She is portrayed at times as both beautiful and horrible, painted as a creature to be adored yet feared. In song, her voice rises and falls with the swells of the ever changing sea, calling sailors to their doom. The mermaid's song is so irresistible that these men go to their deaths willingly, in the hopes of spending just one brief moment in her presence. Folk tales have amused scores of people with tales of magical fairies and mighty wizards, and the mermaid has a power that is even more powerful than that of her sorcerous relatives. The mermaid has the power to control our minds with a song, a gesture of a fair hand or a secret smile.
Mystery surrounds the mermaid.
As she disappears beneath the depths of the foamy blue sea, we wonder to what wonderful, strange lands she retreats. We create for her a kingdom, of which she, of course, is queen, and paint her palace with the pinks and yellows of the most vibrant coral reef. Mermaid continues to be a source of interest for humans. John William Waterhouse John William Waterhouse was born in Rome to British parents on April 6, 1849. He lived there for the first 6 years of his life, absorbing the character of Italian culture until his family's return to England.