This book intrigued me when I pulled it off the new book shelf at our local library. I have to admit, I don't think I would have looked at it if it didn't have the black Penguin Classics spine.

It is a bit like reading Bulfinch's Mythology for Mermaids. It is interesting and I was surprised at how prevalent mermaid (and merman) tales are from ancient times to the present day (see Disney's Little Mermaid). Also, mermaid folklore, myth and legend is multi-cultural and can be found in the traditions of native peoples of all continents.

One that caught my eye was the Chines folktale of the Hai nü or sea women. In China these are creatures of folklore but the same word, borrowed into Korean became the name for the women divers of Jeju Island in South Korea, called the Hae Nyo (해녀).

This would have been a good resource for a paper in a Folklore & Mythology 101 course in college. An interesting read and I learned a few things along the way.

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I love the variety of mermaid stories and the breadth of cultures this collection draws upon, but I wish it had been a less overtly scholarly work. That is, I appreciated the efforts to contextualize these tales within their communities of origin; I didn't appreciate when the editors attempted to assert a specific meaning for a tale. Perhaps scholars of folklore do indeed abide by a rigid lexicon of symbolic interpretation—alas for that dismal reality, if so—but I find most of my enjoyment in stories like these arises from discovering my own interpretations, lessons, and truths. ( )

This is a collection of short myths, legends, fairytales and folktales from around the world that involve merfolk. The stories and their origins are interesting and entertaining. The book would make a nice addition to collections that contain fairytales by the Grimm Brothers, Hans Christian Andersen and Charles Perrault.

NOTE: There are no illustrations in the book. It is not a little children's book. ( )