It's a great resource – look a thing up any number of ways and you'll get a series of variations that's pretty diverse in writing and content, but all revolving around the same theme. A couple months ago I was reading Petronius' Satyricon, for example, and someone tells a ghost story halfway through having to do with werewolves that I'd found before on Ashliman's page. Roman werewolves? I'd say that's comprehensive in its treatment of the subject.
(reading the book, incidentally, makes me want to take another look at Fellini's movie).
So, case in point, and to the point: the section entitled Mermaid Wife has no stories about what we would call mermaids. Fishy-tail mermaids, see. It's more or less entirely about Selkies – were-seals I guess you could say. hehe. The Lady of Gollerus is as close as it gets (although there's also a Welsh story protagonized by an ambiguous mer-creature wife). Instead you want to check out the section on Melusina, just a knock or two up on the alphabetical index for all the tales. Those are about a fishy-tailed German merwife. (or French or Albanian or wherever the tale's coming from; and i guess sometimes it's a snake tail, but whatever).
Folktales don't interest me in that way that you wonder what the story is attempting to explain. Conjecture about Down syndrome and folktales about changeling children, for example – not what I'm reading up on.
I like folktales specifically for the variations that exist between them. If you take the time to read some of these stories about jackals, say, from the index, it's also interesting how little variation exists between some of them – try Ingratitude is the World's Reward, and listen to Blood Money while you're at it.
Speaking of which, I'm pretty sure Mermaids listen to Debby Harry. Maybe the Go-go's, too.
Unfortunately I couldn't even begin to imagine what Selkies listen to. When you think about it, though, if they're really just a slight variation on the Mermaid Wife story, maybe they also like Debby Harry.
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