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Lumberwoods
U N N A T U R A L   H I S T O R Y   M U S E U M
“  M E R M A I D   R E P O R T S  ”
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Merfolk of the Ocean Deep
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THE EVENING STAR — APRIL 09, 1892
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MERFOLK OF THE OCEAN DEEP.
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PEOPLE OF THE OCEAN ♢ Curious Beliefs Which Are Held About Mermen and Mermaids ♢ Stories Told of Them All Over the World—Seen by Early Navigators—Some Which Have Been Captured—Marriages Between Sea People and Human Beings—Water Sprites.
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    IN THE HEBRIDES SEA BEANS ARE supposed to be fairies’ eggs. Whether this is a correct belief or not it is certain that all peoples of the world living near the ocean have entertained faith that its waters were inhabited by human-like creatures more or less supernatural. Mermen and mermaids have figured in song and story from the most ancient times. Many of the accounts given respecting them are highly circumstantial. On one occasion a Shetland fishermen saw a group of mermaids dancing on the strand. He ran and picked up the seal-skin belonging to one of them before she could secure it. Then she was at his mercy and was obliged to marry him. One of her children found the sealskin subsequently and showed it to her. She immediately put it on and escaped into the water, being afterward seen by her husband in the form of a seal.
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MERMAIDS AS SEALS.
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    Mermaids have been said to commonly appear in the form of seals while in the water, divesting themselves of the skins when they come on shore and assuming the aspect of beautiful girls. Sometimes they are of an amiable disposition, while on other occasions they are extremely mischievous. In Russia they are disposed to tickle bathers X
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