Mermaids By: Jasmine
Table of contents Legends & Stories.........Page 1 Appearance...................Page 3 Sightings.........................Page 5 Glossary..........................Page 7 About the author.........Page 8
Legend and Stories
This is what a siren looks like. Mermaids have been known to seduce sailors. They like to comb their long hair. In paintings they are often shown holding a comb and singing on rocks. According to some legends they like to sit on rocks and lure sailors to destruction. But that may have gotten mermaids mixed up with the Greek mythical creature, Sirens, who charm sailors and and young men towards them. Mermaids are often confused with other sea temptresses.
There are a lot of tales and stories about mermaids. In Slavic myths, mermaids are women who drown, so they have sad eyes but pretty features. They hypnotize young men into the bottom of the lake or ocean to live with them. Hans Christian Andersen also wrote a story called The Little Mermaid in 1836. Some tales may be true but some may not be.
Appearance
Some people think this is what a mermaid looks like.
A mermaid’s appearance is very similar to a woman. A mermaid is half woman half fish, they have long hair running down their back, most of the time it is golden. Their tail looks like a dolphin’s tail except with scales. If you see a mermaid you’ll definitely recognize it.
The word mermaid really matches with their appearance. The word mermaids can be split into to two parts, mer and maids. Mer means sea and maid means girl so mermaid is like ‘Sea girl’. Merman is like ‘Sea man’. You can tell what a mermaid looks like by just listening to the name.
There are three types of animals that people mistake mermaids for: dugongs, manatees, and sea cows ( who are now already extinct )
Sightings
Kiryat Yam is the only place in the world who will reward a million dollars of a sighting that has been captured on video. Sometimes there is a mermaid that appears at sunset, one of the first people to see it was Shlomo Cohen; he saw a woman lying on the sand in a weird way, he thought it was just a sunbather but when he got close the woman jumped in the water and he saw that she had a tail. Maybe soon a lot of places will have rewards for mermaid sightings.
Mermaid sighting link: http:// www.animalplanet.com/ tv-shows/mermaids/ videos/mermaid-sightingin-kiryat-yam.htm
In some places people claim to have found mermaid fossils. About 30 percent of a weird human like creature was found in a dead great white sharks body in Southern Africa. After it was examined they found hands and a human like skull, and a stingray barb next to the mermaid was said to be a mermaid weapon. Some fossils can be man made or photo shopped, but others may be real.
Stingray barb
Glossary Seduce: Attracting someone to do something foolish. Lure: To tempt a someone or something. Temptresses: A woman or girl who tempts people. Slavic: Related to the IndoEuropean. Hypnotize: Putting someone into a trance. Kiryat Yam: A place in Israel.
Jasmine Hung was born in Shanghai, China, with the nationality of Taiwan. Her hobbies are dancing, singing, reading, and designing clothes. Jasmine’s future dream is to have her own fashion line showing in Milan or Paris. Right now she lives with her parents, sister, and her dog Jenny. To find out more information please go to her blog.
Interesting descriptions, and cool pictures. Great book! - Julie
This book includes amazing graphics, interesting facts that many of us has never knew, and detailed information. This is a truly amazing book. - Amelia
Have you ever wondered if mermaids existed? Did you know that Columbus thought he saw mermaids? Read this book to find out all about mermaid legends, sightings, and much more.
Amazing pictures! _ Mr. Curran