False Mermaid

Also by Erin Hart

Lake of Sorrows

Haunted Ground

F
ALSE
M
ERMAID

ERIN HART

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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products
of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual
events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

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First Scribner hardcover edition March 2010

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Manufactured in the United States of America

1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

Library of Congress Control Number: 2009037969

ISBN 978-1-4165-6376-1
ISBN 978-1-4165-6384-6 (ebook)

To my siblings
Julie, Amy, and Jere
and their mates
Colin, Panayiotis, and Sheri

Tri rudan a thig gun iarraidh: an t-eagal, an t-eudach’s an gaol.
Three things come unbidden: fear, love, and jealousy.

—traditional Irish proverb

An Mhaighdean Mhara

Is cosúil gur mheath tú nó gur thréig tú an greann
Tá an sneachta go frasach fá bhéal na trá
Do chúl buí daite is do bhéílín sámh
Siúd chugaibh Mary hÉighnigh is í i ndiaidh an Éirne a shnámh.

“
A mháithrín mhilis
”
dúirt Máire bhán
Fá bhruach an chladaigh is fá bhéal na trá
“
Maighdean mhara mo mháithrín ard
”
Siúd chugaibh Mary hÉighnigh is í i ndiaidh an Éirne a shnámh.

Tá mise tuirseach agus beidh go lá
Mo Mháire bhruinngheal is mo Phádraig bán
Ar bharr na dtonnta is fá bhéal na trá
Siúd chugaibh Mary hÉighnigh is í i ndiaidh an Éirne a shnámh.

Tá an oíche seo dorcha is tá an ghaoth i ndrochaird
Tá an tseisreach ’na seasamh isna spéarthaí go hard
Ach ar bharr na dtonnta is fá bhéal na trá
Siúd chugaibh Mary hÉighnigh is í i ndiaidh an Éirne a shnámh.

—amhrán traidisiúnta Gaeilge

The Mermaid

It seems you’ve faded away and abandoned the love of life
The snow is spread about at the mouth of the sea
Your yellow flowing hair and little gentle mouth
We give you Mary Heaney who has swum across the Erne.

“My faithful mother,” said fair Mary
By the edge of the shore and the mouth of the sea
“A mermaid is my noble mother”
We give you Mary Heaney who has swum across the Erne.

I am tired and will be until dawn
My bright-breasted Mary and my blond Patrick
On top of the waves and by the mouth of the sea
We give you Mary Heaney who has swum across the Erne.

The night is dark and the wind is ill
The Plough can be seen high in the sky
But on top of the waves and by the mouth of the sea
We give you Mary Heaney who has swum across the Erne.

—traditional Irish song

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