Editing Mermaid (section)

== Folklore of Britain and Ireland ==
The [[Normans|Norman]] chapel in [[Durham Castle]], built around 1078, has what is probably the earliest surviving artistic depiction of a mermaid in England.<ref name="wood.r"/> It can be seen on a south-facing capital above one of the original Norman stone pillars.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Norman Chapel|url=http://www.durhamworldheritagesite.com/architecture/castle/intro/north-range/norman-chapel|website=Architecture|publisher=Durham World heritage|access-date=11 May 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120509014808/http://www.durhamwor/|archive-date=9 May 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[File:Zennor Mermaid Chair.JPG|upright|thumb|right|Mermaid carving on a bench end{{right|{{small|―[[Zennor]], Cornwall.}}}}]]
Mermaids appear in British folklore as unlucky [[omen]]s, both foretelling disaster and provoking it.{{sfnp|Briggs|1976|p=287}} Several variants of the [[ballad]] ''[[Sir Patrick Spens]]'' depict a mermaid speaking to the doomed ships. In some versions, she tells them they will never see land again; in others, she claims they are near shore, which they are wise enough to know means the same thing. Mermaids can also be a sign of approaching rough weather,<ref>{{Citation | first = Francis James | last = Child | title = The English and Scottish Popular Ballads | volume = 2 | page = 19 | place = New York | publisher = Dover | year = 1965}}.</ref> and some have been described as monstrous in size, up to {{convert|2000|ft|m}}.{{sfnp|Briggs|1976|p=287}}

In another short ballad, "Clerk Colvill" ([[Child Ballads|Child ballad]] No. 42), the mermaid seduces the title character and foretells his doom. It has been surmised that in the original complete version, the man was being penalized for spurning her, though the Scandinavian counterparts that tells the complete story feature an elf-woman or elf queen rather than mermaid.<ref name="child_ballad042"/> In "The Mermaid" (Child ballad 289),<ref name="child_ballad289"/> her sighting forebodes a vessel's deadly shipwreck.<ref name="belden1940"/>

Mermaids have been described as able to swim up rivers to [[freshwater]] lakes. In one story, the [[Laird]] of Lorntie went to aid a woman he thought was drowning in a lake near his house; his servant pulled him back, warning that it was a mermaid, and the mermaid screamed at them that she would have killed him if it were not for his servant.<ref>{{Citation | first = KM | last = Briggs | title = The Fairies in English Tradition and Literature | page = 57 | publisher = University of Chicago Press | place = London | year = 1967}}.</ref> But mermaids could occasionally be more beneficent; e.g., teaching humans cures for certain diseases.{{sfnp|Briggs|1976|p=288}} [[Merman|Mermen]] have been described as wilder and uglier than mermaids, with little interest in humans.{{sfnp|Briggs|1976|p=290}}

According to legend a mermaid came to the [[Cornwall|Cornish]] village of [[Zennor]], where she used to listen to the singing of a chorister, Matthew Trewhella.{{sfnp|Waugh|1960|p=82}} The two fell in love, and Matthew went with the mermaid to her home at [[Pendour Cove]]. On summer nights, the lovers can be heard singing together. The legend, recorded by folklorist [[William Bottrell]], stems from a fifteenth-century mermaid carving on a wooden bench at the [[Church of Saint Senara, Zennor|Church of Saint Senara]] in Zennor.{{sfnp|Wood|2018|p=68}}<ref name="matthews"/>

Some tales raised the question of whether mermaids had immortal souls, answering in the negative.{{sfnp|Briggs|1976|p=289}}

In [[Scottish mythology]], a ''[[ceasg]]'' is a freshwater mermaid, though little beside the term has been preserved in folklore.<ref>{{citation|last=Watson |first=E. C. |title=Highland Mythology |journal=The Celtic Review |volume=5 |issue=17 |year=1908 |page=67 |url=https://archive.org/stream/celticreview05edinuoft#page/66/mode/2up|doi=10.2307/30069982 |jstor=30069982 }}</ref>

Mermaids from the [[Isle of Man]], known as ''ben-varrey'', are considered more favorable toward humans than those of other regions,<ref name=Briggs>Briggs, Katharine (1976). ''An Encyclopedia of Fairies''. Pantheon Books. pp. 22–23. "Ben-Varrey". {{ISBN|0-394-40918-3}}.</ref> with various accounts of assistance, gifts and rewards. One story tells of a fisherman who carried a stranded mermaid back into the sea and was rewarded with the location of treasure. Another recounts the tale of a baby mermaid who stole a doll from a human little girl, but was rebuked by her mother and sent back to the girl with a gift of a pearl necklace to atone for the theft. A third story tells of a fishing family that made regular gifts of apples to a mermaid and was rewarded with prosperity.<ref name =Briggs />

In Irish lore, [[Lí Ban (mermaid)|Lí Ban]] was a human being transformed into a mermaid. After three centuries, when Christianity came to [[Ireland]], she was baptized.{{sfnp|Briggs|1976|pp=266–7}} The Irish mermaid is called [[merrow]] in tales such as "Lady of Gollerus" published in the nineteenth century.