Goldberry is a character from the works of the author J. R. R. Tolkien. She first appeared in print in a 1934 poem, The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, where she appears as the wife of Tom Bombadil. Also known as the "River-woman's daughter", she is described as a beautiful, youthful woman with golden hair. She is best known from her appearance as a supporting character in Tolkien's high fantasy epic The Lord of the Rings, first published in 1954 and 1955.
In folklore, a mermaid is an aquatic creature with the head and upper body of a female human and the tail of a fish. Mermaids appear in the folklore of many cultures worldwide, including Europe, Asia, and Africa.
Jodi Marie Benson is an American actress and singer. She is best known for providing the voice of Ariel in Disney's 1989 animated film The Little Mermaid and throughout other films, including its sequel, prequel, and television series spin-off, as well as many other Disney works going up to the present day of the 2020s. Benson also filled in for Paige O'Hara as the voice of Belle in House of Mouse and voiced the character Barbie in the second and third films of the Toy Story franchise (1999–2010), and in the Toy Story Toons short Hawaiian Vacation (2011). For her contributions to Disney, Benson was named a Disney Legend in 2011.
Mélusine or Melusina is a figure of European folklore, a female spirit of fresh water in a holy well or river. She is usually depicted as a woman who is a serpent or fish from the waist down. She is also sometimes illustrated with wings, two tails, or both. Her legends are especially connected with the northern and western areas of France, Luxembourg, and the Low Countries.
The Nixie, Nixy, Nix, Näcken, Nicor, Nøkk, or Nøkken are humanoid, and often shapeshifting water spirits in Germanic mythology and folklore.
Kinder Scout is a moorland plateau and national nature reserve in the Dark Peak of the Derbyshire Peak District in England. Part of the moor, at 636 metres (2,087 ft) above sea level, is the highest point in the Peak District, in Derbyshire and the East Midlands; in an early text this summit was identified as the Peak, and the whole area is often referred to locally as The Peak or The Peaks. In excellent weather conditions, the city of Manchester and the Greater Manchester conurbation can be seen from the western edges, as well as Winter Hill near Bolton and the mountains of Snowdonia in North Wales.
Mermen, the male counterparts of the mythical female mermaids, are legendary creatures which are human from the waist up and fish-like from the waist down, but may assume normal human shape. Sometimes they are described as hideous and other times as handsome.
Merrow is a mermaid or merman in Irish folklore. The term is of Hiberno-English origin.
Saint Winifred was a Welsh virgin martyr of the 7th century. Her story was celebrated as early as the 8th century, but became popular in England in the 12th, when her hagiography was first written down.
Selkies are mythological creatures that can shapeshift between seal and human forms by removing or putting on their seal skin. They feature prominently in the oral traditions and mythology of various cultures, especially those of Celtic and Norse origin. The term “selkie” derives from the Scots word for “seal”, and is also spelled as silkies, sylkies, or selchies. Selkies are sometimes referred to as selkie folk, meaning 'seal folk'. Selkies are mainly associated with the Northern Isles of Scotland, where they are said to live as seals in the sea but shed their skin to become human on land.
Mami Wata is a water spirit venerated in West, Central, and Southern Africa and in the Afro-American diaspora. Mami Wata spirits are usually female but are sometimes male.
The each-uisge is a water spirit in Scottish folklore, known as the each-uisce in Ireland and cabbyl-ushtey on the Isle of Man. It usually takes the form of a horse, and is similar to the kelpie but far more vicious.
The Mermaid is a ballad, catalogued as Child Ballad #289, Roud 124. Dating to around the mid-18th century, this song is known by a number of names, including Waves on the Sea, The Stormy Winds and The Wrecked Ship.
Glashtyn is a legendary creature from Manx folklore.
Million Dollar Mermaid is a 1952 American biographical drama film about the life of Australian swimming star Annette Kellerman. It was directed by Mervyn LeRoy and produced by Arthur Hornblow Jr. from a screenplay by Everett Freeman. The music score was by Adolph Deutsch, the cinematography by George Folsey and the choreography by Busby Berkeley.
Mermaids, like many other creatures of mythology and folklore, are regularly depicted in literature, film, music, and popular culture. In the folklore of some modern cultures, the concept of the siren has been assimilated to that of the mermaid. For example, the French word for mermaid is sirène, Italian sirena, and similarly in certain other European languages. This usage existed by the Middle Ages.
John Reinhard Weguelin was an English painter and illustrator, active from 1877 to after 1910. He specialized in figurative paintings with lush backgrounds, typically landscapes or garden scenes. Weguelin emulated the neo-classical style of Edward Poynter and Lawrence Alma-Tadema, painting subjects inspired by classical antiquity and mythology. He depicted scenes of everyday life in ancient Greece and Rome, as well as mythological subjects, with an emphasis on pastoral scenes. Weguelin also drew on folklore for inspiration, and painted numerous images of nymphs and mermaids.
The Mermaid of Zennor is a popular Cornish folk tale that was first recorded by the Cornish folklorist William Bottrell in 1873. The legend has inspired works of poetry, literature and art.
The Sip 'n Dip Lounge is a tiki bar in Great Falls, Montana, US, opened in 1962, when Polynesian themes were popular. It has survived to the present day with its tiki theme intact. Located inside a local motel that was considered modern and trendy at the time it was built, the Sip 'n Dip is known for having people dressed as mermaids swimming underwater in an indoor swimming pool visible through a window in the bar. Decorated with a bamboo ceiling and a South Seas theme, the bar featured "Piano Pat" Spoonheim, noted for her unique "jazzy" style, who played piano there from 1963 until her death in May 2021.
"Nothing in the Rules" is a contemporary fantasy story by American writer L. Sprague de Camp.
