The existence of this animal, half a woman and half a fish, has long been talked of, believed, disbelieved, and doubted. Homer is the first who speaks of such beings, which he styles Sirens; but we do not find that he gives any description of their shape; however, it was soon asserted that the Sirens were, as Horace, in his “Art of Poetry,” describes them:
“Above, a lovely maid; a fish below.”
The Sirens were three sisters, whose voice was so delightfully harmonious and enticing, that no resistance could be made against its powerful charms; but “ ’twas death to hear,” for they led the navigators and their ships to certain destruction among the rocks that bordered the dangerous coasts which they inhabited, near the shores of Italy.
The belief in the existence of Mermaids has been current at different periods; indeed, some years ago, several persons made depositions before a magistrate, that they had seen Mermaids come out of the sea and play on the rocks, but that they sprang into their element before they were able to secure them.
A creature, said to be a dried Mermaid, was exhibited in London about the year 1828; but it was afterwards discovered to be the body of a monkey artfully attached to the dried tail of a salmon.
THE KRAKEN.
This creature is another fabulous inhabitant of the sea. It is said to be three or four miles in breadth, and to live generally at the bottom of the sea, on the Norway coast. When it moves the commotion of the sea is so violent that it upsets boats and even small ships; and when it comes to the surface, it is generally mistaken for an island.
