The Story of the Origin of Mermaid or Putri Duyung

The mermaid legend begins with Atargatis story that jumps into the river because it has no intention of killing a shepherd who is his true love. The mermaid legends are one among the legends that exist in many countries in all the world. This legend tells the story of a magical creature that has the upper body of a woman but the lower side of a fish tail. The story is related to the legends of the world including Near East, Europe, Africa, and Asia.

The story of this early mermaid legend appears in Assyria which tells of the goddess Atargatis who transformed herself into a mermaid because shame had killed her a human lover. Consequently, mermaids are associated with some horrific events such as floods, storms and ships that are destroyed and immersed in addition to that in so many other folklore, some mermaids can be very good or generous, give grace, and even falling in love with humans.