For the final week of May, we will look at the Irish mermaids - the merrows.
Where might you encounter a merrow?
Merrows are found in the seas and coastal areas around Ireland.
How to identify a merrow
Various descriptions of merrows suggest they may have long flowing green hair or greenish scales on their tails. Merrows are said to have webs between their fingers, as do their offspring - even those that are part-human, which may also sometimes be covered in scales.
The main distinguishing feature of a merrow, and what sets them apart from other merfolk, are their caps, the cohuleen druith. The caps have been variously described as red or made of feathers, although the latter may be due to a confusion around the purpose of the cap being similar to a swan maiden's feather cloak, in that it let a merrow return to their people and the sea in their mermaid form.
The cap lets a merrow swim beneath the sea - taking it off, they appear just like a human. There are some stories similar to selkie tales, in which humans have stolen the red cap of a merrow to force her to stay ashore with them as a bride. However, unlike the selkies, merrows are said to seek out and fall in love with sailors and fisherman. This is often a loving, consensual and committed relationship - although one that should be entered into with caution as the merrow will undoubtedly eventually return to the sea.
Merrow men
The male merrows are consistently described as hideous or ugly, with green skin, green teeth, a sharp red nose, pig-like eyes, and short arms like flippers. This description seems to have originated in the story of the Soul Cages (our story this week), and been repeated uncritically since. The lack of authenticity in this story (more on that later) should give us pause.
The ugliness of male merrows has also been given as a reason for merrow women seeking the company of human men, which, Edith suggests, sounds like a story designed to make humans feel better about themselves and to excuse the theft of merrow brides if none came willingly.
Edith recommends we take this description of the male merrow with a grain of salt.
Are merrows dangerous?
Merrows are known as jovial and friendly towards humans, although they can sometimes appear before storms, which should be taken as a warning to reach shelter.
Coomara the merrow with the soul cages.
story time
I must confess straight up that today’s story is likely not an authentic folktale. However, the tale is lovely, and its authenticity or otherwise makes for a fascinating story all on its own: a greedy folklorist who did not credit his sources; a story passed off as genuine Irish folklore but actually based on German folklore, which may have been written in revenge against the folklorist; correspondence and confessions to the brothers Grimm; and a claim that after publication (and too soon for the published story to have made its way into folklore) the author had in fact come across the story in Ireland.
For a detailed account of the controversy, have a look at this entry from Writing in the Margins.
The version of the story provided below is a much shortened version of that given by Katharine Briggs in her Encyclopedia of Fairies, which is by far the most charming version of the story I have come across.
THE SOUL CAGES
Jack Dogherty lived with his wife Biddy by the seashore near Ennis, and he wanted nothing more in his life than to see a merrow. His grandfather had been so friendly with a merrow that, if it wouldn’t have offended the priest, he’d have asked the merrow to be godfather to his children, and it galled Jack that he couldn’t even catch a glimpse of one.
One day Jack thought he spotted a merrow in the distance and from then on he hung around the merrow’s rock day in and day out until eventually one blowy day he got right up close to it. The merrow turned to him, rolling a friendly eye and said ‘Good day to you, Jack Dogherty, and how have you been keeping this while back?’
Jack was very surprised that the merrow knew his name, but the merrow said why wouldn’t he know Jack’s name, when he had been like a brother to Jack’s grandfather? And he went on at length about what a great man the grandfather had been, and praised his ability to drink in particular. Jack assured the merrow that he was his grandfather’s equal in that respect, and the merrow promised Jack that if he met him by the same rock the following Monday they would discuss it further, then dived into the sea.
The next Monday Jack was by the rock sure enough and there was the merrow, with his red cap on his head and another in his hands. Jack took some convincing to put on the cap, but when the merrow said that Jack’s grandfather had never hesitated to visit him in his underwater home, well, Jack could hardly let that stand. He put on the cap and dived into the water with the merrow, who drew him down deep until they landed on some soft sand, and there was air about them and water overhead with fish swimming in it.
The merrow made Jack a good dinner of all kinds of fish, and they had a good drink of all kinds of spirits, then the merrow - who told Jack his name was Coomara - took Jack to see his collection of curiosities that had dropped down out of the sea. What puzzled Jack most was a row of wicker baskets, a bit like lobster pots, and he asked Coomara what they were.
“Those,” replied the merrow, “are the soul cages, for the souls of the fishermen lost at sea. Whenever there is a storm above I sprinkle the cages about, and when the souls come down cold and frightened, having just lost their men, they creep in for warmth and then can’t get out again. And aren’t they just so lucky to have such a warm, dry place to stay?” Jack didn’t say a thing, but he thought he heard a little sob from one cage when Coomara spoke of their good luck.
When he got home Jack could not stop thinking about the poor souls. It was clear that Coomara meant well, so Jack didn’t like to ask the Priest for help and get Coomara into trouble. Eventually he settled on a plan - he would invite Coomara to his house, get him very drunk, then take his cap and nip down to free the souls before Coomara awoke.
The first attempt went poorly, for the merrow drank Jack under the table and very merry he was about it too. But the second time Jack invited him to drink some real Irish potcheen, which Coomara had not tried before - and Jack may have watered his own drink a little to help things along. Before long Coomara was snoring and Jack had whisked off his cap and was down to free the souls from their cages. Once the souls had slipped out - Jack saw nothing but a flicker of light and heard a sound like a faint whistle - he put the cages back just as he’d found them and swam up as fast as he could to his house where Coomara was still asleep.
After that, every time there was a big storm, Jack would contrive a way to go down and free any new souls that had been caught. And Coomara and Jack stayed good friends, for the merrow never noticed that the soul cages were empty.