The Meme From U.N.C.L.E.

So I lied, one piece of that information WAS important, actually. The location: that being Llyn y Fan Fach. This specific lake is located in Wales. Something else which is important to know about this folk tale is the time; the first instance of the story being written down in English is 1861, however it had previously existed through the oral tradition before then. The tale even begins by stating that it takes place at the end of the twelfth century.

Coincidentally, the oldest written evidence for a Welsh 'lady of the lake' story is from the twelfth century as it so happens. Written in latin, though probably also sourced through prior oral tradition (which would have been in welsh), it is also set in the same geographic area and the lady also leaves her human husband after being struck, though she will only tolerate being struck once before she leaves.

Why is this important? Well, Wales was still independent from England during this time (but only just) and thusly had their own set of laws. Actually, they maintained having*² their own set of laws even under English rule, right up until Henry VIII put a stop to that. RIP Welsh law, me and my homies hate Henry VIII.

"Haha imagine if women could just leave, scary right?" They can. Under Welsh laws, either spouse is able to initiate a divorce and it must me mutually agreed upon in order to go through. There are even a few specific circumstances where you can ask for a divorce without having to finacially compensate the person you are divorcing - one of these is bad breath. "How can a woman divorce a husband if she is financially dependent on him?" 1. She isn't. 2. If she is broke and the man's breath stinks... oh baby, she is legally out of there!

"Omg, my actions have consequences, she left because I hit her!" Interesting, because welsh laws protected women against physical abuse. The folk tale is actually very specific in that they had to be three strikes "without cause." A man could hit his wife, but only for three things*³: 1. Giving something away which she was not entitled to. 2. Sleeping with another man. 3. Wishing a blemish on her husband's beard.*⁴ And if he hit her for adultery, then that counted as him getting even and he would not be allowed to ask for further compensation. If the wife was hit for any other reason, then she could claim compensation from him. A wife could also claim compensation from their husbands in the case of adultery, they could even divorce him if he did it three times.

"She took all the cattle with her when she left." Women had property rights in the case of divorce - she was entitled to a set amount of property upon their marriage,*⁵ equal to her social standing, and this increased as the marriage went on - if the marriage had lasted 7 years or more before the separation, then the couple's property was divided equally between the man and the woman (this is "moveable" property btw like furniture and livestock, women can't inherit land, that would be crazy*⁶). She gets half of their property if her husband dies as well, his children only inherit from the half that was his.

I feel that I should add as well, on the topic of marriage, that it was not considered to be a sacred act by Welsh law, rather it was just an agreement between two people (and their families). One of the consequences of this definition is that there basically aren't any bastard children. Children born inside or outside of a couple's marriage are treated equally by the law. In fact, children by another woman are also considered equal inheritors, as long as the father acknowledges the fact that those are his children.

Another law which is unrelated to the folk tale but which I think is neat is that the woman's account would take precedence in the case of a rape accusation.

So yeah, back on track! Your earliest examples with selkies and things still stand, because those stories are happening elswhere in different contexts. Scottish and Irish medieval laws and customs? I don't know them unfortunately. Maybe they can add even more fun context. But the welsh lake ladies? Incidental female empowerment? No, they have that power. And they won't care about the divorce, they have some 50 fat cows to their name, marrying again is not going to be a problem for them. These externalised male anxieties are very real and could happen to you 🫵

*¹ I won't lie to you guys, idk what terms get used for all these fairy tale/folk story creatures/figures.

*² Only difference is that they were now being decided by the King's eldest son and the Marcher Lords as a type of practice kingdom before he inherited the crown of England.

*³ Omg, almost as if... he would need a "cause" for doing it!!!

*⁴ I have no idea what exatly that last one means. Is she just not allowed to be mean about his beard? Maybe it's a euphemism? I could not tell you.

** lmao, in this economy!?!?

*⁵ Thus she is not financially dependent on her husband.

*⁶ That's a joke, women owning land is normal to want and possible to achieve.** They just couldn't back then.