Mermaids in Mythological tales

Table of Contents

Featured image of the article - A mermaid by John William Waterhouse — Featuring the page is a painting by John William Waterhouse, *A Mermaid* (1900).

Little mermaid
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When everyone talks about Mermaid, they probably think about the cute Little Mermaid from Disney and Hans Christian Andersen that people watched when they were young (I assumed you were born in the 2000s).

In the movie, it was the story of a little mermaid who fell in love with a prince that she rescued on the sea. She decided to trade her voice in exchange for a pair of legs to walk on land and tried to meet him. In the end they both succeeded and married each other and lived a happy life (Classic Disney movie lol).

On the other hand, in the original story written by Andersen (and other variations of the story), the little mermaid witnessed the prince marrying another princess in an arranged marriage, and died by dissolving into sea foam.

Greek mythology
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Portrayed as a sexual, predatory and half-woman, half-fish creature hoping to eat sailors, like in the classic scene of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, where the pirates are surrounded by mermaids wanting to eat them, and the mermaids are seen as treasures to the pirates.

Known as the sirens in the Greek mythology, the mermaid will use her beauty, sing these beautiful songs and sit on rocks calling for anyone in the sea who dares to approach her, and she will in turn devour him.