour more and found himself finally in a deep forest above these terraces, surrounded by stone buildings, including a temple made of granite blocks that had been cut with the amazing precision of Inca stonemasons. Bingham wrote:“ Surprise followed surprise in bewildering succession. I climbed a marvelous stairway of granite blocks, walked along a pampa where the Indians had a small vegetable garden, and came to a clearing in which were two of the finest structures I had ever seen. Not only were there blocks of beautifully grained white granite, the ashlars [squared blocks] were of Cyclopean size, some 10 feet in length and higher than a man. I was spellbound.”


The Riddle of Macu PicchuMachu Picchu was an astonishing 20th century archaeological discovery, but it was also a puzzle. Modern researchers such as Yale’s Richard L. Burger and Lucy Salazar (co-curators of Machu Picchu: Unveiling the Mystery of the Incas) believe that Machu Picchu was a royal retreat or country palace, used by the great Inca Emperor Pachacuti and his guests as a place to relax, feast, hunt, and engage in ritual activities related to his divine kingship. In modern American terms, Burger calls it a “Camp David” for the Inca Sun God and his followers.


For decades, beginning with Bingham’s theories, the mystery of the site has provoked various interpretations: that it was an ancient military stronghold, or that it was the last holdout of the Incas against the invading Conquistadors in the 16th century. Some believed it was an isolated religious sanctuary where nuns and priests worshipped the sun.


Burger and Salazar argue that it was active for less than 100 years, and that it was a summer palace for the Inca elite from Cuzco, the empire's capital. Situated magnificently in the Peruvian Andes, it was populated seasonally by the ruling Inca and several hundred craftsmen and other servants necessary to carry on the affairs of estate and government.


Many of the buildings in Mach Picchu show signs of having religious or spiritual significance.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2YBVlgqqco&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbBu8Sikhtc&feature=player_embedded
http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/places/regions-places/south-america/peru_machupicchu.html

WHAT A PERPLEXING>>>>>>>>>>
MYSTERY



Doctors try to save China's first "mermaid" baby
Latest Updated by 2006-11-23 09:07:42

A doctor makes a medical check-up for a baby who was born with her legs joined together at the Children's Hospital in south China's Hunan Province Nov. 21, 2006. (Xinhua Photo)

With round-the-clock care from doctors and nurses, a baby born with a rare congenital defect known as sirenomelia, or "mermaid syndrome", is still alive 2 weeks after being found abandoned outside a children's hospital in central China's Hunan Province.

The baby, 21 centimeters long and weighing 2.45 kg, is in a stable condition, said Xu Zhiyue, head of the intensive care department of the Hunan Provincial Children's Hospital, based in the provincial capital Changsha.

Ultrasonic tests show the baby is a boy.

Doctors were keeping the baby alive via peritoneal dialysis, said Xu. Peritoneal dialysis is a treatment for people suffering kidney failure. It does the work that healthy kidneys normally do, cleaning the blood and removing waste and excess water from the body.

The baby was found in front of the hospital gate, apparently abandoned by its parents, and admitted to the hospital on Nov. 12.A note found inside the baby's clothes says only that the baby was born on Nov. 9.

The baby's two legs are joined together from thigh to heel. Doctors said the baby also suffers from severe internal defects -- it has no kidney or urinary tract, its heart does not function properly, its anus and genitals are underdeveloped, its alimentary tract is deformed and its intestines obstructed.

"It is very difficult to conduct peritoneal dialysis on newborns, but the procedure is producing positive results," said Zhu Yimin, president of the hospital, adding that dialysis was helping the baby discharge waste from its body and thereby creating better conditions for further treatment.







Sirenomelia, or "mermaid" syndrome, occurs in one out of every 70,000 births. The condition is almost always fatal within days of delivery due to serious defects to the vital organs and because of complications associated with abnormal kidney and bladder development and function.

There are only two known cases of children with the affliction alive in the world today. One is Tiffany Yorks, a 17-year-old American girl born with sirenomelia whose legs were successfully separated when she was a baby, and the other is two-year-old Peruvian girl Milagros Cerron, who underwent an operation to separate her legs last year.

Doctors are studying the Hunan "mermaid" baby to determine an operation schedule, said Zhu.

Zhu said they planned to first operate on the deformed digestive tract and deal with the intestinal obstruction, to restore the baby's digestive function.

Several other operations will need to be carried out before the baby's legs are surgically separated, Zhu said. "The operations will be complicated and risky, but we'll try our best."

The hospital has decided to assume responsibility for the cost of treatment.

The baby's parents have not made themselves known.

Editor: Donald
By: Source:China
View website-----http://www.newsgd.com/news/picstories/200611230007.htm

MYSTERY CONTINUES

Mermen or Mermaids depending upon their gender. They have the lower bodies of fish and the upper bodies and heads of humans.

Sightings

In the twelfth century it was reported that a merman was caught by fishermen off the east coast near Suffolk, England (UK). He seemed unable to speak when released from the nets. The merman was taken to a church, and even tortured but still not utter a sound. Described as 'the appearance of a man in all his parts' the merman quickly escaped when taken to the water supposedly to bath.

'This morning, one of our companie saw a Mermaid, and calling up some of the companie to see her, one more came up...From the navel upwards, her back and breasts were like a woman's...her body as big as one of us; in her going downe they saw her tayle, which was the tayle of a Porposse, and speckled like a Macrell.'

Henry Hudson, Explorer, 1608.

'My attention was arrested by the appearance of a figure resembling an unclothed human female sitting on a rock extending to the sea, apparently in the action of combing its hair. It remained on the rock three or four minutes after I observed it, and was exercised during that period in combing its hair, which was long and thick. I has a distinct view of the features, being at no great distance from an eminence above the rock on which it was sitting, and the sun brightly shining.'

'The Carmina Gadelica' William Munro, Schoolmaster circa 1785. 'The Times' newspaper.

A mermaid was said to haunt 'Mermaid Rock', Cornwall (UK). Whenever she was sighted it indicated that there was a shipwreck to be expected and therefore the lifeboats should be prepared. It was said that she lured the ships towards the rocks by her singing. 'Doom Bar', in east Cornwall, was a sand bank that used to cause many shipwrecks near the mouth to the harbour. It was believed that the sand bar caused the many disasters as the result of a mermaid that had been shot there whilst she was enjoying swimming in the harbour. The constant arrival of fog on the Isle of Man, off England (UK), was believed to be the result of a mermaid who was rejected. She was so upset that fog surrounded the island, causing problems for the local shipping.

In 1830 a reported sighting by local people was alleged to have occurred in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland (UK). The mermaid was said to have disappeared underwater after having been hit on the back by a rock. She was later buried after being found dead on the beach.

'The upper portion of the creature was about the size of a well-fed child of three or four years of age, with an abnormally developed breast. The hair was long and glossy, while the skin was white, soft and tender. The lower part was like a salmon, but without scales.'

The sighting of a mermaid in the UK was made in 1947 off the Isle of Muck, Scotland (UK). Sandwood, in Sutherland (UK), was once known as the 'Land of Mermaids' because of the number of sightings.

The mermaid was described as the top half of the body resembling that of a European woman, whilst the bottom was said to resemble that of a fish. This sighting was in 1977. In 1990 a creature, which has yet to be categorised, was found in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland (UK) believed by some to be a mermaid. The last reported sighting of a mermaid outside the British Isles was in Lusaka.

AWAIT NEXT POST WOULD BE ON the mythological siren

LINK TO SEE MERMAID SIGHTING-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUtAAbWDYJ4

Mermaid Sightings Claimed in Israel
bradford-columnist-

By Benjamin Radford, LiveScience's Bad Science Columnist

posted: 13 August 2009 05:56 pm ET



Locals and tourists in the Israeli town of Kiryat Yam have been flocking to the coast in hopes of glimpsing a creature that most people believe only exist in fairy tales.

An alleged mermaid, said to resemble a cross between a fish and a young girl, only appears at sunset. It performs a few tricks for onlookers before disappearing for the night.

One of the first people to see the mermaid, Shlomo Cohen, said, "I was with friends when suddenly we saw a woman laying on the sand in a weird way. At first I thought she was just another sunbather, but when we approached she jumped into the water and disappeared. We were all in shock because we saw she had a tail."

The sightings apparently began several months ago.

$1 million reward

The town's tourism board is of course delighted with their newfound fame and local mystery fauna. Taking a cue from the town of Inverness, Scotland (on the shore of Loch Ness), the Kiryat Yam government has offered a $1 million reward for the first person to photograph the creature. Town spokesman Natti Zilberman thinks the reward money is well-spent. "I believe if there really is a mermaid then so many people will come to Kiryat Yam, a lot more money will be made than $1 million.”

Of course, if the mermaid does not exist -- perhaps it is a hoax, an optical illusion, or a simple misperception of a known animal -- then the town's reward money will remain safe and unclaimed, while the economy benefits from the influx of tourists vying to get a photo that will leave them set for life.

It's not clear what people are seeing, though the power of suggestion and imagination can be strong. Identifying animals in water is inherently problematic, since eyewitnesses by definition are only seeing a small part of the creature. When you add in the factor of low light at sunset and the distances involved, positively identifying even a known creature can be very difficult -- to say nothing of a mythological one!

Mermaids have long held fascination for seafaring peoples. There are a few dozen significant historical claims of actual mermaid sightings. Most of them are clearly myths and legends, such as "true" stories about lovely young women who married sailors but were later discovered to be shape-shifting mermaids (such as in the film "Splash").

Other reports date back centuries, and offer no proof or evidence other than a curious story. For example, a Capt. Richard Whitbourne claimed he saw a mermaid in Newfoundland's St. James harbor in 1610. Another story, from 1830 Scotland, claimed that a young boy killed a mermaid by throwing rocks at it; the creature looked like a child of about 3 or 4, but had a salmon's tail instead of legs. The villagers supposedly had it a funeral and buried it in a small coffin.

P.T. Barnum's mermaid

Hoaxers have worked to satisfy the public's appetite for mermaids; the fact that none have ever actually been found is only a minor inconvenience.

The great showman P.T. Barnum introduced a mermaid to astounded crowd in the 1840s: his infamous "FeeJee Mermaid", actually a taxidermy fake. The head and torso of a small monkey was grafted onto the body and tail of a fish. It was bizarre and strange - --certainly nothing anyone had seen before — but a far cry from the banners and posters suggesting a beautiful, half-naked woman.

Other mermaid fakes appeared throughout the centuries. Some were manatees that had been dressed up to resemble a human form and exhibited for profit.

Whether the Israeli mermaid sighting is genuine, a hoax, or an innocent mistake exploited for tourism, the reality of finding a real mermaid might be different than people imagine, as shown by a song from the Newfoundland band Great Big Sea, which sings folk-rock versions of traditional sea shanties. One of their most popular songs, titled "The Mermaid," tells of a lonely sailor who courts a mermaid:

"I love the girl with all me heart / But I only like the upper part / I do not like the tail!"

courtesy--http://www.livescience.com/strangenews/080211-fairytales-science.html

City of Athens

The Karyatides statues of the Erechtheion on its Acropolis

What happened to this Great Monument?

The greatest and finest sanctuary of ancient Athens, dedicated primarily to its patron, the goddess Athena, dominates the centre of the modern city from the rocky crag known as the Acropolis.

Watch the enchanting structure created in one of the greatest city on earth during the
5 th Century BC

http://www.guba.com/watch/3000644727/LW-04-Athens-Ancient-Supercity

Archaeology, Cultural Anthropology – “Jewels in the Jungle”

ANGKOR WAT

Why were the Indian Gods carved in these Cambodain temples

in these dense forests?

see the video-------http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2599561260535868768&hl=en#docid=8099715975606417657

Angkor Wat (or Angkor Vat) (Khmer: អង្គរវត្ត), is a temple complex at Angkor, Cambodia, built for the king Suryavarman II in the early 12th century as his state temple and capital city.

As the best-preserved temple at the site, it is the only one to have remained a significant religious centre since its foundation—first Hindu, dedicated to Vishnu, then Buddhist.

The temple is the epitome of the high classical style of Khmer architecture. It has become a symbol of Cambodia, appearing on its national flag, and it is the country's prime attraction for visitors.

architectural mysteries

Why did the Chinese build this Great Wall?

What did the Chinese fear?

Watch these wonderful videos for more mysteries of history
http://www.guba.com/watch/2000961846

Fairy tale-MYSTERIOUS MERMAID

Jack Dogherty lived on the coast of the county Clare. Jack was a fisherman, as his father and grandfather before him had been. Like them, too, he lived all alone (but for the wife), and just in the same spot. People used to wonder why the Dogherty family were so fond of that wild situation, so far away from all human kind, and in the midst of huge shattered rocks, with nothing but the wide ocean to look upon. But they had their own good reasons for it.


The place was just the only spot on that part of the coast where anybody could well live. There was a neat little creek, where a boat might lie as snug as a puffin in her nest, and out from this creek a ledge of sunken rocks ran into the sea. Now when the Atlantic, according to custom, was raging with a storm, and a good westerly wind was blowing strong on the coast, many a richly-laden ship went to pieces on these rocks; and then the fine bales of cotton and tobacco, and such like things, and the pipes of wine and the puncheons of rum, and the casks of brandy, and the kegs of Hollands that used to come ashore! Dunbeg Bay was just like a little estate to the Doghertys.


Not but they were kind and humane to a distressed sailor, if ever one had the good luck to get to land; and many a time indeed did Jack put out in his little corragh (which, though not quite equal to honest Andrew Hennessy's canvas life-boat would breast the billows like any gannet), to lend a hand towards bringing off the crew from a wreck. But when the ship had gone to pieces, and the crew were all lost, who would blame Jack for picking up all he could find?
"And who is the worse of it?" said he. "For as to the king, God bless him! everybody knows he's rich enough already without getting what's floating in the sea."


Jack, though such a hermit, was a good-natured, jolly fellow. No other, sure, could ever have coaxed Biddy Mahony to quit her father's snug and warm house in the middle of the town of Ennis, and to go so many miles off to live among the rocks, with the seals and sea-gulls for next-door neighbours. But Biddy knew that Jack was the man for a woman who wished to be comfortable and happy; for to say nothing of the fish, Jack had the supplying of half the gentlemen's houses of the country with the Godsends that came into the bay. And she was right in her choice; for no woman ate, drank, or slept better, or made a prouder appearance at chapel on Sundays, than Mrs. Dogherty.


Many a strange sight, it may well be supposed, did Jack see, and many a strange sound did he hear, but nothing daunted him. So far was he from being afraid of Merrows, or such beings, that the very first wish of his heart was to fairly meet with one. Jack had heard that they were mighty like Christians, and that luck had always come out of an acquaintance with them. Never, therefore, did he dimly discern the Merrows moving along the face of the waters in their robes of mist, but he made direct for them; and many a scolding did Biddy, in her own quiet way, bestow upon Jack for spending his whole day out at sea, and bringing home no fish. Little did poor Biddy know the fish Jack was after!



It was rather annoying to Jack that, though living in a place where the Merrows were as plenty as lobsters, he never could get a right view of one. What vexed him more was that both his father and grandfather had often and often seen them; and he even remembered hearing, when a child, how his grandfather, who was the first of the family that had settled down at the creek, had been so intimate with a Merrow that, only for fear of vexing the priest, he would have had him stand for one of his children. This, however, Jack did not well know how to believe.



Fortune at length began to think that it was only right that Jack should know as much as his father and grandfather did. Accordingly, one day when he had strolled a little farther than usual along the coast to the northward, just as he turned a point, he saw something, like to nothing he had ever seen before, perched upon a rock at a little distance out to sea. It looked green in the body, as well as he could discern at that distance, and he would have sworn, only the thing was impossible, that it had a cocked hat in its hand.


Jack stood for a good half-hour straining his eyes, and wondering at it, and all the time the thing did not stir hand or foot. At last Jack's patience was quite worn out, and he gave a loud whistle and a hail, when the Merrow (for such it was) started up, put the cocked hat on its head, and dived down, head foremost, from the rock.



Jack's curiosity was now excited, and he constantly directed his steps towards the point; still he could never get a glimpse of the sea-gentleman with the cocked hat; and with thinking and thinking about the matter, he began at last to fancy he had been only dreaming. One very rough day, however, when the sea was running mountains high, Jack Dogherty determined to give a look at the Merrow's rock (for he had always chosen a fine day before), and then he saw the strange thing cutting capers upon the top of the rock, and then diving down, and then coming up, and then diving down again.


Jack had now only to choose his time (that is, a good blowing day), and he might see the man of the sea as often as he pleased. All this. however, did not satisfy him--"much will have more"; he wished now to get acquainted with the Merrow, and even in this he succeeded. One tremendous blustering day, before he got to the point whence he had a view of the Merrow's rock, the storm came on so furiously that Jack was obliged to take shelter in one of the caves which are so numerous along the coast; and there, to his astonishment, he saw sitting before him a thing with green hair, long green teeth, a red nose, and pig's eyes. It had a fish's tail, legs with scales on them, and short arms like fins. It wore no clothes, but had the cocked hat under its arm, and seemed engaged thinking very seriously about something.


Jack, with all his courage, was a little daunted; but now or never, thought he; so up he went boldly to the cogitating fishman, took off his hat, and made his best bow.


"Your servant, sir," said Jack.
"Your servant, kindly, Jack Dogherty," answered the Merrow.


"To be sure, then, how well your honour knows my name!" said Jack.


"Is it I not know your name, Jack Dogherty? Why man, I knew your grandfather long before he was married to Judy Regan, your grandmother! Ah, Jack, Jack, I was fond of that grandfather of yours; he was a mighty worthy man in his time: I never met his match above or below, before or since, for sucking in a shellful of brandy. I hope, my boy," said the old fellow, with a merry twinkle in his eyes, "I hope you're his own grandson!" 'Never fear me for that," said Jack; "if my mother had only reared me on brandy, 'tis myself that would be a sucking infant to this hour!"



"Well, I like to hear you talk so manly; you and I must be better acquainted, if it were only for your grandfather's sake. But, Jack, that father of yours was not the thing! he had no head at all."

"I'm sure, said Jack, "since your honour lives down under the water, you must be obliged to drink a power to keep any beat in you in such a cruel, damp, could place. Well, I've often heard of Christians drinking like fishes; and might I be so bold as ask where you get the spirits?"
"Where do you get them yourself, Jack?" said the Merrow, twitching his red nose between his forefinger and thumb.



"Hubbubboo," cries Jack "now I see how it is; but I suppose, sir, your honour has got a fine dry cellar below to keep them in."

"Let me alone for the cellar," said the Merrow, with a knowing wink of his left eye.


'I'm sure," continued Jack, "it must be mighty well worth the looking at."
"You may say that, Jack," said the Merrow; "and if you meet me here next Monday, just at this time of the day, we will have a little more talk with one another about the matter."


Jack and the Merrow parted the best friends in the world. On Monday they met, and Jack was not a little surprised to see that the Merrow had two cocked hats with him, one under each arm.

"Might I take the liberty to ask, sir," said Jack, "why your honour has brought the two hats with you today? You would not, sure, be going to give me one of them, to keep for the curiosity of the thing?"

"No, no, Jack," said he, "I don't get my hats so easily, to part with them that way; but I want you to come down and dine with me, and I brought you that hat to dive with."


"Lord bless and preserve us!" cried Jack, in amazement, would you want me to go down to the bottom of the salt sea ocean? Sure, I'd be smothered and choked up with the water, to say nothing of being drowned! And what would poor Biddy do for me, and what would she say?"


"And what matter what she says, you pinkeen? Who cares for Biddy's squalling? It's long before your grandfather would have talked in that way. Many's the time he stuck that same hat on his head, and dived down boldly after me; and many's the snug bit of dinner and good shellful of brandy he and I have had together below, under the water."


"Is it really, sir, and no joke?" said Jack; "why, then, sorrow from me for ever and a day after, if I'll be a bit worse man nor my grandfather was! Here goes--but play me fair now. Here's neck or nothing!" cried Jack.


"That's your grandfather all over," said the old fellow; "so come along, then, and do as I do."
They both left the cave, walked into the sea, and then swam a piece until they got to the rock, The Merrow climbed to the top of it, and Jack followed him. On the far side it was as straight as the wall of a house, and the sea beneath looked so deep that Jack was almost cowed.


"Now, do you see, Jack," said the Merrow: "just put this hat on your head, and mind to keep your eyes wide open. Take hold of my tail, and follow after me, and you'll see what you'll see." In he dashed, and in dashed Jack after him boldly.


They went and they went, and Jack thought they'd never stop going. Many a time did he wish himself sitting at home by the fireside with Biddy. Yet where was the use of wishing now, when he was so many miles, as he thought, below the waves of the Atlantic? Still he held hard by the Merrow's tail, slippery as it was; and, at last, to Jack's great surprise, they got out of the water, and he actually found himself on dry land at the bottom of the sea. They landed just in front of a nice house that was slated very neatly with oyster shells! and the Merrow, turning about to Jack, welcomed him down.



Jack could hardly speak, what with wonder, and what with being out of breath with travelling so fast through the water. He looked about him and could see no living things, barring crabs and lobsters, of which there were plenty walking leisurely about on the sand. Overhead was the sea like a sky, and the fishes like birds swimming about in it.


"Why don't you speak, man?" said the Merrow: "I dare say you had no notion that I had such a snug little concern here as this? Are you smothered, or choked, or drowned, or are you fretting after Biddy, eh?"


"Oh! not myself indeed," said Jack, showing his teeth with a good-humoured grin; "but who in the world would ever have thought of seeing such a thing?"


'Yell, come along, and let's see what they've got for us to eat?"


Jack really was hungry, and it gave him no small pleasure to perceive a fine column of smoke rising from the chimney, announcing what was going on within. Into the house he followed the Merrow, and there he saw a good kitchen, right well provided with everything. There was a noble dresser, and plenty of pots and pans, with two young Merrows cooking. His host then led him into the room, which was furnished shabbily enough. Not a table or a chair was there in it; nothing but planks and logs of wood to sit on, and eat off. There was, however, a good fire blazing upon the hearth--a comfortable sight to Jack.


"Come now, and I'll show you where I keep--you know what," said the Merrow, with a sly look; and opening a little door, he led Jack into a fine cellar, well filled with pipes, and kegs, and hogsheads, and barrels.


"What do you say to that, Jack Dogherty? Eh! may be a body can't live snug under the water?"


"Never the doubt of that," said Jack, with a convincing smack of his upper lip, that he really thought what he said.



They went back to the room, and found dinner laid. There was no tablecloth, to be sure--but what matter? It was not always Jack had one at home. The dinner would have been no discredit to the first house of the country on a fast day. The choicest of fish, and no wonder, was there. Turbots, and sturgeons, and soles, and lobsters, and oysters, and twenty other kinds, were on the planks at once, and plenty of the best of foreign spirits. The wines, the old fellow said, were too cold for his stomach.



Jack ate and drank till he could eat no more: then taking up a shell of brandy, "Here's to your honour's good health, sir," said he; "though, begging you pardon, it's mighty odd that as long as we've been acquainted I don't know your name yet."


"That's true, Jack," replied he; "I never thought of it before, but better late than never. My name's Coomara."


"And a mighty decent name it is," cried Jack, taking another shellfull: "here's to your good health, Coomara, and may ye live these fifty years to come!"


"Fifty years!" repeated Coomara; "I'm obliged to you, indeed! If you had said five hundred, it would have been something worth the wishing."


"By the laws, sir," cries Jack, "youz live to a powerful age here under the water! You knew my grandfather, and he's dead and gone better than these sixty years. I'm sure it must be a healthy place to live in."



"No doubt of it; but come, Jack, keep the liquor stirring." Shell after shell did they empty, and to Jack's exceeding surprise, he found the drink never got into his head, owing, I suppose, to the sea being over them, which kept their noddles cool.



Old Coomara got exceedingly comfortable, and sung several songs; but Jack, if his life had depended on it, never could remember more than:"Rum fum boodle boo,Ripple dipple nitty dob;Dumdoo doodle coo,Raffle taffle chittiboo!"



It was the chorus to one of them; and, to say the truth, nobody that I know has ever been able to pick any particular meaning out of it; but that, to be sure, is the case with many a song nowadays.



At length said he to Jack, "Now, my dear boy, if you follow me, I'll show you my curiosities!" He opened a little door, and led Jack into a large room, where Jack saw a great many odds and ends that Coomara had picked up at one time or another. What chiefly took his attention, however, were things like lobsterpots ranged on the ground along the wall.


"Well, Jack, how do you like my curiosities?" said old Coo.


"Upon my sowkins, 1 sir," said Jack, "they're mighty well worth the looking at; but might I make so bold as to ask what these things like lobster-pots are?"

"Oh! the Soul Cages, is it?"

"The what? sir!"

"These things here that I keep the souls in."

"Arrah! what souls, sir?" said Jack, in amazement; "sure the fish have no souls in them?"

"Oh! no," replied Coo, quite coolly, "that they have not; but these are the souls of drowned sailors."

"The Lord preserve us from all harm!" muttered lack, "how in the world did you get them?"

"Easily enough: I've only, when I see a good storm coming on, to set a couple of dozen of these, and then, when the sailors are drowned and the souls get out of them under the water, the poor things are almost perished to death, not being used to the cold; so they make into my pots for shelter, and then I have them snug, and fetch them home, and is it not well for them, poor souls, to get into such good quarters?"

Jack was so thunderstruck he did not know what to say, so he said nothing. They went back into the dining-room, and had a little more brandy, which was excellent, and then, as Jack knew that it must be getting late, and as Biddy might be uneasy, he stood up, and said he thought it was time for him to be on the road.

"Just as you like, Jack," said Coo, "but take a duc an durrus 1 before you go; you've a cold journey before you."

Jack knew better manners than to refuse the parting glass.

"I wonder," said he, "will I be able to make out my way home?"

"What should ail you," said Coo, "when I'll show you the way?"

Out they went before the house, and Coomara took one of the cocked hats, and put it upon Jack's head the wrong way, and then lifted him up on his shoulder that he might launch him up into the water.

"Now," says he, giving him a heave, "you'll come up just in the same spot you came down in; and, Jack, mind and throw me back the hat."

He canted Jack off his shoulder, and up he shot like a bubble--whirr, whiff, whiz--away he went up through the water, till he came to the very rock he had jumped off where he found a landing-place, and then in he threw the hat, which sunk like a stone.

The sun was just going down in the beautiful sky of a calm summer's evening. Feascor was seen dimly twinkling in the cloudless heaven, a solitary star, and the waves of the Atlantic flashed in a golden flood of light. So Jack, perceiving it was late, set off home; but when he got there, not a word did he say to Biddy of where he had spent his day.

The state of the poor souls cooped up in the lobster-pots gave Jack a great deal of trouble, and how to release them cost him a great deal of thought. He at first had a mind to speak to the priest about the matter. But what could the priest do, and what did Coo care for the priest? Besides, Coo was a good sort of an old fellow, and did not think he was doing any harm. Jack had a regard for him, too, and it also might not be much to his own credit if it were known that he used to go dine with Merrows. On the whole, he thought his best plan would be to ask Coo to dinner, and to make him drunk, if he was able, and then to take the hat and go down and turn up the pots. It was, first of all, necessary, however, to get Biddy out of the way; for Jack was prudent enough, as she was a woman, to wish to keep the thing secret from her.

Accordingly, Jack grew mighty pious all of a sudden, and said to Biddy that he thought it would be for the good of both their souls if she was to go and take her rounds at Saint John's Well, near Ennis. Biddy thought so too, and accordingly off she set one fine morning at day-dawn, giving Jack a strict charge to have an eye to the place. The coast being clear, away went Jack to the rock to give the appointed signal to Coomara, which was throwing a big stone into the water. Jack threw, and up sprang Coo!

"Good morning, Jack," said he; "what do you want with me?"

"Just nothing at all to speak about, sir," returned Jack, "only to come and take a bit of dinner with me, if I might make so free as to ask you, and sure I'm now after doing so."

"It's quite agreeable, Jack, I assure you; what's your hour?"

"Any time that's most convenient to you, sir--say one o'clock, that you may go home, if you wish, with the daylight." "I'll be with you," said Coo, "never fear me."

Jack went home, and dressed a noble fish dinner, and got out plenty of his best foreign spirits, enough, for that matter, to make twenty men drunk. Just to the minute came Coo, with his cocked hat under his arm. Dinner was ready, they sat down, and ate and drank away manfully. Jack, thinking of the poor souls below in the pots, plied old Coo well with brandy, and encouraged him to sing, hoping to put him under the table, but poor Jack forgot that he had not the sea over his head to keep it cool. The brandy got into it, and did his business for him, and Coo reeled off home, leaving his entertainer as dumb as a haddock on a Good Friday.

Jack never woke till the next morning, and then he was in a sad way. "'Tis to no use for me thinking to make that old Rapparee drunk," said Jack, "and how in this world can I help the poor souls out of the lobster-pots?" After ruminating nearly the whole day, a thought struck him. "I have it," says he, slapping his knee; "I'll be sworn that Coo never saw a drop of poteen, as old as he is, and that's the thing to settle him! Oh! then, is not it well that Biddy will not be home these two days yet; I can have another twist at him."

Jack asked Coo again, and Coo laughed at him for having no better head, telling him he'd never come up to his grandfather. "Well, but try me again," said Jack, "and I'll be bail to drink you drunk and sober, and drunk again."

"Anything in my power," said Coo, "to oblige you."

At this dinner Jack took care to have his own liquor well watered, and to give the strongest brandy he had to Coo. At last says he, "Pray, sir, did you ever drink any poteen?--any real mountain dew?"

"No," says Coo; "what's that, and where does it come from?"

"Oh, that's a secret," said Jack, "but it's the right stuff--never believe me again, if 'tis not fifty times as good as brandy or rum either. Biddy's brother just sent me a present of a little drop, in exchange for some brandy, and as you're an old friend of the family, I kept it to treat you with."

"Well, let's see what sort of thing it is," said Coomara.

The poteen was the right sort. It was first-rate, and had the real smack upon it. Coo was delighted: he drank and he sung Rum bum boodle boo over and over again; and he laughed and he danced, till he fell on the floor fast asleep. Then Jack, who had taken good care to keep himself sober, snapt up the cocked hat--ran off to the rock--leaped, and soon arrived at Coo's habitation.

All was as still as a churchyard at midnight--not a Merrow, old or young, was there. In he went and turned up the pots, but nothing did he see, only he heard a sort of a little whistle or chirp as he raised each of them. At this he was surprised, till he recollected what the priests had often said, that nobody living could see the soul, no more than they could see the wind or the air.


Having now done all that he could for them, he set the pots as they were before, and sent a blessing after the poor souls to speed them on their journey wherever they were going. Jack now began to think of returning; he put the hat on, as was right, the wrong way; but when he got out he found the water so high over his head that he had no hopes of ever getting up into it, now that he had not old Coomara to give him a lift. He walked about looking for a ladder, but not one could he find, and not a rock was there in sight.


At last he saw a spot where the sea hung rather lower than anywhere else, so he resolved to try there. Just as he came to it, a big cod happened to put down his tail. Jack made a jump and caught hold of it, and the cod, all in amazement, gave a bounce and pulled Jack up. The minute the hat touched the water away Jack was whisked, and up he shot like a cork, dragging the poor cod, that he forgot to let go, up with him tail foremost. He got to the rock in no time and without a moment's delay hurried home, rejoicing in the good deed he had done.

But, meanwhile, there was fine work at home; for our friend Jack had hardly left the house on his soul-freeing expedition, when back came Biddy from her soul-saving one to the well. When she entered the house and saw the things lying thrie-na-helah 1 on the table before her--"Here's a pretty job!" said she; "that blackguard of mine--what ill-luck I had ever to marry him! He has picked up some vagabond or other, while I was praying for the good of his soul, and they've been drinking all the poteen that my own brother gave him, and all the spirits, to be sure, that he was to have sold to his honour."


Then hearing an outlandish kind of grunt, she looked down, and saw Coomara lying under the table. "The Blessed Virgin help me," shouted she, "if he has not made a real beast of himself! Well, well, I've often heard of a man making a beast of himself with drink! Oh hone, oh hone!--Jack, honey, what will I do with you, or what will I do without you? How can any decent woman ever think of living with a beast?"


With such like lamentations Biddy rushed out of the house, and was going she knew not where, when she heard the well-known voice of Jack singing a merry tune. Glad enough was Biddy to find him safe and sound, and not turned into a thing that was like neither fish nor flesh. Jack was obliged to tell her all, and Biddy, though she had half a mind to be angry with him for not telling her before, owned that he had done a great service to the poor souls.


Back they both went most lovingly to the house, and Jack wakened up Coomara; and, perceiving the old fellow to be rather dull, he bid him not to be cast down, for 'twas many a good man's case; said it all came of his not being used to the poteen, and recommended him, by way of cure, to swallow a hair of the dog that bit him. Coo, however, seemed to think he had had quite enough. He got up, quite out of sorts, and without having the manners to say one word in the way of civility, he sneaked off to cool himself by a jaunt through the salt water.


Coomara, never missed the souls. He and Jack continued the best friends in the world, and no one, perhaps, ever equalled Jack for freeing souls from purgatory; for he contrived fifty excuses for getting into the house below the sea, unknown to the old fellow, and then turning up the pots and letting out the souls. It vexed him, to be sure, that he could never see them; but as he knew the thing to be impossible, he was obliged to be satisfied.


Their intercourse continued for several years. However, one morning, on Jack's throwing in a stone as usual, he got no answer. He flung another, and another, still there was no reply. He went away, and returned the following morning, but it was to no purpose. As he was without the hat, he could not go down to see what had become of old Coo, but his belief was, that the old man, or the old fish, or whatever he was, had either died, or had removed from that part of the country.

A mermaid is a mythological aquatic creature with a human head and torso and the tail of an aquatic animal such as a fish.

The word is a compound of mere, the Old English word for "sea," and maid, a woman.

The male equivalent is a merman, however the term mermaid is sometimes used for males.

Various cultures throughout the world have similar figures, typically depicted without clothing.


A mermaid is a mythological aquatic creature with a human head and torso and the tail of an aquatic animal such as a fish. The word is a compound of mere, the Old English word for "sea," and maid, a woman.

The male equivalent is a merman, however the term mermaid is sometimes used for males. Various cultures throughout the world have similar figures, typically depicted without clothing.

Much like sirens, mermaids would sometimes sing to people and gods and enchant them, distracting them from their work and causing them to walk off the deck or run their ships aground. Other stories have them squeezing the life out of drowning men while attempting to rescue them.

They are also said to take humans down to their underwater kingdoms. In Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid it is said that they forget that humans cannot breathe underwater, while others say they drown men out of spite.

The sirens of Greek mythology are sometimes portrayed in later folklore as mermaid-like; in fact, some languages use the same word for both bird and fish creatures, such as the Maltese word 'sirena'. Other related types of mythical or legendary creatures are water fairies (e.g. various water nymphs) and selkies, animals that can transform themselves from seals to humans.

Mermaids were noted in British folklore as unlucky omens - both foretelling disaster and provoking it.[5] Several variants of the ballad Sir Patrick Spens depict a mermaid speaking to the doomed ships; in some, she tells them they will never see land again, and in others, she claims they are near shore, which they are wise enough to know means the same thing. They can also be a sign of rough weather.

Some mermaids were described as monstrous in size, up to 2000 feet.

Mermaids could also swim up rivers to freshwater lakes. One day, in a lake near his house, the Laird of Lorntie saw, as he thought, a woman drowning, and went to aid her; a servant of his pulled him back, warning that it was a mermaid, and the mermaid screamed after that she would have killed him if it were not for his servant.

On occasion, mermaids could be more beneficent, giving humans means of cure.

Some tales raised the question of whether mermaids had immortal souls to answer it in the negative. The figure of Lí Ban appears as a sanctified mermaid, but she was originally a human being transformed into a mermaid; after three centuries, when Christianity had come to Ireland, she came to be baptized.

Mermen were also noted as wilder and uglier than mermaids, but they were described as having little interest in humans.

Mermaids and mermen are also characters of Philippine folklore, where they are locally known as sirena and siyokoy, respectively.[18] The Javanese people believe that the southern beach in Java is a home of Javanese mermaid queen Nyi Roro Kidul.

Mermaids are said to be known for their vanity, but also for their innocence. They often fall in love with human men, and are willing to go to great extents to prove their love with humans . Unfortunately, especially with younger mermaids, they tend to forget humans cannot breathe underwater.

Their male counterparts, mermen, are rarely interested in human issues, but in the Finnish mythology merpeople are able to grant wishes, heal sickness, lift curses, brew magic potions and sometimes can carry a trident. Mermaids share some of the same characteristics.

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