Stories about Merrows

Scottish Legends about Mermaids

    In fact, if one digs deep enough, one may find a story of a mermaid in almost every culture and ancient society around the world. Though mermaids are a little bit different depending on the region and people, the most common image is that of a gorgeous woman with long hair who is half-fish, half-human.

    Mermaids are not so popular in Scotland as in England and Western Europe but there are some inspiring and thrilling legends about them in Ireland, Scotland and on the Orkney Islands. They are called ‘merrows’ there and what is interesting about them is that they are both female and male. In legends the merrow is said to have a greenish skin with webbed fingers, the tail of a fish, and seaweed green hair. The male merrows are said to be very wicked and awfully ugly with  stern, gloomy faces. They have many magical powers, such as rowing between Norway and Orkney in seven oar-strokes, making their ships invisible and creating fleets of phantom boats. They avoid human contacts but are extremely territorial and will destroy any boat that comes to 'their' waters. Though you can protect your ship by drawing a cross on the bottom of a craft with chalk, for merrows hate the sign of the Christian cross. One particularly interesting aspect of these Gaelic legends is that merrows are only able to swim underwater with the aid of a magical red "cap". If a person manages to steal this cap and not return it to the merrow, the merrow would be unable to return to his/her home under water.

The female merrows are said to seduce sailors and other young men by singing to them (similar to the Greek sirens).  In spring and summer months, merrows wade, swim or sometimes row upon the Orkney shores, searching for human captives.  They kidnap unsuspecting fishermen, or young women near the shore. They do not eat human beings, but drag them under the waves to the bottom of the sea and force them into marriage and slavery. The reason for mermaids to intermarry with humans is that if a female merrow marry a male merrow not a human, she loses both her beauty and mystical power. As she ages her ugliness increases for seven years until she becomes an old witch. One particularly frightening and popular legend of the merrow tells the tale of male merrows who capture the drowned souls of sailors and put them into pots. These pots stay at the bottom of the sea, unless a willing human would release them.

   According to folklore, the merrows have two homes. The former is a magical underwater palace with massive crystal halls surrounded by ornate gardens of multi-coloured seaweed. It's never dark there because it is lit by the phosphorescent glow of tiny sea creatures at night. Its great halls and vast rooms are decorated with moving underwater draped curtains whose colours move and dance with the underwater currents. The latter is a paradise island which is invisible, hidden just underwater or surrounded by magical fog.