Quoting poet Ogden Nash again
"Say not the mermaid is a myth
I knew one once named Mrs. Smith.
She stood while playing cards or knitting;
Mermaids are not equipped for sitting."
Not to be pugnacious, but aren't all mermaids "myths?" Otherwise they'd be mermen.
Anyway, I'd done a bit about these fabulous creatures of lore before, but it's worth a revisit! After all, they've been favorites for thousands of years, with any number of fine depictions-- like the marvelous one Glynis Johns did as the title character of "Miranda" in 1948!
You can catch that flick on YouTube, by the way, and I recommend you do. Kaki might tell you Glynis is really Mrs. Banks, the mom from "Mary Poppins." And that's not wrong. Funny thing is, "Mr. Banks," AKA David Tomlinson, is in "Miranda," too!
Now, someone told me once that the story of the mermaid began when some ancient sailors, far too long at sea, mistook a manatee for a half-woman, half-fish.
Jeezus, those guys weren't just horny, they were terminally inflamed,
Well, I don't think I believe that particular explanation. Denizens of Faerie are separate from the natural world, whatever Animal Planet might try to tell you late at night. .
Now, as to Mr. Nash's observation that mermaids have no hineys, that's been long argued, too!
Maybe one reason for this is not every guy is a Boob Man.
And a couple of us would like to solve the puzzle of how to spank a mermaid if she were indeed sans booty.
Some people have compromised, depicting mermaids with buttocks only when they take full human form, like Little Ronnie Howard had Daryll Hannah do in "Splash" --
and as the Disney folks did in "The Little Mermaid"
Hey, look, now she can get her can spanked!!
Live-action portrayals, naturally, will have available bottoms.
Here's a cartoon by Russian artist Sveta Shubina that Harry featured in
And here is a ship's sculpture posed just right!
Now I bid you adieu and hope I've entertained and inspired!
