Mermaid

Jiaoxiao

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Tradition: Chinese mythology
Alternative Names: Jingjing
Category: Mermaid

The Myth

The Jingjing is a supernatural creature from Chinese folklore associated with sharks. It is capable of transforming into either a beautiful woman or a man.

One account tells of a married couple who take in a woman claiming to have suffered abuse at the hands of her stepmother. The woman is not what she appears to be, however, for she is actually a supernatural spirit of a shark.

Sources

Wikipedia contributors. (n.d.). 鲛精 (Jiaojiang). In Chinese Wikipedia, from https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%B2%9B%E7%B2%BE

Mermaid of Zug

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Tradition: Swiss Mythology
Alternative Names: The Water Maiden of Zug
Category: Mermaid

The Myth

The Mermaid of Zug is a legendary water spirit associated with Lake Zug in Switzerland. According to local folklore, the Old Water King ruled a mysterious underwater kingdom and had a beautiful daughter who fell in love with the handsome son of Zug’s town clerk. Her father disapproved of their romance and forbade her from seeing the young man. When he noticed his daughter’s sadness, however, he agreed that she could marry her beloved if the young man came to live in his underwater realm.

The mermaid swam to the shore and called to the young man, who had also been longing to see her. She offered him a magical potion that allowed humans to survive beneath the water. He drank it willingly and followed her into the kingdom of Lake Zug, where they were married.

At first, the young man enjoyed his new life, but he eventually grew homesick for his parents, friends, and the town above the lake. Seeing his sorrow, the mermaid devised a way to return him to his former home. On a dark night in March, she poured her magical potion into the drinking water of the houses along Untergasse, a street in Zug’s old town.

On 4 March 1435, the street supposedly sank beneath the waters of Lake Zug. Yet, thanks to the mermaid’s magic, its inhabitants survived underwater rather than drowning. The young man was reunited with his family and neighbours, while the sunken settlement became part of the mysterious underwater world.

According to the legend, on Sundays when the lake is exceptionally clear, children may still glimpse the submerged town beneath the surface. Some also claim to hear festive music rising from the underwater kingdom of the Water King.

Sources

Sagen.at contributors. (n.d.). Seejungfer von Zug. In Sagen.at, from https://www.sagen.at/texte/sagen/schweiz/zug/seejungfer_zug.html

Terutouo

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Tradition: Japanese Mythology
Alternative Names: 照兜魚
Category: Mermaid

The Myth

Terutouo is a sacred carp associated with Akamatsu Pond on Mount Daisen in Izumo Province. According to a tale recorded by the British folklorist Richard Gordon Smith, the creature could take human form and lived as a young woman named Chiyoko.

In 1646, a kind-hearted man named Ōtani Jinai lived in Matsue with his wife, Oryō. The couple had been unable to have children for many years and prayed to various deities for help. After hearing that Ōgamiyama Shrine on Mount Daisen was renowned for granting the blessing of children, they climbed the mountain to pray. On their way home, thick fog suddenly surrounded them, and a beautiful young woman appeared to guide Jinai through the mist. Learning that the couple had prayed for a child, she gave them a bottle of sacred water. She explained that the water had been collected as dew from the grass around Akamatsu Pond and offered to Ōgamiyama Shrine on New Year’s Day. She promised that drinking it would grant them a child. Oryō drank the water and immediately felt light-headed, as though she had been drinking alcohol, while sensing that her wish would be fulfilled. When the couple looked again, the mysterious woman had vanished.

The following year, Oryō gave birth to a daughter named Chiyoko, also known as Ochiyo. She grew into a beautiful and intelligent young woman. When she was sixteen, a marriage was arranged between her and a young man named Tamaoki, who was Jinai’s nephew. Tamaoki welcomed the arrangement, but Chiyoko did not love him. Unable to bring herself to reject the match and disappoint her parents, she allowed the engagement to proceed.

Before the wedding, Chiyoko asked to visit Ōgamiyama Shrine to give thanks to the gods. Her parents agreed, and she travelled to the mountain accompanied by her nurse, Osuma. After praying at the shrine, the two began their descent and reached Akamatsu Pond, where Chiyoko’s parents had encountered the mysterious woman years earlier.

Chiyoko gazed across the water and approached the shore. As vapour rose from the pond, she turned to Osuma and thanked her before saying goodbye. She explained that although she had been born into the human world, her human appearance was only temporary. Her true identity was that of a carp living in the region, and her real home was the pond itself. Entrusting Osuma with a letter for her parents, Chiyoko plunged into the water and disappeared.

When Osuma cried out, asking to see her once more, a gigantic golden carp leapt from the pond in a spray of water. Its face was unmistakably Chiyoko’s. Overwhelmed, Osuma knelt and prayed to the creature.

After hearing Osuma’s account and reading Chiyoko’s letter, Jinai and Oryō were heartbroken. In her letter, Chiyoko expressed gratitude to her parents and explained that, as Terutouo, she was a carp and could not marry a human. She also told them that if they wished to see her again, they should call her name beside Akamatsu Pond.

Jinai recognised the story as connected to the sacred carp of Akamatsu Pond, whose existence he had heard about before. He concluded that the deity of Mount Daisen had granted him a child in the form of a carp. In response, he built a shrine dedicated to Terutouo and enshrined Chiyoko’s letter there.

Several days later, Jinai, Oryō, and their relatives visited the pond. Jinai called out “Terutouo!” three times. A tremendous sound rose from beneath the water, seemingly answering his summons, but Chiyoko never appeared. Tamaoki, whose marriage to Chiyoko could no longer take place, was adopted by Jinai and later devoted his life to Shinto.

From that time onward, visitors reportedly developed the custom of calling Terutouo’s name three times beside the pond. The shrine established by Jinai attracted young men and women seeking blessings for successful marriages. Around Mount Daisen, carp also came to be respectfully called Terutouo-san, and the name was reportedly extended to people of high rank and religious officials.

Richard Gordon Smith, who collected Japanese folktales during the Meiji period, included illustrations made by a Japanese artist alongside his account. These depicted a divine woman appearing from the pond and Terutouo as a carp with a human face.

Sources

Japanese folklore blog contributors. (n.d.). Terutou. In TYZ Yokai Blog, from https://tyz-yokai.blog.jp/archives/1077741621.html

Muir-òigh

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Tradition: Scottish Mythology
Alternative Names: Maighdean mhara
Category: Mermaid

The Myth

The Muir-òigh is a mermaid from Scottish Highland folklore, with the upper body of a woman and the lower body of a fish. She has long, dishevelled hair, which she combs while sitting on coastal rocks at night. She can sometimes remove the fish-like covering of her lower body. Anyone who finds and hides it can prevent her from returning to the sea.

A common Highland and Irish tale tells of a mermaid detained by a human for years, during which she marries him and bears his children. Eventually, one of the children finds her hidden covering and mentions the beautiful object to his mother. She retrieves it and escapes back to the sea.

Mermaids are also said to pursue ships and endanger sailors. To escape, sailors throw empty barrels overboard. While the mermaid investigates these unfamiliar objects, the ship can get away.

A man from Skye named Mac-Mhannain captured a mermaid and kept her for a year. During this time, she shared curious information with him. As they were about to part, he asked what virtue or danger lay in water used to boil eggs. She replied, “If I tell you that, you will have a tale to tell,” and disappeared without answering.

A man from Eilein Anabuich, a village in North Harris, caught a mermaid on a rock. To secure her release, she granted him three wishes. He became a skilled herbal doctor capable of treating scrofula, known as the king’s evil, and other diseases ordinarily considered incurable. He also gained the ability to prophesy, particularly concerning women’s futures, and received what he believed to be a remarkably fine singing voice. However, although he admired his own singing, other people found his voice neither beautiful nor tolerable.

Sources

MacKenzie, John. (n.d.). Muir-òigh. In Superstitions of the Highlands & Islands of Scotland

Marie-Morgane

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Tradition: French Mythology
Alternative Names: Morgane, Morganed, Morganezed
Category: Mermaid

The Myth

The Marie-Morgane are beautiful female water fairies who live beneath the sea along the coast of Brittany, particularly around the shores of Ouessant and Finistère. They are described as small men and women who inhabit a magnificent underwater kingdom ruled by a king whose palace is said to surpass anything found upon the land. The Marie-Morgane themselves are extraordinarily beautiful and sometimes come ashore at night to play upon the beaches beneath the moon. Their appearances are fleeting: at the slightest blink, they can vanish completely. Although naturally peaceful and benevolent, they are also capable of deceiving humans, appearing in seductive forms to lure men into the water and carry them away to their underwater realm.

The Marie-Morgane are particularly dangerous to young fishermen and sailors. They are said to pursue young men with their romantic attentions, and any man who gives in to their advances may be drawn beneath the waves and never return. They dwell especially near the Breton coast, around caves, river mouths, and other places where land and sea meet, and their underwater palaces can become eternal prisons for the lovers they abduct. In coastal communities, their presence could also explain a boat that failed to return: if relatives waited anxiously for fishermen who had not come home, people might say that a Marie-Morgane had held their vessel motionless offshore. Some Marie-Morgane were also believed capable of stirring up terrible storms, while others could calm the wind.

One of the most famous Marie-Morgane is Ahès-Dahut, the doomed daughter of King Gradlon. After the destruction and drowning of Ys, Dahut became a mermaid and remained beneath the sea, where she enchanted sailors and was associated with violent storms. According to the legend of Ys, Saint Guénolé once attempted to celebrate Mass for the drowned city after the waters had become calm. As he raised his chalice, the white torso of a girl with copper-colored hair rose from the sea, one arm reaching toward the heavens, while the rest of her body ended in a blue-scaled tail. It was Ahès-Dahut in her Marie-Morgane form. Guénolé’s hand trembled and the chalice fell onto the rocks, preventing the Mass from being completed and leaving Ys cursed. Whenever Dahut appears again, the sea is said to answer with a terrible storm. Another Breton tale tells of a mysterious girl discovered abandoned in a basket of reeds near Crozon. Raised by a noble couple, she repeatedly disappeared during the night and later vanished for weeks whenever a strange folgoat horse came to collect her. Eventually she never returned, and she was said to have gone to the cave of Crozon, where the Marie-Morgane were believed to dwell.

Sources

“Marie Morgane.” Wikipédia, l’encyclopédie libre (French Wikipedia). Wikimedia Foundation. Accessed October 4, 2026. https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Morgane

Kianda

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Tradition / Region: Angolan Mythology
Also Known As: Quianda
Category: Mermaid, Spirit

The Myth

Kianda is a powerful water spirit from Angolan folklore, associated with rivers, lagoons, and the underwater world. In many stories, Kianda appears as a supernatural being connected to hidden wealth, mysterious underwater cities, and dangerous encounters with humans.

One Angolan tale tells of a woman with two daughters who encountered a strange skull-like being that wished to marry one of the girls. The mother refused to give either daughter away. The younger daughter then secretly took ashes and covered the skull’s holes with them before throwing it into a lagoon.

The next morning, the waters had transformed, and the being beneath the surface had become Kianda. The spirit returned and demanded the younger daughter as his bride. He dragged her beneath the water into his underwater realm, where she was dressed in fine ornaments and necklaces. Whenever she returned from beneath the waters, she brought wealth, cloth, wine, and valuable goods back with her.

The woman eventually married Kianda and lived between the human world and the spirit world beneath the water. In the story, Kianda is portrayed as both dangerous and supernatural, yet also capable of granting riches and prosperity to those connected to him.

Sources

Chatelain, H. (1894). Folk-tales of Angola; fifty tales with Kimbundu text, liberal English translation, introduction, and notes. Boston: American Folk-lore Society.

Nhang

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Tradition / Region: Armenian Mythology
Alternate Names: —
Category: Water spirit, Demonic being

The Myth

The Nhang is a malevolent water spirit in Armenian mythology, associated with rivers and deep waters. Although the word originally meant “crocodile,” it came to refer to a supernatural being believed to inhabit certain waterways.

These spirits were said to dwell in specific rivers, including the Euphrates and the river Aragani, where they remained and caused harm. They were regarded as incorporeal beings rather than ordinary animals.

The Nhang could take different forms. At times it appeared as a woman in the water, resembling a mermaid-like figure. At other times it took the shape of a seal-like creature that attacked swimmers, seizing them by the feet and dragging them beneath the surface.

It was also said to prey on animals, feeding in a blood-drinking manner and leaving them dead afterward.

Its nature was not clearly defined in tradition, as some described it as a beast while others considered it a type of Dev.

Sources

Ananikian, M. H. (1925). Armenian Mythology. In The Mythology of All Races, Vol. 7. Published by the Archaeological Institute of America p. 89-90.

Mermaid of Mörsdorf Weir

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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

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Uto ni Yalo

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Tradition / Region: Fijian Mythology
Alternate Names: —
Category: Mermaid

The Myth

In the waters surrounding the islands of Fiji there dwells a powerful spirit known as Uto ni Yalo.

He lives in the depths of the ocean, where the tides rise and fall and the currents twist through reefs and channels. Some say he appears as a great sea serpent moving beneath the waves. Others say he rises in the form of a being like a mermaid, half human and half creature of the sea. However he shows himself, his presence is felt in the motion of the water itself.

Uto ni Yalo is said to command the tides and guide the currents. When the sea turns calm, fishermen say it is because he allows it. When the waters grow restless and dangerous, they believe it is his will moving through the ocean.

Sailors and fishermen call upon him before journeys, asking for safe passage across the reefs and open sea. Offerings and prayers are made so that he may guide their canoes, keep storms away, and lead them back to shore unharmed.

Thus Uto ni Yalo is remembered as a spirit of the ocean’s power—
a hidden ruler beneath the waves,
who moves the tides,
and whose favor can mean the difference between safe return and the sea’s depths.

Sources

mythicalencyclopedia.com contributors. (n.d.). Fiji mythical creatures. In mythicalencyclopedia.com, from https://mythicalencyclopedia.com/fiji-mythical-creatures/

Chuchedi

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Tradition / Region: Japanese Mythology
Alternate Names: Teuchedy, Tencheday, Tenchadema
Category: Mermaid

The Myth

In old accounts told by travelers to Japan, there was said to be a strange idol worshipped in the eastern lands, known as Chuchedi.

People from every rank of life came to its temple day and night, making offerings and prayers. The idol was feared as a powerful and dangerous spirit, one that demanded a terrible rite. Each month, it was said, the most beautiful maiden in the land would be chosen and brought to the temple.

She would be placed alone inside a private chamber and left there in silence. The doors were shut, and the girl waited through the darkness.

At some point in the night, Chuchedi itself was believed to appear. None saw how it came or what form it took in full, but the spirit would visit the girl and lie with her. When morning came, the spirit had vanished again, leaving behind strange fish-like scales as proof of its presence.

Another maiden would be chosen the following month, yet no one spoke openly about what became of the girls afterward. That remained a mystery whispered among the people.

It was also said that before the ritual, priests could ask Chuchedi questions, and the spirit would give answers to them, as though it possessed knowledge beyond human reach.

Thus Chuchedi was remembered as a hidden temple power—
a being that came in the night,
left scales behind,
and was served by fearful devotion from those who believed in it.

Sources

tyz-yokai.blog.jp contributors. (n.d.). Chuchedi. In tyz-yokai.blog.jp, from https://tyz-yokai.blog.jp/archives/1084115860.html