Luxembourg Mermaid Mythology Archives

Tradition / Region: Luxembourg Mythology
Alternate Names: The Mermaid of the Weir; connected spirit known as the Schaffmännchen (Drowned Boatman)
Category: Mermaid

The Myth

Near the weir at Mörsdorf, people spoke of a water nymph who lived in the rushing water.

Long ago, a fisherman — called the Schaffmännchen, the Little Boatman — tried to pass the weir on a moonlit night after a successful catch. He had taken many large fish, especially trout, and as he forced his way upstream he drove his iron-tipped pole harshly into the riverbed, damaging the nymph’s dwelling beneath the water.

Angered by this, the water spirit rose up in fury and dragged the boatman down into the waves. He perished there in the current.

Since that time, people have often heard strange sounds near the weir at night. They say it is the drowned fisherman struggling with the foaming water, trying again and again to force his way through. Nothing can be seen, only the sound of his pole striking the river. The unseen boatman wanders the place through the night, and though he harms no one, he drives away those who come too near with shouts, threats, and curses.

Thus the spirit of the drowned boatman remains bound to the weir, and the water nymph still guards her dwelling beneath the rushing current.

Gallery

Sources

sagen.at contributors. (n.d.). Die Nixe und das Schaffmännchen. In sagen.at, from https://www.sagen.at/texte/sagen/luxemburg/Nixe_Schaffmaennchen.html

Interpretive Lenses

Religious Readings

Christian Ascetic Deep Dive

Philosophical Readings

Nietzschean Deep Dive

Psychological Readings

Jungian Deep Dive

Esoteric Deep Dive

Hermetic Deep Dive

Political / Social Readings

Marxist Deep Dive

Tradition / Region: Luxembourg Mythology
Alternate Names: Melusina, Melusine of Luxembourg, Water Nymph of the Alzette
Category: Mermaid, Shapeshifter, Nymph

The Myth

Long ago, Count Siegfried, a noble knight, became lost while hunting and came upon a deep valley where the Bock rock rises above the Alzette River. There he heard a wondrous song and saw a beautiful maiden seated upon the ruins of an ancient castle. She was Melusina, a water nymph of the valley. When she noticed him, she veiled her face and vanished with the setting sun.

The vision never left Siegfried’s mind, and he returned again and again to the valley. At last he met the maiden once more and confessed his love. Melusina agreed to marry him, on the condition that she would never be forced to leave the rock and that he must never seek her presence on Saturdays, when she wished to be alone. Siegfried swore to honor this oath.

To bring her home, he exchanged his lands for the barren Bock rock and, with supernatural help, built a great castle upon it. He married Melusina, and they lived happily together, and she bore him seven children. Yet each Saturday she withdrew to her chamber and locked herself away.

After many years, stirred by the suspicions of others, Siegfried resolved to learn her secret. One Saturday he crept to her door and looked through the keyhole. Inside he saw Melusina bathing in a wave-filled chamber, combing her long golden hair. But below her waist her body ended in a monstrous fishtail that lashed the water. With a cry of horror, he revealed himself. At once Melusina sank into the depths of the rock and was lost to him forever.

After her disappearance, a white figure was sometimes seen at night rocking her youngest child. It is said that Melusina still appears every seven years above the Bock rock in human form, begging to be freed. If no one rescues her, she cries out that not yet seven years have passed and sinks back into the stone.

Once, a soldier on night watch encountered her. She told him that to free her he must stand behind the altar in the Dominican church at midnight for nine consecutive nights. On the tenth night she would appear as a fiery serpent holding a key in her mouth, which he must take with his own mouth and throw into the Alzette River. Only then would she be redeemed and the ancient fortress rise again.

The soldier kept the vigil for eight nights but arrived late on the ninth. That night terrible roaring was heard around the Bock rock, and the chance of her redemption was lost.

Since then Melusina is said to circle the rock and cry out whenever danger threatens the city. Every seven years she is believed to make a single stitch on a mysterious garment she is weaving from flax that grows upon the bare rock. When the garment is finished, she will be freed — but it is said that the city itself will then fall into ruin.

And so Melusina remains bound beneath the Bock to this day, waiting for the one who will finally release her.