From Justine Brown at The Writing Desk:
Her story was written down by the French poet Jean d’Arras in the 14th century. It goes something like this: over the English Channel and faraway, in a deep well at the edge of the town of Lusignan, near Poitiers, there swims a beautiful two-tailed water sprite named Melusine.
The daughter of the fairy Pressine and the King of Albany—Scotland-- Melusine is born in human form and grows into a graceful maiden. One day, however, she mistreats her royal father; as punishment, her enchantress mother condemns Melusine to metamorphose into a freshwater mermaid each Saturday.
One day, riding in the forest, Melusine stops to water her horse at a cool fountain. There she encounters the noble Raymondin; they instantly fall in love. He asks for her hand, and she agrees to marry him—on a single condition. One day out of seven, each Saturday, he may not see her at all.
If he so much as glimpses her, he will lose her forever. Raymondin asks no questions, but hastens to accept. Now Melusine makes him blissfully contented. Not only does she adore him, she pulls riches out of thin air for him. She magicks him up a church, where they marry; and a castle, where they live happily together. Day after day, month after month, everything is perfect. She gives him many sons. Together the couple found the noble House of Lusignan.
But the idyll is disrupted when an ill-wisher convinces Raymondin to spy on his wife, claiming that Melusine is entertaining a lover on Saturdays. Peering through the keyhole, Raymondin sees her in her bath, her great green tail flopping out.
He emits a gasp. Melusine, realising what has happened, rebukes him. Transforming into a dragon, she wheels three times around the chateau, crying aloud, and flies away. Melusine has abandoned the castle, cathedral and village to her people, but she herself vanishes from sight. Returning to mermaid form, Melusine returns to her watery home. She can sometimes be heard keening to announce the death of a family member. But that is all. (Read more.)
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