ScottisH MERMAIDS. 149 
The skipper, thinking he was being merely jeered at for his pains, 
became very angry, and ejaculated—“ Cheated, and by a mer- 
maid!’’ Only one of the crew of the “sixern ’’ paid any heed to 
the words of the mermaid. Accepting them literally, he 
“scoomed weel’’ his fish, with the result that he discovered 
among the “scoomings ’’ a valuable pearl, for which he obtained 
a sum that made the voyage a highly profitable one. 
Sometimes the good offices of the mermaid are to be pur- 
chased only at the cost of the performance of some feat of not a 
little difficulty. "Hugh Miller tells a story of the Cromarty dis- 
trict in which such a task is required. Like Proteus, in classical 
mythology, the mermaid in question exerted the power she 
possessed by virtue of her connection with the invisible world, 
only when compelled to do so. Should she fall into mortal 
hands and be overpowered, her release must be purchased by the 
granting of any three wishes her captor might frame, concern- 
ing either his own fortunes or those of his friends. It was 
seldom, however, the opportunity came the way of any man, for 
her strength was such she generally emerged victorious from the 
struggle, and succeeded as well in carrying her assailant with her 
into the sea. 
Early one morning John Reid, a young Cromarty ship- 
master, was strolling aimlessly along the shore thinking moodily 
how badly his suit was faring with Helen Stuart, and how poor 
was the prospect of its happy issue. Suddenly his steps were 
arrested by the low notes of the sweetest singing he had ever 
heard. After listening for a moment or two, he crept noiselessly 
forward, and on turning the corner of a cliff he saw the musician, 
“apparently a young girl, who seemed bathing among the waves, 
and who was now sitting half on the rock, half in the water. 
Her long yellow hair fell in luxuriant profusion on her snow 
shoulders, and as she raised herself higher on the cliff, the sun 
shone on the parts below her waist with such dazzling brightness 
that the sailor raised his hands to his eyes, and a shivered speck 
of light, like the reflection of a mirror, went dancing over the 
shaded roughnesses of the opposite precipice.’’ Then, realising 
that this was none other than the mermaid of whom he had heard 
so much, John dashed forward and seized her. Sturdy was her 
resistance, and a desperate struggle ensued; but eventually the 
mermaid had to yield. The price she offered for her freedom 
