title: A Treasury of Mermaids: Mermaid Tales from Around the World
author:  Shirley Climo 
description: Grade 4-7. Climo has selected eight highly readable folktales from countries as far apart as Iceland and New Zealand and from cultures as diverse as Scotland and Japan. She includes both the familiar, such as "Odysseus and the Sirens," and the unusual, such as "Hansi and the Nix," with moods ranging from the humorous "Mrs. Fitzgerald the Merrow" to the heartrending "Pania of the Reef." Each tale begins with a one-page description of the story's motif and its place in the world of mermaid lore. The selections are approximately six pages each in length and are told in flowing language that is both easy to read and pleasant to hear. The plot lines are logical and the characters are clearly delineated within their cultural parameters. Words such as "ukpik" (Alaskan for "owl") and "kopu" (Maori for "morning star") are italicized and explained in context, while an appendix gives pertinent source notes. The Tsengs' full-page watercolors capture the subtle colors of the creatures' watery environs while including details of both the settings and the tales' cultural backgrounds. Smaller and simpler pen-and-ink drawings focus on critical moments within each story. As with the author's A Treasury of Princesses (HarperCollins, 1996), this collection does a fine job of gathering a variety of tales into one place, and it is sure to satisfy young mermaid fans and add greatly to their knowledge of the lore (and lure) of these mythical creatures.?Nancy Menaldi-Scanlan, LaSalle Academy, Providence, RI<BR>Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
zlib_text: MONIQUE ROFFEY
  
  THE MERMAID OF BLACK CONCH
  
  ![](Images/image00120.jpeg)
  
  On the previous day [8 January 1493], when the Admiral went to the Rio del Oro
  [on Haiti], he said he quite distinctly saw three mermaids, which rose well
  out of the sea; but they are not so beautiful as they are said to be, for
  their faces had some masculine traits. The Admiral says that he had seen some,
  at other times, on the coast of Guinea, where you find manequeta.
  
  > A stranger to tears, she did not weep.  
  > A stranger to clothes, she did not dress.  
  > They pocked her with cigarette ends and with burnt corks,  
  > And rolled on the tavern floor in raucous laughter.
  
  > Pablo Neruda, _Fable of the Mermaid and the Drunks_
  
  1\. SIMPLICITY
  
  DAVID BAPTISTE’S DREADS ARE GREY and his body wizened to twigs of hard black
  coral, but there are still a few people around St Constance who remember him
  as a young man and his part in the events of 1976, when those white men from
  Florida came to fish for marlin and instead 