The Mermaid of Zennor

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Causley's prose is beautifully spare and unsentimental, and the illustrations glow with lyrical detail. In most versions of the legend, she is named ‘Morveren’, however, in his novel ‘Seat of Storms’ Craig Weatherhill includes a mermaid of Zennor named ‘Azenor’. Nobody wants to talk to her save Aislinn, her bubbly classmate, and Mrs Khoury, the school's councillor - but, even then, Lilac suspects they only do so out of pity. The story supposedly solves the mystery of the missing choir boy, Matthew Trewhella, but another mystery remains; did the carving on the bench-end come first and inspire the story, or did the story lead to the carving?

For in the ancient world, the sighting of a strange beast or creature was a sign that the forces that governed our world were out of balance - hence an unnatural being signified a disturbance in the natural world. Whenever they sang songs in church, she had the most beautiful voice, and everyone else sang quietly so they could hear her better.The story of how Mathy disappeared with the stranger was a great mystery, often talked about, and unsolved for many years; in fact two generations had been born and grew up in the village, and old Mrs Trehwella was in her grave before news came of him. As the choristers sang their hymns and psalms Mathy became aware of the stranger staring at him with those emerald-green mysterious eyes; when he looked at her it seemed to him that a queer faint smile hovered on her face. I think being by the sea brings me a huge amount of peace, so it’s a lovely place and I’m going to put some pictures of my trip at EasyStoriesInEnglish. They’re bigger than empanadas and smaller than calzones, but like a calzone, a Cornish pasty can be an entire meal.

In the choir were some fine singers, but none finer than Mathy Trewhella, a handsome young man who sang a clear high tenor: his voice could be heard all over Zennor Churchtown when he wished. During the sixteenth century, the legend of the mermaid of Zennor was captured in a wood carving ingrained on a mahogany bench end in the church. The general consensus is that it was first written down in 1873 by William Bottrell who was a keen collector of Cornish folklore.The author died in 1927, so this work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 95 years or fewer. These activities fostered a keen interest in Cornish folklore which has extended into her adult life.