#ballad

There are many Dutch legends about certain coastal villages or towns being permanently flooded by the sea, with only the tip of bell tower standing above sea level, after some fishermen were foolish enough to bring a mermaid ashore. It's always a mermaid and sometimes her husband comes to beg for her safe return, but I wanted a vengeful oldest sister and her younger brother~

The Merfolk

‘t Was early on an August morn That in a net ensnared Three fishermen found a fishtailed lad Green-eyed and raven-haired

"Fisherfolk, fisherfolk send me back, Spare the life of me, Folk like me must never leave the shelter of the sea!"

They heard him not, they heed him not Carried the merfolk ashore Spying then in the lapping waves One such merfolk more

"Fisherfolk send my fellow back!" "What is he worth to thee?" "All the gold that ever sank to the bottom of the sea!"

They knew no mercy, only greed For yet they wanted more Spying then in the roiling waves One such merfolk more

"Fisherfolk send my lover back!" "What is he worth to thee?" "All the pearls that ever grew on the bottom of the sea!"

They did not yield, they did not give What was withheld before Spying then in the roaring waves One such merfolk more

"I come to fetch my brother back!" "What is he worth to thee?" "To drag all who live in your doomed town to the bottom of the sea!"

Too late they bargained and they begged Too late they cried and fled The mermaid sang into the wind And the tides a-dancing led

The waves did swallow up the strand Flooded the dunes and the pier Carried that boy back to the sea To the arms of his sister dear

('Crossed Light') - Bob Dylan and Joan Baez, during the duo's concert in New Haven, Connecticut, 1965