The Mermaid
Published in The Cornish Song Book: Lyver Canow Kernewek, 1929 Ed. Ralph Dunstan
Dunstan’s notes: The mermaid, or “merry-maid,” has haunted the shores of old Comwall from time immemorial, and lured many a Cornish sailor and fisherman (“to whom the supersitions of mermen and mermaidens had the familiarity oa a creed) to a watery grave. The mermaids of St. Just, Zennor, St lvcs, Padstow and Seaton (near Looc) : the Mermaids’ Rock of the beautiful Cove of Lamorna: the story of the Old Man of Cury : the tale ol The Mermaid’s Vengeance (in the Parish of Perranzabuloe): are well known to every student of Cornish legend. The following song embodies many Cornish traditions, and several of the stanzas arc Cornish variants. Mr. J . C. Tregarthen, who is the greatest living authority on mermaids (seals, or “soils”), says that ” this is undoubtedly a song of Cornish origin, at any rate so far as the words are concerned”. (The Cornish Song Book: Lyver Canow Kernewek P66)
See
The Cornish Song Book: Lyver Canow Kernewek