Rebecca Loudon pointed out that the mermaid holding her tail(s) over in Hobart is related to the Starbucks mermaid; and a Facebook friend recognizes the sword-brandishing mermaid as the nobel fish-tailed woman in the Warsaw coat-of-arms... I wonder if any of you has a story to tell about the other two? (This is a bit of a high-speed chase; I've just got home, Tuesday is only an hour away and I'm not sure yet which - or whose - poem I'll be posting in the morning!)
fyi. . .
Syrenka folk band, Sydney, Aus.
A Polish syrenka is synonymous with a siren.
". . . The Coat of Arms of Warsaw consists of a syrenka ("little mermaid") in a red field. Polish syrenkais cognate with siren, but she is more properly a fresh-water mermaid called “Melusina.” This imagery has been in use since at least the mid-14th century.[1] The syrenka has traditionally held a silver sword although this does not appear on more recent versions.
Wow! Oh Claire I can't help your investigations, but my daughter is a mermaid (this is what she told her friends solemnly until she was 9 or 10.) She had to be very careful when she had a bath to add a bit of salt. Anyway, I will show her your post and any follow-ups, she'll be very interested.
ReplyDeleteDear Mary - how wonderful that your daughter is a mermaid! And how appropriate given 'Blue' and your understanding of salt water. You two must have a special affinity... L, C x
ReplyDeleteMary, I love that your daughter was a mermaid. I was a pirate and I too was careful to have a sword nearby at all times.
ReplyDeleteA story in the Penguin Dictionary of symbols has Melusine marrying Raimondin on the condition he never looks at her on Saturdays. Shades of Psyche with Eros, he bores a hole in the bathroom wall: half woman, half serpent. "R was overwhelmed with grief while M, her secret revealed, flew off, proclaiming her distress from the top of the castle keep in frightful screams." Hmph, fair enough. A girl needs those little moments all to herself...
ReplyDeleteHi, Claire! Since you ask:
ReplyDeleteThe winged woman is a harpy. I'm pretty sure this one is copied from the coat of arms of the city of Nurenberg--it's done in a very Germanic style.
Ah, Pen --- what anexcellentstory this is! I'd not heard it before - at least, not in quite this shape 0 but the sentiments expressed are all too familiar! Thanks ; )
ReplyDeleteAndrea, there's good reason you are a researcher by profession! Thanks for this new bit of info. So, she's a harpy from Nurenberg? I'll have to go and seek her out. The only mer that's left with an unknown past is the one with the petal skirt. She looks the freest, the least encumbered of the four, wouldn't you agree?
ReplyDeleteRebecca - a girl needs a sword and breastplate... now, as then? L, C x
ReplyDelete