My Little Manatee - Behind The Myth Of Mermaids
Of all the mythical creatures from the numerous folk tales, mermaids are arguably one of the most popular. The legends of alluring, half-human/half-fish creatures has captured the imaginations of many artists/writers out there (not forgetting the film with Cher). Mermaids have been portrayed in many versions over the years, whether they be the innocent, child friendly (like Disney’s The Little Mermaid) or occasionally a most disturbing, monstrous look (like in the recent Pirates of the Caribbean film or H.P Lovecraft’s Deep Ones). But usually they are portrayed as a seductive, almost perfectly formed female capable of seducing any man. Just type “mermaid” into Deviant art and you’ll see what I mean.
Mermaids have many symbolic meanings to different people. For me, a mermaid has always kinda symbolised forbidden love, given the myth that mermaids often dragged men to their underwater lair and drowned them. This doesn’t always mean that mermaids were malicious creatures (although some myths depicted them as so), they just didn’t understand that humans couldn’t breathe underwater. Either way, mermaids are often shown as a sign of beauty and sometimes perfection of the human body – so they are usually portrayed in a sexual kinda way. I also think that these are one of the few mythological creatures to appear in almost EVERY Fantasy story ever written (although I deliberately avoid using any like this in my story).
Now, there is not one real way to determine where the myth of the mermaid first started, given that they are often put in the same category as sirens and undines, etc. But what would you say if I told you THIS creature was one of the main inspirations behind the mermaid myths?
Yup. This creature, the manatee (also known as the sea cow) is the inspiration behind the myth of folklore’s most beloved creatures.
Actually, this might not be news to many of you and I think it this connection is pretty much common knowledge, at least to the best of my knowhow. But this is something I myself have only just discovered. Ironically, it was during an episode of The Simpson’s where I discovered this, in the episode of Marge becoming friends with a manatee lover. It was here that my dad commented about how they inspired the myths of mermaids. To be honest, my first reaction was “Really? How could THAT inspire a mermaid?”
Once I got over that initial surprise, I actually did a little bit of research on this (and by that I mean numerous wiki pages and some DA pages – what? That counts as research doesn’t it?) and began to understand why these creatures could have been mistaken for mermaids.
From what I understand, mermaids (like any sea based creature) started off as sailor stories. If you think about it, sailors would often spend months (sometimes years) at sea, travelling the world and often at the mercy of the elements – and isolated from land. It was not uncommon that many sailors would come down with some kind of fever or would go mad from the isolation. Not to mention they were often off their heads on alcohol (or was that just pirates?) so this obviously affected their mental state. It was also known that sailors often spent most of their time at sea so they – er, how can one put this without sounding chauvinistic – didn’t get much “action” with the ladies, hence why they were always rather abrupt and rude with women. Given all this, it’s possible that a sailor (either mad with fever or off his head) saw a manatee and mistook it for some kind of sea female.
Looking at the picture above, I can’t exactly blame them for thinking this – after all, the creature is vaguely human shaped (albeit a very large shape) and if you look at their tail it does have a kind of fish like shape. Also, let’s not forget that I mentioned the sailors mind was addled by either drink or fever. Generally, when you’re under these conditions, your senses are often not under your control and in some cases run on a kind of “instinct”. As most sailors were often starved for female attention, I guess it only makes sense that their hallucination would be a thing of beauty. However, given that manatees are generally gentle creatures, I can’t see how the “dragging men to their death” myth came about. Perhaps some sailors were just so taken with fever that they jumped in after the manatee and ended up drowning.
It seems strange that something so bizarre could inspire a myth – but then, as is always the way of stories, details can sometimes get overlooked and changed over the course of a few (or several hundred) years. After all, would you believe me if I told you that the unicorn is actually based off a type of extinct rhinoceros?
Maybe mermaids were created as a kind of warning to sailors so that they could keep their eyes on their journey and the manatee just happened to be the right kind of animal to use as a template. Or, maybe a more likely reason, something to help satisfy their lust during the long journeys at sea. After all, we humans are obsessed with sex and if you look at a lot of mythological creatures, there is usually some kind of hidden sexual subtext behind it. Still, mermaids have played a very important part of human culture for many years and some places in the world have it as their coat of arms (the city of Warsaw for instance). Regardless of their background, mermaids are, and will continue to be, a very popular folklore, especially around Fantasy authors and artists.
And not to leave the poor manatee out, I will say that, yes, I think this creature is kinda adorable in its own way. Sad that I found out that these creatures are often hunted and killed in the sea. Thankfully there are many organisations and charities that are helping these poor creatures out, so it’s nice to know that people do care about them.
Comments? Suggestions? Please leave a comment below if you enjoyed reading this or if you want to add anything to it. Have a great weekend peeps!
Pandragon
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All the above pictures were taken from Wikipedia and are copyright of their respective owners.
