Editing Mermaid (section)

== Eastern Europe ==
[[File:Ilya Repin - Sadko - Google Art Project levels adjustment 2.jpg|thumb|[[Ilya Repin]], ''[[Sadko (painting)|Sadko]]'' (1876)]]
[[Rusalka]]s are the Slavic counterpart of the Greek sirens and [[naiad]]s, often seducing sailors to their doom.{{sfnp|Naroditskaya|Austern|2006|p=6}}<ref name="Ivanits 1992 76">{{cite book | last =Ivanits| first = Linda J.| title= Russian folk belief| year= 1992| publisher= M.E. Sharpe| location = Armonk, NY | isbn = 978-0-87332-889-0| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=-s36xYcqG1EC&pg=PA77 | edition= 1st pbk. | others = Schiller, Sophie illustr.| page = 76}}</ref> The nature of rusalkas varies among folk traditions, but according to ethnologist [[D.K. Zelenin]] they all share a common element: they are the restless spirits of the unclean dead.<ref name = "Ivanits 1992 76"/> They are usually the ghosts of young women who died a violent or untimely death, either by murder or suicide, before their wedding, especially by drowning. Rusalkas are said to inhabit lakes and rivers. They appear as beautiful young women with long pale green hair and pale skin, suggesting a connection with floating weeds and days spent underwater in faint sunlight. They can be seen after dark, dancing together under the moon and calling out to young men by name, luring them to the water and drowning them. The characterization of rusalkas as both desirable and treacherous is prevalent in Russia, [[Ukraine]] and [[Belarus]], and was emphasized by nineteenth-century Russian authors.<ref>{{cite book | last =Illes|first= Judika |chapter=Rusalka |title= The encyclopedia of spirits: the ultimate guide to the magic of fairies, genies, demons, ghosts, gods, and goddesses |year= 2009 |publisher= HarperOne | location =New York|isbn = 978-0-06-135024-5 |chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=jDr51XX_YjEC&pg=PA871| page=871}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Warner |first=Elizabeth |author-link=<!--Elizabeth Warner--> |title=Russian myths |year=2002 |publisher=Univ. of Texas Press|location=Austin, TX |isbn = 978-0-292-79158-9 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=_PoesCeU0iUC&pg=PA42| page = 42}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| editor-last= Kelly | editor-first = Katherine E.|title = Modern drama by women 1800s–1930s: an international anthology|year= 1996 | publisher = Routledge| location = London |isbn = 978-0-415-12493-5 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=HCcl02qHH70C&pg=PA326| page= 326}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IO_qBgAAQBAJ&pg=PR64 |title=Russian Folk Belief|last=Ivanits|first=Linda J.|date=4 March 2015|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781317460398}}</ref> The best-known of the great Czech nationalist composer [[Antonín Dvořák]]'s operas is ''Rusalka''.

In ''[[Sadko]]'' ({{langx |ru|Садко}}), an [[East Slavs|East Slavic]] epic, the title character—an adventurer, merchant, and ''[[gusli]]'' musician from [[Novgorod]]—lives for some time in the underwater court of the [[Sea Tsar]] and marries his daughter, Chernava, before finally returning home. The tale inspired such works as the poem ''Sadko''<ref>{{Citation | title = A History of Russian Poetry | first = Evelyn | last = Bristol | year = 1991 | isbn = 0-19-504659-5 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=VxNgAAAAMAAJ | page = 149| publisher = Oxford University Press }}</ref> by [[Alexei Tolstoy (poet)|Alexei Tolstoy]] (1817–75), the opera ''[[Sadko (opera)|Sadko]]'' composed by [[Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov]], and the painting ''[[Sadko (painting)|Sadko]]'' by [[Ilya Repin]].