The Merrow,
|
|
One day Dick Fitzgerald was at the shore on Smerwick harbor smoking his pipe and admiring the fine sunny morning. Dick was a rather lonely man. This problem could quickly be fixed if only he could find a good woman for a wife. He knew this to be fact. “For what in the wide world is a man without a wife”, he said to himself as he took the pipe from his mouth.
He was lost in his thoughts when he happened to see movement in the rocks. He saw a young beautiful creature combing her long shining sea green hair. Although he never saw one before he knew at once she was a Merrow. Not far from her he spotted her cohuleen driuth. This was the enchanted cap she wore so she could dive into the deep and stay down there. Dick knew if he gained possession of the cap she would lose the power to go into the sea. So he quietly slipped up behind her and grabbed the cap. Since she couldn’t go back in the water and Dick wouldn’t give back the cap, she agreed to marry him. This worked out quite well because Dick was looking for a wife anyway.
They had a happy marriage. She made a good wife even considering where she came from. They never lacked for money; because she could have all the gold they needed brought up to her from the ocean floor. They had two boys and a girl.
One day when Dick was off to Tralee for the day, she was at home doing the cleaning. A fishing net fell from the shelf and when it opened she found her cohuleen driuth. She stared at it for a minute then picked it up and put it on. She couldn’t resist the urge to return to the sea. With a tear in her eye she kissed her children good-bye. She walked back to the shore and slipped into the water never to be seen by Dick or the children again.
Sometimes instead of living on land the Merrow will pull the men they love down into the depths to live with them. Never to be seen by their friends again.
Flory Cantillion's Funeral
Some families in Ireland believe they are descendants of such marriages like the one in the above story. This was true of the Cantilllon family. An island in Ballyheigh Bay was the burial place of the family. Their burial custom was to leave the coffin on the shore near the waters edge. It was believed that the Merrow would come and take the deceased back to their family tomb under the sea.
Connor Crowe was by marriage related to the Cantillon family. Upon hearing of the death of Flory Cantillon he made sure to be at the wake. He wanted to see for himself how the coffin actually disappeared from the shore. It’s said Flory made a beautiful corpse and was laid out in high style. All at the wake had a high time. There was much in the way of entertainment. Three girls even found husbands there.
Finally the time had come to leave the coffin on the Ballyheigh strand. The mourners all left except for Connor Crowe. He pulled out his bottle of whiskey and took a sip. He was in mourning after all. You can’t deny a man his comfort. Then he hid himself under an over hanging rock to watch over the coffin.
It was past midnight and the moon was just setting into the sea, when Connor heard voices. It was the keening of a group of Merrow for Flory. But they didn’t like the task of taking these mortals to their family tomb. They had a prophecy that if a moral ever saw them performing this task and heard them keening, this task would then come to an end.
That’s when one of them spotted Connor. When they all looked over at him he just froze on the spot. He could not move. But the sea fairies rejoiced. They knew the prophecy had come to pass and this would be the last Cantillon corpse they would ever have to take. And to this day Flory Cantillon was the last that ever was.
The Stormy Sea
|
A young lad and six others were fishing a distance from shore. Suddenly the wind picked up and the sea turned rough. A huge wave came at toward them and was about to break over the boat. The young lad took off a boot and threw it into the wave and it washed around them safely. A short time later another wave came at them. So the lad took off his other boot and threw this into the wave too. Again it flowed safely around them. The third and largest wave came at the boat and all aboard thought they were lost for sure. The young lad pulled a straight razor from his pocket unfolded it and threw it into the center of the wave. With that the wind stopped and the seas calmed like that of a lake. All made it to shore and then on to their homes safely.
Later that night a strange rider came to the young lads house. He said he needed the lads help in pulling a knife from his sister’s side. The lad agreed to go with the rider. When he saw the Merrow she was in bad shape with the lads razor stuck in her side. She asked him to pull it out. He said he would only on the condition that the sea fairies never bother him or his people on land or on sea again. She agreed so he pulled out the razor.
When she looked like she felt better he asked her why she tried to kill them in the storm. She said she fell in love with him and wanted him all to herself. She didn’t care if the others were all killed as long as she had him. With that he left for home.
To this day he and none of his people were ever bothered by the Merrow again.
Ok, this page is long enough. I can’t help myself sometimes. There are a lot of good Irish stories out there and I tend to go on and on with them. I’ll put a stop to this Merrow page right here and now.
Top of The Merrow page.
Back to The Irish Fairies page.
