Editing Nereids (section)

=== In modern folklore ===
The {{transliteration|el|neraida}} appears in modern Greek folktales as a kind of supernatural wife, akin to the [[swan maiden]], and gives its name to the homonymous type in the Catalogue of Greek Folktales: tale type [[Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index|ATU]] 400, "The Neraïda".<ref name=Angelopoulos2010/> She has been compared to the [[nymph]], the female character of ancient Greek mythology.<ref>Mitakidou, Soula; Manna, Anthony L.; Kanatsouli, Melpomeni. ''Folktales of Greece: A Treasury of Delights''. Greenwood Press/Libraries Unlimited, 2002. p. 15. {{ISBN|1-56308-908-4}}.</ref><ref>Blagojevic, Gordana. "Женидба вилом и нерајдом: јужнословенско-грчке фолклорне паралеле" [Marrying a Fairy and a Nereid: South Slavic-Greek Folk Parallels]. In: ''[https://dais.sanu.ac.rs/handle/123456789/7573 Заједничко у словенском фолклору: зборник радова]'' [Common Elements in Slavic Folklore: Collected Papers, 2012]. Београд: Балканолошки институт САНУ, 2012. p. 178. {{ISBN|9788671790741}}.</ref> She is said to inhabit water sources (rivers and wells),<ref name="Dawkins, R. M. 1942 p. 11">{{cite journal |last1=Dawkins |first1=R. M. |title=Folklore in Stories from the Dodecanese |journal=Folklore |date=1942 |volume=53 |issue=1 |pages=5–26 |doi=10.1080/0015587X.1942.9718288 |jstor=1257708 }}</ref> similar to their ancient mythical counterpart, the ''Nereids'' (water nymphs).<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Håland |first1=Evy Johanne |title=Water Sources and the Sacred in Modern and Ancient Greece and Beyond |journal=Water History |date=December 2009 |volume=1 |issue=2 |pages=83–108 |doi=10.1007/s12685-009-0008-1 |bibcode=2009WatHi...1...83H |s2cid=154379238 }}</ref><ref name=Lee1936>{{cite journal |last1=Lee |first1=D. Demetracopoulou |title=Folklore of the Greeks in America |journal=Folklore |date=1936 |volume=47 |issue=3 |pages=294–310 |doi=10.1080/0015587X.1936.9718647 |jstor=1256865 }}</ref> However, [[Nereids#Modern use|in modern speech]], the term also encompasses fairy maidens from mountains and woodlands.<ref>{{cite book |last=Lawson |first=John Cuthbert |title=Modern Greek Folklore and Ancient Greek Religion |url=https://archive.org/details/moderngreekfolkl00laws |edition=1st |year=1910 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |location=Cambridge |page=[https://archive.org/details/moderngreekfolkl00laws/page/130 130]}}</ref>

Greek folklorist Nicolaos Politis amassed a great amount of modern folkloric material regarding the {{transliteration|el|neraida}}.<ref name="Λουκατος 1982">{{cite journal |last1=Λουκατος |first1=Δημητριος σ. |title=Les néréides en Grèce, êtres toujours légendaires, aussi bien maritimes que terrestres |journal=Le Monde alpin et rhodanien. Revue régionale d'ethnologie |date=1982 |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=293–299 |doi=10.3406/mar.1982.1164 }}</ref> In modern tales from Greek tellers, the {{transliteration|el|neraides}} are said to dance at noon or at midnight; to have beautiful golden hair; to dress in white or rose garments and to appear wearing a veil on the head, or holding a handkerchief. Due to their beauty, young men are drawn to the {{transliteration|el|neraides}} and steal their veils or kerchiefs to force their stay in the mortal realm. The women marry these men, but later regain their piece of clothing back and disappear forever.<ref name=Lee1936/><ref>Lawson, John Cuthbert (1910). ''Modern Greek Folklore and Ancient Greek Religion'' (1st ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 132–133, 135–136, 138–139.</ref><ref name="Λουκατος 1982"/> Greek scholar Anna Angeloupoulos terms this storyline ''The Stolen Scarf'', one of four narratives involving the {{transliteration|el|neraida}}. Also, this sequence is "the most frequent and stable introductory episode" in Greek variants of tale type 400.<ref name=Angelopoulos2010/>

In a tale from Greece, a human goatherd named Demetros, dances with ten fairies three nights, and in the third night, on a full moon, he dances with them and accidentally touches the handkerchief of Katena. Her companions abandon her to the mortal world and she becomes Demetros's wife, bearing him a daughter. For seven years, Demetros has hidden the handkerchief, until his wife Katena asks him for it. She takes the handkerchief and dances with it in a festival, taking the opportunity to return home and leave her mortal husband. Years later, their daughter follows her mother when she turns fifteen years old.<ref>"III. The Fairy Wife". In: Gianakoulis, Theodore P. and MacPherson, Georgia H. ''Fairy Tales of Modern Greece''. New York City: E. P. Dutton & Co. [1930]. pp. 34–47.</ref>

Another introductory episode of the Greek variants is one Angelopoulos dubbed ''The Sisters of Alexander the Great''. This refers to a [[Alexander the Great in legend#Women and Alexander|pseudo-historical or mythological account]] about [[Alexander the Great]] and a quest for a water of life that grants immortality. His sister (or sisters) drinks it instead of him, is thrown in the sea and becomes a {{transliteration|el|gorgona}}, a half-human, half-fish creature with power over the storm who can sink boats and become birds. They approach ships to ask if Alexander still lives, and can only be appeased if answered positively. In one tale, a youth on a ship captures a {{transliteration|el|gorgona}} three times (or three {{transliteration|el|gorgones}}) and beats her until she promises not to threaten any more ships. The youth then arrives on a deserted island and sees three birds that become human (or flying maidens), and steals their garments.<ref name=Angelopoulos2010>{{cite journal |last1=Angelopoulos |first1=Anna |title=Greek Legends about Fairies and Related Tales of Magic |journal=Fabula |date=December 2010 |volume=51 |issue=3–4 |pages=217–224 |doi=10.1515/FABL.2010.021 |s2cid=161959532 }}</ref><ref name=Dawkins1937>{{cite journal |last1=Dawkins |first1=R. M. |title=Alexander and the Water of Life |journal=Medium Ævum |date=1937 |volume=6 |issue=3 |pages=173–192 |doi=10.2307/43626046 |jstor=43626046 }}</ref> [[Richard MacGillivray Dawkins]] suggested that the modern {{transliteration|el|gorgona}} was a merging of three mythological characters (the [[Siren (mythology)|Sirens]], the [[Gorgon]]s, and the [[Scylla]]), and reported alternate tales where Alexander's sisters are replaced for his mother or a female lover.<ref name=Dawkins1937/>{{efn|In another article, Dawkins claims the oldest version of the tale involves Alexander's ''daughter''; later versions replacing her for his sister.<ref name="Dawkins, R. M. 1942 p. 11"/>}}