Melusine Legendary Creature #1

Color enhancement of Melusine, a figure of European legends and folklore, a feminine spirit of fresh waters in sacred springs and rivers. Melusine is... more

by Photo Researchers

Title

Melusine Legendary Creature #1

Artist

Photo Researchers

Medium

Photograph

Description

Color enhancement of Melusine, a figure of European legends and folklore, a feminine spirit of fresh waters in sacred springs and rivers. Melusine is usually depicted as a woman who is a serpent or fish from the waist down (much like a mermaid). She is also sometimes illustrated with wings, two tails or both. The fairy, Melusine, was the daughter of the fairy Pressyne and King Elynas of Albany. One day, she met a man, Raymond of Poitiers, and spent the night talking, and by dawn, they were betrothed, but with one condition. Melusine requested that Raymond promise that he would never see her on a Saturday. She brought her husband great wealth and prosperity, but they had ten children, and each child was flawed. Raymond very suspicious about the Saturday activities of his wife. So the next Saturday, Raymond sought his wife, finding her in her bath where he spied on her through a crack in the door. He was horrified to see that she had the body and tail of a serpent from her waist down. He fled in horror, but later accused Melusine of contaminating his line with her serpent nature, thus revealing that he had broken his promise to her. Melusine turned into a fifteen-foot serpent, circled the castle three times, wailing piteously, and then flew away. She would return at night to visit her children, then vanish. Raymond was never happy again. This version of the story of Mesuline comes from Medieval France, 1394. Color

Uploaded

July 7th, 2014