The Merman's Children by Poul Anderson
"The Merman's Children" is a novel that intricately weaves the story of Agnete, a mortal woman from the Danish village of Als, who is drawn to Vanimen, the merman king of Liri. Their union produces four halfling children—Tauno, Eyjan, Kennin, and Yria—who are caught between the worlds of humans and merfolk. After Agnete’s return to land and Vanimen’s subsequent exile of his people due to a curse placed by an archdeacon, the narrative unfolds along two distinct paths: one following the remaining merfolk's quest for a new home and the other detailing the siblings' search for their lost kin.
As the merfolk encounter various challenges, including capture and eventual conversion to Christianity, the children embark on a perilous journey to reclaim Yria, who has been transformed and baptized as Magrete. Throughout their adventures, themes of identity, belonging, and the clash between different worlds are explored. The story culminates in a poignant resolution where the siblings make divergent choices about their futures, reflecting the complexity of their mixed heritage and the influence of their experiences. The novel presents a rich tapestry of folklore and human emotion, engaging with cultural themes and the consequences of love and sacrifice.
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The Merman's Children
First published: 1979
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Fantasy—theological romance
Time of work: The Middle Ages
Locale: Coastal areas of Denmark, Greenland, and Dalmatia
The Plot
The background to this novel is the story of Agnete, a mortal maiden from the Danish village of Als, who was seduced by Vanimen, merman king of Liri. Agnete lived as his wife undersea for eight years before homesickness overtook her and she returned to her parents on land.
When news of her return and subsequent death finally reaches Magnus Gregersen, the overzealous archdeacon of the region, he is outraged to learn of the presence of a town of merfolk off the coast. He responds by performing an exorcism, cursing the sea people, banning them from their waters, and destroying their underwater city. The merfolk flee in pain. The four surviving halfling children of Agnete and Vanimen—Tauno, Eyjan, Kennin, and Yria—are immune to the curse, having both human and faerie heritage.
The novel then divides into two main narrative strands that follow the fates of the merfolk and of the children respectively. One strand tells the story of King Vanimen, who leads the remnant of his sea people in a dangerous quest for a new home. They steal a ship to provide a resting place for the younger and weaker members of the group during the arduous journey that Vanimen hopes will lead them to the safety of the non-Christian new world. They are driven off course by a gale, pursued by slavers, and finally forced ashore on the Dalmatian coast. The merfolk are captured by villagers and befriended by an old priest, Father Tomislav. They help their captors by driving another creature of Faerie, a Vodianoi, from a lake, and they are slowly accepted into the community. Tomislav’s tolerance and intercession finally leads to their conversion to Christianity. Having gained souls and Christian names, the merfolk retain dim memories of their previous lives undersea and become pious citizens who intermarry with the villagers. Vanimen himself, now called Andrei, becomes a captain in the royal navy.
Meanwhile, Tauno, Eyjan, and Kennin begin their quest to locate their scattered kinfolk by taking the youngest, Yria, who is too weak to survive a long undersea journey, to her mother’s human relatives in Als. Yria is befriended by Father Knud, who christens her as Magrete. She emerges from baptism as a newborn soul, losing all memory of her previous life. The Church glories in this miracle and moves her to a cloister. Horrified, her siblings resolve to provide her with the means to choose her future. They are counseled by Ingeborg, a kindhearted whore who is in love with Tauno.
Having decided that securing Yria/Magrete’s freedom will require a large amount of gold, they hire a cutthroat crew to sail to the lost undersea city of Avernorn, where a Kraken guards his hoard among the ruins. After the Kraken is slain and the ship loaded with gold, the siblings are betrayed by the crew, and Kennin is killed. Tauno and Eyjan regain control of the ship with the help of Ingeborg and one faithful crewman, Niels, who is in love with Eyjan. They sail for Denmark and are saved from near-shipwreck by Hauau the Selkie. Niels and Ingeborg then use the gold to set up a successful liaison with the Church. This patronage eventually secures Yria/Magrete’s release.
Tauno and Eyjan undergo more trials in their search for the people of Liri. They are captured by the Greenland Norse, who force Tauno to slay the monster Tupilak to regain their freedom. The shaman of the Inuit, who created the Tupilak, later gives the halflings a bone amulet that confers upon the wearer the gift of understanding all tongues.
The two narrative strands come together in the final section. Tauno and Eyjan, reunited with the merfolk, ultimately choose different paths. Eyjan, convinced by her father, is converted. As the pious Dagmar, she marries Niels. Tauno, however, remains a creature of faerie. In his pain and isolation, he becomes enamored of a Vilja, Nada, the revenant of Father Tomislav’s daughter, who drowned herself for love. Nada haunts the woods outside the village because, as a suicide, she is denied salvation. When winter approaches, Nada’s spirit enters the shaman’s amulet so that she will never be parted from Tauno. Ingeborg, likewise in love with Tauno, gives up her soul by inviting Nada from the amulet into her human body, where the two unite to form a new creature of faerie to be Tauno’s wife.