Tradition / Region: Norse mythology, Greenlandic Mythology
Alternate Names: —
Category: Mermaid
The Myth
Sailors in the northern seas told of a strange being that appeared only when storms were near.
It was called the margyg.
Those who saw it said it rose from the sea like a woman from the waist up, but vast and unsettling in form. Its chest was heavy, its arms long, and its hair streamed down wet over its shoulders. Its head and neck resembled those of a human, yet its face was coarse and fearsome, with a wide mouth, heavy cheeks, and a low brow. Its hands were large, and the fingers were joined together by webbing like the feet of seabirds.
Below the waist, it was wholly a fish, covered in scales with fins and a powerful tail.
The margyg was said to appear rarely, and almost always before a great storm. Sailors would spot it rising above the waves, holding a fish in its hands.
If it swam toward a ship, tossing the fish toward the vessel or playing with them as it approached, the crew believed disaster was coming and feared they would not survive the storm.
But if the margyg ate the fish, or threw them away from the ship and turned aside, the sailors took heart. Though the storm might still strike, they believed they would live through it.
For this reason, the margyg was not merely a monster of the sea, but a sign — a creature whose brief appearance foretold the fate of those who sailed beneath the darkening sky.
Gallery
Sources
Bestiary.us contributors. (n.d.). Margjug. In Bestiary.us, from https://www.bestiary.us/margjug/
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
Other
- How to Invite The Margyg