Melusine, Legendary Creature

Melusine, Legendary Creature

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

Album / Science Source / New York Public Library

? Model Release: No - ? Property Release: No
Rights questions?

3086 x 4474 px | 39.5 MB

26.1 x 37.9 cm | 10.3 x 14.9 in (300 dpi)