Thomas Crofton Croker and Merrows

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Thomas Crofton Croker and Merrows

Thomas Crofton Croker is well known for being the first to collect

Irish folklore. His initial compilation of folktales is entitled Fairy

Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland, which appeared in

1923. The book includes stories of changelings, banshees, merrows, and

more. The merrow is a type of water fairy that is allegedly common in

Ireland. Croker uses the traditional description of merrows in his

tales, although he bypasses the negative Irish opinion of them and

focuses only on good aspects. Croker also ties in a common theme of

religion in his stories, playing off of the concept that merrows,

because they are fairies, are not allowed to enter the church. Three

prominent Croker tales are The Lady of Gollerus, The Wonderful Tune,

and The Soul Cages, all of which occur in Ireland and are based on the

idea of the merrow. The last of these stories is rare because it

discusses the less common male merrow.

Female merrows are said to be beautiful and very wealthy, whereas the

males, are depicted as somewhat grotesque. It is no wonder that female

merrows are often linked with human males. This is a concept that is

used in the stories The Lady of Gollerus and The Wonderful Tune.

Croker describes both the female merrows in these stories with similar

descriptions while using similes. In both tales he describes them as

beautiful and young. In The Lady of Gollerus, Croker describes the

hair of the merrow as "a sea-green colour" and with "the salt water

shining on it, appeared, in the morning light, like melted butter upon

cabbage." He also describes the merrow in A Wonderful Tune's hair as

sea green, but he furthers the imagery in detail. Croker goes on to

say that "her teeth were like rows of pearl; her lips for all the

world looked like red coral; and she had an elegant gown, as white as

the foam of the wave, with rows of purple and red sea weeds settled

upon it." In The Soul Cages, which focuses on a male merrow, Croker

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