THE SCENE: This passage should serve as a cautionary tale for anyone who thinks their casual fling with a mermaid will be completely free of consequences.
THE TEXT: When Wilkinus was somewhere in Russia, he went away from his men, and went alone up into the forest. There he saw a very beautiful woman, and he went to where she was. She was a mermaid. The king made a child with her. He came back to his ship, got a wind, and sailed out to sea. When he was far from land, the same mermaid came up. She took hold of the bow of his ship, and she held onto the ship so that it went nowhere.
Then the king saw that it was the same woman whom he had lain with, and he said to her: “Let us go. If you have any business with me then come to our land. We will receive you well there.”
She let go, and the king sailed home. Half a year after that, the same woman came to him. He took her to a farm he owned. A little while after that she had a boy-child. The king called him Wade. As soon as the child was born, the mother went away. Wade grew up and became a powerful giant. He was called Wade the giant, and was badly thought of.
– The Saga of Didrik of Bern, 15th Century AD
