Water fairy

Water fairy

Maria Surducan: The Mermaid (Cluj, 2020)

A well-known character of the Eastern European/Russian/Slavic folk tales is the (water) spirit of Rusalka/rusalki with magical powers, who is often translated as mermaid or siren. Its Greek counterparts are nymphs, while their Eastern/Southern Slavic name is vila, which most of us know from Harry Potter. Some people derive the creature of Rusalka from pre-Christian paganism, which was a positive character at the time, symbolizing fertility and good harvest. Only from the 19th century she became a feared creature. The mermaids are also indirectly originated from them. She is usually depicted with long, unbreaded hair, because at that time, according to Slavic traditions, unmarried people had to wear their hair like this and had only wore it in a tight bun when they got married. Maria Surducan’s Water Fairy also has similarly long hair, for which the illustrations were made by Anna Júlia Benczédi.

The story takes place somewhere in the mountains, where we meet people who want adventure and treasure are washing gold in the river. One of them sees three otters at night, who shed their skins and transform into girls. The man hides one of the otter skins so that the girl cannot take it back on. (He has no idea that the girl herself planned it this way, she chose the man for herself.) Luck then turns to the gold miners, since the girl knows where to look for gold. Later, at her suggestion, they start mining the mountain itself, which angers the other spirits of the forest. Although the girl defends her love, their relationship was not destined to have a happy ending, as a wild and free spirit cannot be held forever.

The comic has a sequel, in which the daughter of the water fairy must find the solution to the mysteries surrounding her. I can’t tell any more details about the story, only that there will definitely be a third volume…