Dangerous Mermaids
In the modern era, thanks in no small part to the highly influential The Little Mermaid, we are accustomed to the notion of mostly kindly mermaids. In times past, however, mermaid lore did not always depict those mythical creatures as benign. Even if they brought gifts, there was often a catch involved, and the gift’s recipient suffered some misfortune. In other lore, the mere sighting of a mermaid could be bad news, and herald things like storms, shipwrecks, and floods.
In medieval lore, mermaids followed in the template of ancient Greek sirens that seduced sailors to their doom with songs. They were often symbols of the dangerous temptations embodied by women, such as the Lorelei of the Rhine River, who lured mortals to their death by drowning. Other lore, such as that of Slavic rusalkas, has them seductively call out to young men, to entice them into the water in order to drown them. Some even pose as drowning women, in order to kill would-be chivalrous men who enter the water to rescue them.