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If your path takes you near a riverbed
or across a stream, you’d best look out
for Jenny Greenteeth. A water witch of
greenish tinge with frog-like, yellow
eyes as big as two lamps, Jenny dwells
beneath the river’s surface, darting like
a fish across the muddy bottoms, and feeding
upon the misfortunate who stumble and
drown in her waters.
Tales of Jenny Greenteeth abound in Britain,
where she is also known as Wicked Jenny,
Peg O’Nell, and Peg Powler. In Ireland
and Germany she appears as a beautiful
woman in a white gown, and is called respectively
Bean-Fionn and die Weisse Frau. Although
her visage is changed, she is still the
same dreaded Jenny Greenteeth, haunting
river banks and dragging her victims to
their untimely deaths. The moral of all
Jenny Greenteeth stories is to stay away
from rivers and lakes, and it is thought
that she was the imagined creation of
mothers who wanted to warn their children
away from the water’s edge with frightening
tales. Her stories may have also derived
from duckweed, an aqueous plant that wraps
its tendrils around one’s leg and traps
them under water.
While most stories paint Jenny Greenteeth
in morbid, unredeeming tones, some tales
show a somewhat tender--albeit mislleading--side
to the Greentoothed Woman. In these accounts
she uses her long bony arms to embrace
her victims, stroking them with her sharp
fingernails until they fall into a deep
sleep whereupon she devours them. Sailors
of the past called Jenny Greenteeth the
Sea Hag and believed that she sang as
she neared her victims:
"Come into the water, love,
Dance beneath the waves,
Where dwell the bones of sailor-lads
Inside my saffron cave."
~S.E. Schlosser
Upon hearing the sad melody,
sailors had one last chance to turn back
before she would strike. Sailors who disregarded
the warning would never be seen again.
Superstitions regarding
water have been passed down over centuries,
and we may take part in some of these
customs without even knowing their origins.
For instance, throwing coins into a well
in exchange for a wish resembles the custom
begun thousands of years ago, when people
tossed offerings into the wells to appease
the gods and ensure the continuance of
the water. The Tweed River in Scotland
was said to be subdued by one casting
salt over its waters with nets. There
is a tradition of decorating wells with
pictures of flowers that may have Victorian
origins, or may even trace back to the
days of the Black Death. Some villages
credited their escape to their sweet water,
and to this day they dress their wells
to protect it.
There is no protection,
though, against the wicked Greentoothed
Woman once you are within her grasp. Like
the tale of Jenny Greenteeth, all these
superstitions are messages used by our
ancestors to warn us against the danger
of water.
About the Author:
This article was written by Robin Daniels.
Robin is a mystic and contributes to Mystical
Creatures http://www.mystical-creatures.com
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