Coming Soon: Mermaid and Other Water Spirit Tales From Around the World

Mermaid and Other Water Spirit Tales From Around the World is coming soon, very soon. As you can guess from the title, it is packed with articles and tales and snippets about mermaids, sirens, nymphs, selkies, naiads, necks, etc. The focus is on mermaids, but it's often hard to distinguish between many of these and since they all fascinate, well, here they are.

The collection starts with nine articles which are primarily chapters from other books about mermaids and other water spirits. These articles are where the most varieties of water spirits are discussed. They cross country borders and many offer worldwide perspectives on water spirits. Some materials are repeated from article to article, such as the stories of Christopher Columbus and Henry Hudson's sightings of mermaids, or at least by their crews. The ancient myths of sirens and Atargatis are also to be found here.

Then we have the tales. Interspersed with these are more articles with limited, specific geographic regions, such as Scotland and Russia. The focus is on mermaids, but nixies, nymphs, necks, etc. make appearances, especially according to what is most common in various countries.

There was a wealth of material available and I still have enough for a second volume. If the response to this is strong enough, I may consider another. In all my research, I never found another book similar to this in breadth and width. I chose to stay mainly with mermaids, but there are water gods and the other water spirits, too. Pretty much if a country has water, it has had a water spirit or god to go with it. But since mermaids are the most popular, I wanted to offer the most about them and thus gave a large percentage of the space to tales from Scotland, Ireland and Scandinavia where our modern mermaid is primarily derived from although these were themselves influenced by ancient myths.

Finally, here's a table of contents for this 828 page tome:

Articles
 1. Melusina
from Curious Myths of the Middle Ages
by Sabine Baring-Gould
2. Fables and Facts
from Wonders of the Deep
by Maximilian Schele de Vere
3. A Chapter on Mermaids
by Lieutenant Charles R. Low, I.N.
4. Mermaids
from The Book of Days
edited by Robert Chambers
5. Mermaid Balladry
from Old Ballad Folk-Lore
by James Napier
6. Mermaids and Mermen
from Credulities Past and Present
by William Jones
7. The Mermaid
from Sea Fables Explained
by Henry Lee
8. Water Sprites and Mermaids
by Fletcher S. Bassett
9. Fictitious Creatures of the Sea
from Fictitious and Symbolic Creatures in Art
by John Vinycomb

Tales and Pieces
10. Mermen and Mermaids in Iceland Iceland
11. Then Laughed the Merman Iceland
12. Then the Merman Laughed Iceland
13. Sea-People, or Mermen and Mermaids in Shetland Shetland Islands
14. The Mermaid Wife Shetland Islands
15. Clark Colven: Child Ballad 42A United Kingdom
16. Clerk Colvill: Child Ballad 42B United Kingdom
17. Clerk Colvin: Child Ballad 42C United Kingdom
18. The Seamen’s Distress: Child Ballad 289A United Kingdom
19. The Stormy Winds Do Blow: Child Ballad 289B United Kingdom
20. The Mermaid: Child Ballad 289C United Kingdom
21. The Mermaid: Child Ballad 289D United Kingdom
22. The Bonnie Mermaid: Child Ballad 289E United Kingdom
23. Greenland: Child Ballad 289F United Kingdom
24. Scottish Mermaids
by R. J. Arnott Scotland
25. The Mermaid
by John Leyden Scotland
26. Orcadian Water Spirits Scotland
27. The Mermaid of Lochinver Scotland
28. A’ Mhaideann-mhara (The Mermaid) Scotland
29. Another Legend of the Mermaid Scotland
30. The Mermaid of Galloway
by Allan Cunningham Scotland
31. The Mermaid
by James Hogg Scotland
32. The Mermaiden
by Robert Allan Scotland
33. The Mermaiden
by William Motherwell Scotland
34. The Merrow-Maiden and Merrow-Man Ireland
35. The Overflowing of Lough Neagh and Liban the Mermaid Ireland
36. Liban, the Sea Woman Ireland
37. Water Spirits and Mer Folk of Connacht, Ireland Ireland
38. Children of the Mermaid Ireland
39. The Fisherman Who Had Seven Sons Ireland
40. Water Spirits and Mer-folk of County Clare Ireland
41. The Lady of Gollerus Ireland
42. Flory Cantillon’s Funeral Ireland
43. The Soul Cages Ireland
44. The Lord of Dunkerron Ireland
45. The Wonderful Tune Ireland
46. Donald and the Mermaid Ireland
47. White Cow, Red Cow, Black Cow Ireland
48. Two Legends from County Meath Ireland
49. The Captured Mermaid Isle of Man
50. The Mermaid’s Courtship Isle of Man
51. The Mermaid’s Revenge Isle of Man
52. Dwellings under the Sea Isle of Man
53. The Mermaid of Gob Ny Ooyl Isle of Man
54. Teeval, Princess of the Ocean Isle of Man
55. The City under Sea Isle of Man
56. Mermaids and Mermen in Wales Wales
57. Water Spirits in Shakespeare England
58. Sabrina Fair
by John Milton England
59. The Mermaid: A Ballad England
60. The Mermaid of Martin Meer England
61. Morva or Morveth (Sea-Daughters) England
62. Merrymaids and Merrymen England
63. The Mermaid of Padstow England
64. The Mermaid of Padstow
by Richard Garnett England
65. The Mermaid’s Rock England
66. The Mermaid of Seaton England
67. The Old Man of Cury England
68. The Mermaid’s Vengence England
69. The Mermaid of Zennor England
70. Lutey and the Mermaid England
71. The Mermaid’s Song
by Anne Hunter for Haydn England
72. The Mermaid of Margate
by Thomas Hood England
73. The Merman
by Alfred, Lord Tennyson England
74. The Mermaid
by Alfred, Lord Tennyson England
75. The Forsaken Merman
by Matthew Arnold England
76. The Neckan
by Matthew Arnold England
77. The Fisherman and His Soul
by Oscar Wilde England
78. The Mermaid (Windlass Song)
by Robert Buchanan England & Scotland
79. Mermaids Guernsey
80. The Entangled Mermaid Netherlands
81. The Merman and the Mermaid in the Faeröes Faroe Islands
82. The Mer-man, and Marstig’s Daughter Denmark
83. Rosmer Havmand Denmark
84. The Mermaid’s Prophecy Denmark
85. Agnete and the Merman
by Jens Baggesen Denmark
86. Agnes
by Adam Gottlob Oehlenschläger Denmark
87. The Little Mermaid
by Hans Christian Andersen Denmark
88. Hans, The Mermaid’s Son Denmark
89. The Merman and Mermaid in Norway Norway
90. The Fisher and the Merman Norway
91. Necks, Merman and Mermaids Sweden
92. The Power of the Harp Sweden
93. Duke Magnus and the Mermaid Sweden
94. The King’s Son and Messeria Sweden
95. The King’s Son and the Princess Singorra Sweden
96. The Sea Nymph Sweden
97. The Mermaid and the Boy Lapland (Sweden & Finland)
98. The Merman and the Calf Scandinavia
99. The Sea-Sprite Scandinavia
100. The Shepherd and the Sea-Folk Scandinavia
101. The Mermaid Estonia
102. The Lake-Dwellers Estonia
103. The Faithless Fisherman Estonia
104. Russian Water Spirits Russia
105. The Story of Tremsin, the Bird Zhar, and Nastasia, the Lovely Maid of the Sea Cossack (Russia & Ukraine)
106. The Fisherman Germany
107. The Water-Woman Germany
108. The Peasant and the Waterman Germany
109. The Water-Smith Germany
110. The Working Waterman Germany
111. The Nix Labour Germany
112. The Water Nix Germany
113. The Nixie of the Mill-Pond Germany
114. The Golden Mermaid Germany
115. Undine
by Friedrich de la Motte Fouque Germany
116. Slavonic Mermaids Slavonic Region
117. Lidushka and the Water Demon’s Wife Bohemia (Czech Republic)
118. The Good Ferryman and the Water Nymphs Poland
119. Mr. Cuttlefish’s Love Story Hungary
120. The Yellow Dwarf
by Madame d’Aulnoy France
121. Fortunio and the Siren Italy
122. An Impossible Enchantment Italy
123. The Adventures of Bulukiya Arabian Nights
124. Julnar the Sea-Born and her Son King Badr Basim of Persia Arabian Nights
125. Abdullah the Fisherman and Abdullah the Merman Arabian Nights
126. A Cairene Mermaid Egypt
127. Ayuh, The Nigerian Mermaid Nigeria
128. The Story of Tangalimlibo South Africa
129. Chinese Mermaids China
130. The Princess of the Tung-T’ing Lake China
131. Ningyo Japan
132. Toda, the Archer, and the Queen of the World under the Sea Japan
133. The Boy of Urashima Japan
134. How the Jelly-Fish Lost His Shell Japan
135. Lord Cuttle-Fish's Concert Japan
136. The Gamo-Gamo Philippines
137. The Shark-Man, Nanaue Hawaii, United States
138. The Mermaid of the Magdalenes Canada
139. A Mermaid in Newfoundland Canada
140. Sedna Canada
141. Aboo-dom-k’n and Lampeg-win-wuk United States
142. How Two Girls Were Changed to Water-Snakes, and of Two Others That Became Mermaids United States
143. Ne Hwas, the Mermaid United States
144. Mermaid of the Teton Tribe United States
145. The Takelma Mermaid United States
146. The Pascagoula River Mermaid United States
147. The Mermaid: Child Ballad 289 Vermont, United States
148. The Mermaid: Child Ballad 289 Massachusetts, United States
149. Shipwreck: Child Ballad 289 Missouri, United States
150. The Mermaid: Child Ballad 289 United States
151. Little Girl, Mama Glau, and Humming-Bird Trinidad
152. The Boy and the Mermaid Jamaica
153. Sea-Mahmy Jamaica
154. The Mermaid Jamaica
155. The Mermaid’s Lake Guyana
156. Water Mamma Guyana
157. Oiára, The Water-Maidens Brazil
158. Yara Brazil
159. The Story of the Yara Brazil
160. The Mermaid of the Gocta Cataracts Peru