136 THE KING'S MIRROR 



prodigy has, therefore, looked much like an icicle. No 

 one has ever observed it closely enough to determine 

 whether its body has scales like a fish or skin like a man. 

 Whenever the monster has shown itself, men have al- 

 ways been sure that a storm would follow. They have 

 also noted how it has turned when about to plunge into 

 the waves and in what direction it has fallen; if it has 

 turned toward the ship and has plunged in that direc- 

 tion, the sailors have felt sure that lives would be lost 

 on that ship; but whenever it has turned away from 

 the vessel and has plunged in that direction, they have 

 felt confident that their lives would be spared, even 

 though they should encounter rough waters and severe 

 storms. 



Another prodigy called mermaid * has also been seen 

 there. This appears to have the form of a woman from 

 the waist upward, for it has large nipples on its breast 

 like a woman, long hands and heavy hair, and its neck 

 and head are formed in every respect like those of a 

 human being. The monster is said to have large hands 

 and its fingers are not parted but bound together by a 

 web like that which joins the toes of water fowls. Below 

 the waist line it has the shape of a fish with scales and 



* The belief that mermaids lived in the Arctic waters was one that was long 

 held by European navigators. Henry Hudson reports that on his voyage into 

 the Arctic in 1608 (June 15) some of his men saw a mermaid. " This morning 

 one of our companie looking over boord saw a mermaid, and calling up some 

 of the companie to see her, one more came up and by that tune shee was come 

 close to the ships side, looking earnestly on the men: a little after a sea came 

 and overturned her: from the navill upward her backe and breasts were like 

 a womans, as they say that saw her; her body as big as one of us; her 

 skin very white, and long haire hanging downe behind of colour blacke: 

 in her going downe they saw her tayle, which was like the tayle of a porposse 

 and speckled like a macrell." Asher, Henry Hudson, 28. 



