Traditional Description Of Merrows In His Tales example essay topic

Thomas Crofton Croker is well known for being the first to collect Irish folklore. His initial compilation of folktales is entitled Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland, which appeared in 1923. The book includes stories of changelings, banshees, merrows, and more. The merrow is a type of water fairy that is allegedly common in Ireland. Croker uses the traditional description of merrows in his tales, although he bypasses the negative Irish opinion of them and focuses only on good aspects. Croker also ties in a common theme of religion in his stories, playing off of the concept that merrows, because they are fairies, are not allowed to enter the church.

Three prominent Croker tales are The Lady of Gollerus, The Wonderful Tune, and The Soul Cages, all of which occur in Ireland and are based on the idea of the merrow. The last of these stories is rare because it discusses the less common male merrow. Female merrows are said to be beautiful and very wealthy, whereas the males, are depicted as somewhat grotesque. It is no wonder that female merrows are often linked with human males. This is a concept that is used in the stories The Lady of Gollerus and The Wonderful Tune. Croker describes both the female merrows in these stories with similar descriptions while using similes.

In both tales he describes them as beautiful and young. In The Lady of Gollerus, Croker describes the hair of the merrow as "a sea-green colour" and with "the salt water shining on it, appeared, in the morning light, like melted butter upon cabbage". He also describes the merrow in A Wonderful Tune's hair as sea green, but he furthers the imagery in detail. Croker goes on to say that "her teeth were like rows of pearl; her lips for all the world looked like red coral; and she had an elegant gown, as white as the foam of the wave, with rows of purple and red sea weeds settled upon it".

In The Soul Cages, which focuses on a male merrow, Croker suggests that its hair is green as well. The male is portrayed as "a thing" with " long green teeth, a red nose, and pig's eyes". Its body, unlike the human shape of its female counterpart, has "a fish's tail, legs with scales on them, and short arms like fins". Green hair, surprisingly, is not the only common characteristic between the male and female merrows. Croker incorporates the traditional idea of the cohuleen driuth into all three of these stories.

The cohuleen driuth is a cap, presumably red, that the merrows must wear in order to dive into the ocean. Without it they cannot return to their ocean homes. In The Lady Gollerus, the main character, Dick Fitzgerald, knows about this magical cap and when he stumbles into a merrow sitting upon a rock in the ocean, he sneaks up and steals it. In doing this he has complete power over her and asks her to be his wife. They were married for years and had children. Although she was very happy with him, as soon as she found her cohuleen driuth hidden in their home she returns to the ocean.

The other stories refer to the cohuleen driuth as a "cocked hat" that the merrows have. It is this hat that allows the main character in The Soul Cages to visit the male merrow's home under the water. It has been said that merrows are trouble and that the Irish wish never to see one. If a human male happens to marry a merrow, they will be cold and distant wives. They are also known to be a sign of coming gales and are looked upon as messengers of death or doom. Despite this common idea, Croker never speaks a bad word of the merrow.

In the story of The Lady of Gollerus, after Dick Fitzgerald married the merrow, Croker speaks of their union. Unlike the cold traditional merrow wife, Croker say that she "made the best of wives, an they lived together in the greatest contentment". In The Soul Cages, the main character Jack Dougherty befriended a male merrow. The merrow, named Coomara, treated Jack to a wonderful dinner and good company. Even after he found Coomara's soul cages, which are described as lobster pots containing the souls of drowned sailors, Jack still did not think badly of him. Croker speaks of Jacks regard for Coomara by saying he "was a good sort of an old fellow, and did not think he was doing any harm".

Furthermore, it is mentioned that Jack had always thought that luck came out of association with merrows. Their friendship lasted for several years until Coomara mysteriously disappeared. Religion is mentioned throughout these three Croker tales. In A Wonderful Tune, the main character Maurice Connor is about to leave his terrestrial life for one under the sea with a merrow. His mother is watching him head toward the ocean as she calls for him to come back to her, saying she's the woman "who reared you like a good Christian".

She believes this union is an unnatural thing and calls to the Lord for help. This is reminiscent of Croker's tale The Lady of Gollerus. When Dick Fitzgerald and the merrow go to Father Fitzgibbon to be wed, he refuses to do the job. In refusing, he tells Dick to "send the scaly creature home to her own people".

The Father thought it unlawful to marry a fish and continued to protest the marriage until Dick mentioned her wealth. A bribe to Father Fitzgibbon is all it took to get him to perform the ceremony. In The Soul Cages, Croker discusses what Jack thinks of these sea creatures prior to meeting one. Along with being lucky, Jack has heard that they are "mighty like Christians". After Jack finds out that Coomara is drinker, he says he's "often heard of Christians drinking like fishes", implying that possibly that saying came from merrows. Jack and his wife Biddy are mentioned a few times to be religious people.

Jack set his wife out on a "soul-saving" mission in order to get her out of the house for a few days, which she agrees is necessary. Additionally, Croker includes his characters calling for the Lord's help, which was mentioned earlier, in each of these stories. T.C. Croker, who is well known for his fairy stories, has taken a conventional Irish creature and made it something less feared. He uses the Irish language to discuss the hat these merrows wear, customarily called the cohuleen driuth. As other Irish writers, he uses extended similes to give a clear description of the merrows.

He ties in religion, which is very important to Ireland's history, and makes all of his characters God-fearing people. Croker does an excellent job discussing these merrows using traditional aspects of Irish culture.