Occasionally they are described as so perfectly in love that Matthew is willing to forsake his life on the land for her. It is aimed primarily at children, as it is their young minds who take most keenly to the existence of mermaids. Senara's Church can be seen to this day, and together with the accompanying legend, is one of the popular attractions mentioned in tourist guides to Cornwall. Levan, a few miles short of Land’s End, but spent much of his life abroad in Australia and Canada, where he worked as an English teacher. On one of these occasions he reversed the role of the mythic siren and entranced a mermaid with his beautiful voice.

tale of the Mermaid of Zennor may have been circulating for untold years before it was recorded by Mr William Bottrell. Welcome to Easy Stories in English, the podcast that will take your English from OK to Good, and from Good to Great.One fine Sunday morning in Zennor church, perched on the cliffs of Penwith, the choir and congregation were ready for service when through the church door came a strange lady of unearthly beauty. A common feature attributed to mermaids across the world is their deadly nature; they are often said to lure sailors to a watery grave. So I have to say, I had a lovely time in Cornwall and, if I do move in with my girlfriend, I’m really looking forward to being so close to the sea. Supposedly the result of ocean-weary sailors mistaking aquatic mammals such as manatees for the figure of a woman, the well-known image of a creature with the head and torso of a female but the tail of a fish from the waist downwards has become a popular feature in folklore.

No one knew whence she came nor whither she went; yet many watched her as far as they could see from Tregarthen Hill.

Every week from then on, she came to listen, finally catching his eye by way of a smile, a sigh, or a song of her own. However it may be, her polite request had a magical effect upon the sailors, for they immediately “worked with a will,” hove anchor and set sail, not wishing to remain a moment longer than they could help near her habitation. Charles Causley (24 August 1917 – 4 November 2003) was a celebrated Cornish poet who was born and died in Launceston.

They then go on to create guides to Zennor, retelling the story from the mermaid’s perspective and finishing by creating their own merfolk characters to include in a legend-style story that could be set in Cornwall or elsewhere. A story of a human falling in love with a creature of the sea naturally lends itself to music, as mere words sometimes cannot do justice to the magic of the tale.According to the church laminate, Mathew and the mermaid chose to happily cohabit about a mile down the road in Pendour Cove. In terms of feelings, we really knew each other very well by the time that we met, and we really enjoyed spending time together. She told me the mum had been visibly nodding off to sleep since she’d arrived that morning, but every time she got close to drifting off another pack of tourists would arrive.