144 ScoTtTisH MERMAIDS. 
popular legend. Unfortunately for those mortals whose lot it 
has been to make the acquaintance of these sea-maidens, they are 
seldom content that 
‘« All the mermen under the sea 
Should feel their immortality 
Die in their hearts for the love of me.’’ 
More usually their song is that of the syrens of old— 
‘‘ Mariner, mariner, furl your sails, 
Come hither to me and to me: 
O hither, come hither, and be our lords, 
For merry brides are we: 
We will kiss sweet kisses and speak sweet words: 
O listen, listen, your eyes shall glisten 
When the sharp clear twang of the golden chords 
Runs up the ridged sea. 
Who can light on so happy a shore 
All the world o’er, all the world o’er? 
Whither away? listen and stay: mariner, mariner, fly no more.’’ 
But it is little wonder that the mariners “ whisper to each other 
half in fear ’’ when they hear that “shrill music.’’ For while by 
reason of their partly human form these ocean dwellers are fated 
to seek intercourse with mortal men and women, it is seldom to 
the advantage of the latter that this should happen. Even where 
there appears to be love for love’s sake, it never lasts. A mer- 
maid may become the wife of a human being and make her home 
with him on land, but sooner or later the time comes when she 
cannot resist the temptation to return to her native element. 
And where a mortal is induced to consent to marriage with one of 
the sea-folk something generally happens after a while to sunder 
what may have proved to be a happy enough union. Such is, 
for instance, the case pictured in Matthew Arnold’s beautiful 
poem, “ The Forsaken Merman,”’’ with its haunting refrain :— 
‘Here came a mortal, 
But faithless was she! 
And alone dwell for ever 
The kings of the sea ’”’— 
where “the sound of a far-off bell ’’ at Easter-time is sufficient to 
bring about the return of the wife and mother to her kinsfolk. 
Occasionally the mermaid will use her supernatural influence 
for the protection or the advantage of a human being ; but more 
generally her appearance or intervention forebodes some impend- 
