In many popular books, films and cartoons, the mermaid is presented as a beautiful woman or young girl with a long fish tail instead of legs. However, in reality, such an image is far from the only option. In addition, it is largely contrary to ancient mythology.
Mermaids with legs and tails.
In Western European myths, mermaids were often represented as half-women, half-fish, who lured sailors into traps. They fascinated men and dragged them into the water. Later appeared more kind images of mermaids, which became popular thanks to the cinema.
Slavic mermaids and German Undins, on the contrary, were not half-fish. In many ways, they resembled ordinary girls, only with the difference that these creatures had very pale skin. According to some legends, young drowned women and dead unbaptized girls turned into mermaids. In fact, after the transformation, their appearance changed insignificantly and we are not talking about growing tail or scales in this case. There are even stories in which men confuse mermaids with ordinary bathing women and fall for the tricks of evil spirits. However, there are myths in which mermaids are described as creatures with mud instead of hair, green curls or other obvious external differences from ordinary women.
In the cultures of some settlements, including Belarusian villages, the image of the mermaid is mixed with the image of kikimory. In this case, the mermaid does not appear as a beautiful young girl, but as a woman with a disgusting flabby body, matted hair full of tangles, and saggy breasts. However, this is the exception rather than the rule.
