By Editors of Time-Life Books
Publisher: Time Life Education; First Printing edition
(June 1, 1985)
Hardcover, 143 pages
“And so the end was a bed on the cold ocean floor, far
from the sunlight, where the body rolled and swayed in underwater breezes,
where fish nibbled on the sailor’s eyes, lobsters plucked on the flesh of his
feet and branching coral rooted in his bones. Seafarers called this grave Davy
Jones's Locker. Some thought that ‘Davy’ was a corruption of the word ‘duffy’
African slave’s patios for ‘ghost’ - and that ‘Jones’ derived from the Biblical
Jonah, who was sacrificed to the sea by sailors anxious to escape a storm.
Others speculated the term descended from the name of the Hindu goddess of
Death - Deva Lokka. But no one knew for certain.”
Water Spirits opens with the story of a man who saved
the life of a mermaid who blessed him with the power to heal and to break
witchcraft and cursed him so that every generation one man from his family
would drown. This was done to illustrate people's fear of the sea as a
mysterious and fickle place that could from one moment give life and in the
other death. Water was hailed as the source of life; the Hindus worshiped the
Ganges under the name of Ganga, Mimir's well gave Odin his wisdom, the Nile and
the Jordan River built civilizations, and everywhere people sought the Fountain
of Youth. Many culture’s creation myths relate the universe forming out of the
chaotic watery deep. In addition, nearly every culture here has a Great Flood
myth. The one presented in this volume is that of Gilgamesh, who is told the
tale by the immortal survivor Utnapishtim.
Heroes began enterprising in sea quests. Jason and his
Argonauts, for example, paid the correct homage to the gods and led a crew of
heroes across the Seas. While Odysseus, whose men forgot to or openly stole
from the Gods, was punished with ten years of wandering and danger. Regardless
of his initial faithfulness to the gods however, those same gods destroyed
Jason and turned the Argo into a constellation. That was a testimony to how
fickle the gods could be, because sea gods were viewed in relation to their
seas. Poseidon, for example, was as arbitrary as the enchanted seas and magic
islands he ruled.
In later days, sailors no longer worshiped the sea
gods but still lived in fear of the sea's power. For example, ships were still
launched on Woden's Day and not on Thor's Day for fear of storms and thunder.
Figureheads replaced the eyes, of Greek ships, but the function remained the
same - keeping a lookout for evil. Anointing a ship with wine replaced the
pagan custom on smearing ships with human blood.
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