Mythical Minute: Who was Melusine?

The central character of A DIFFERENT KIND OF MAGIC is Melusine, a half- gorgon. But legends of Melusine have been circulating long before I ever decided to write about her. Melusine has many different origin stories, and legend and myths of her can be found in France, Germany, Hungary, and many other European countries. Some say she was cursed by her fairy mother to change into a hideous serpent every Saturday after seeking revenge on her aloof father. Others simple refer to her as a mermaid or water nymph. Either way, our girl walked on two legs most of the time, and one day of the week grew a tail (or two tails in some myths).

One day, while frolicking in the woods with her sisters, Melusine meets a count/duke/nobleman. He's so stricken by her beauty that he asks for her hand in marriage... immediately. She agrees, the reason why varying from story to story, but one thing is always the same; she makes him promise he will never gaze upon her on Saturday while she takes her bath. This doesn't seem like a huge deal at the time to our nobleman, so he gives her his word.

Fast forward several years and the marriage seems pretty happy. He enjoys having his lovely trophy wife and she gets her me-time on Saturdays. She ends up bearing a lot of children. Some stories describe them as deformed monsters, but in others they are normal/fine. Things are great. Until somebody starts whispering in the nobleman's ear. Why is his wife so secretive on Saturdays? Is she being unfaithful? Is she plotting against him? And just like that, he can't stop thinking about it. One day, he takes a peek at Melusine during her private time, and sees her in the tub with scales below her waist, and in many stories, bat-like wings.

He does what any normal guy would do and freaks out, bursting into the room and calling her a monster. Melusine, of course, is heartbroken. Not so much because he thinks she's ugly now, but more so because he broke his promise. What happens next varies from tale to tale. In some, she simply flies away. In others she jumps out the window and swims away like a fish. In my favorite, she turns into a dragon, because doesn't everybody want to end a relationship that way? Regardless of her mode of transportation, in all versions of the story, she vanishes, and her husband is sad after he realizes what he has lost

Some believed Melusine still visited her children from time to time, flying outside their windows in the dark of night. Some claimed if you saw her flying and wailing, it was a bad omen and represented death. Others claimed Melusine was responsible for changelings (children who were stolen by fairies and replaced by sick or evil fae). Basically, Melusine went on carrying out a vengeful existence after she was betrayed.

Even though she might not be as well known as some other myths, Melusine has had a huge impact on pop culture for the last several centuries. The Luxembourgs claim to be descendants of her. She has strong ties to myths of mermaids, banshees, shapeshifters, and even succubi. You probably even see a depiction of her on the daily basis and don't even realize it. The Starbucks logo is, in fact, our girl, Melusine.

In A DIFFERENT KIND OF MAGIC, I try to take some of the themes from the Melusine legends and tie them into a whole new story, all while weaving it into myths from other cultures. If you've stuck around this long, I hope you've learned a little about the original Melusine and hope to see you back for my next Mythical Minute when I explore gorgons.