The Folklore of Shakespeare. 383
2. Nymphs, Naiads, Nereids, Mermaids.
These form a class of supernatural beings which cannot well be explained, though they have formed the stock-in- trade of poets for many ages, as most of these poets held different views respecting them. They are described in classical dictionaries as goddesses and as inferior divinities. All are alluded to by Shakespeare, but they have little to do with genuine folklore, although from one point of view they are in touch with Ariel. There are nymphs of the hills, forests, and caves, of springs, streams, and rivers ; and Ariel sings of "Sea-nymphs [who] hourly ring his knell" {Tempest, i. 2. 402). The sprite Iris, when she sings "You nymphs call'd naiads of the wandering brooks" {Tempest, iv. 128), is quite in accord with classical usage.
Nereids were nymphs of the sea, daughters of Nereus. They are described as attendant on Cleopatra:
" Her gentlewomen, like the Nereids, So many mermaids."
Antony and Cleo. ii. 2. 211.
The nereids were not mermaids, for a piece of statuary in the Naples Museum shows one borne along by a triton, and she has legs like an ordinary woman.
The sea captain tells Viola of her brother Sebastian :
" Where, like Arion on the dolphin's back, I saw him hold acquaintance with the waves So long as I could see." Ttvelfth Night, i. 2. 15.
This refers to the story of Arion, the Greek musician, who was saved from drowning by dolphins drawn to him by his sweet singing. One of them, taking him on his back, carried him safe to land.
In Midsummer Niglifs Dream (i. 2. 15) Oberon says :
" Since once I sat upon a promontory, And heard a mermaid, on a dolphin's back, Uttering such dulcet and harmonious breath That the rude sea grew civil at her song."
