Editing Merrow (section)

===Characteristics===
The merrow-maiden is like the commonly stereotypical mermaid: half-human, a gorgeous woman from waist up, and fish-like waist down, her lower extremity "covered with greenish-tinted scales" (according to O'Hanlon).{{sfnp|O'Hanlon|1870|p=56}} She has green hair which she fondly grooms with her comb.{{sfnp|Croker|1828|loc='''II''', 6, 73|ps="The Lady of Gollerus", ''[[The Wonderful Tune]]''.}} She exhibits slight webbing between her fingers, a white and delicate film resembling "the skin between egg and shell".{{sfnp|Croker|1828|loc='''II''', 5|ps="The Lady of Gollerus"}}

Said to be of "modest, affectionate, gentle, and [benevolent] disposition",{{sfnp|O'Hanlon|1870|p=56}} the merrow is believed "capable of attachment to human beings", with reports of inter-marriage.{{sfnp|O'Hanlon|1870|p=57}} One such mixed marriage took place in [[Bantry]], producing descendants marked by "scaly skin" and "membrane between fingers and toes".{{r|"kennedy-LFIC-p121"}}{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Croker notes that the O'Flaherty and the O'Sullivan clans of County Kerry believed themselves descended from a mixed marriage (with the merrow-kind), and the Macnamaras of County Clare believed their name derived from such ancestry.{{sfnp|Croker|1828|loc='''II''', 16}}}} But after some "years in succession" they will almost inevitably return to the sea, their "natural instincts" irresistibly overcoming any love-bond they may have formed with their terrestrial family.{{sfnp|O'Hanlon|1870|p=57}} And to prevent her acting on impulse, her ''{{lang|ga|[[#Cohuleen druith|cohuleen druith]]}}'' (or "little magic cap") must be kept "well concealed from his sea-wife".{{r|"kennedy-LFIC-p121"}}

O'Hanlon mentioned that a merrow may leave her outer skin behind in order to transform into other beings "more magical and beauteous", {{sfnp|O'Hanlon|1870|p=57}} But in Croker's book, this characteristic isn't ascribed to the merrow but to the merwife of Shetlandic and Faroese lore, said to shed their seal-skins to shapeshift between human form and a seal's guise{{sfnp|Croker|1828|loc='''II''', 13–16}} (i.e., the [[selkie]] and its counterpart, the ''{{linktext|kópakona}}''). Another researcher noted that the Irish merrow's device was her cap "covering her entire body", as opposed to the Scottish Maid-of-the-Wave{{Efn|{{langx|gd|maighdean na tuinne}}.}} who had her salmon-skin.{{sfnp|Kickingereder|2008|p=60}}

Yeats claimed that merrows come ashore transformed into "little hornless cows".{{sfnp|Yeats|1888|p=69}} One stymied investigator conjectured this claim to be an extrapolation on Kennedy's statement that sea-cows are attracted to pasture on the meadowland wherever the merrow resided.{{r|"kennedy-LFIC-p121"}}{{sfnp|Kinahan|1983|p=261}}

Merrow-maidens have also been known to lure young men beneath the waves, where afterwards the men live in an enchanted state. While female merrows were considered to be very beautiful, the mermen were thought to be very ugly.  This fact potentially accounted for the merrow's desire to seek out men on the land.{{sfnp|Yeats|1888|p=61}}

Merrow music is known to be heard coming from the farthest depths of the ocean, yet the sound travels floatingly across the surface.{{sfnp|O'Hanlon|1870|p=57}} Merrows dance to the music, whether ashore on the strand or upon the wave.{{sfnp|O'Hanlon|1870|p=58}}