[HPforGrownups] Re: Veela

[Torsten]

No: HPFGUIDX 50734

Catlady:
>In the Muggle RL, veelas come from the Slavic world (with various 
>names and a Greek influence, so they are nereids in Greece and 
>rusalki in Bulgaria), where they are believed to begin as the spirts 
>of women/girls who die young and unmarried/childless. They fly by 
>turning into swans by wearing a swan skin. A man who finds veelas 
>dancing or swimming in their human form can capture one as his wife 
>by stealing her swan skin. She will be beautiful and fertile, do the 
>housework well and raise the children, but if she EVER gets a chance, 
>she will grab her swan skin and fly away and her husband and children 
>will never see her again.

Now this is interesting! There's a japanese myth/fairytale about (I'll probably make 
some big mistakes in the translation of the key terms, but anyway) fairies from heaven 
which descend to earth and take a bath in a lake. A man watches them and steals one of 
their feather cloaks. Without it, the fairy to which it belongs can't return to heaven and 
has to stay on earth. The man marries her and she bears his children. One day, she 
overhears her kids talking about where he hid her feather cloak. She reclaims it and 
returns to heaven.
I've read there are many very similar myths all around the world, which now seems to 
be very true. ^^

Torsten