Morgen (mythological creature)
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Morgens, Morgans or Mari-Morgans are Welsh and Breton water sprites that drown men. They may lure men to their death by their own sylphic beauty, or with glimpses of underwater gardens with buildings of gold or crystal. They are also blamed for heavy flooding that destroys crops or villages. In the story of the drowning of Ys, a city in Brittany, the king's daughter, Dahut, is the cause, and she becomes a sea morgen.
The morgens are eternally young, and like sirens they sit in the water and comb their hair seductively.[1] In many ways they are a female version of the Scandinavian nixie. In Arthurian legend the "Lady of the Lake" is named "Morgen".[2] The origin of Morgan le Fay may lie in these Breton myths.[3]
Tales of morgens are preserved in the English countryside, like the one from western Somerset, where a fisherman adopts an infant morgen, only to have her revert to the sea when she grows up.[4]
[edit] References
- ^ Franklin, Anna (2002) The Illustrated Encyclopaedia Of Fairies Vega, London, p. 182;
- ^ Rhys, John (1891) Studies in the Arthurian Legend Clarendon Press, Oxford, p. 348;
- ^ Sykes, Egerton and Kendall, Alan (2002 ed.) Who's Who in Non-Classical Mythology Routledge, New York, p. 132;
- ^ Tongue, Ruth L. (1970) Forgotten Folk-Tales of the English Counties Routledge & Kegan Paul, London.
