• Head and torso of a beautiful young woman that's finely dressed, but the lower half is an ugly serpent. Her hair is long and blond.
• Associated with alchemy, fertility, crops, the devil, maternity.
• Dragon is the daughter of the fountain fairy Pressina and a mortal king (Elinas of Albany in Scotland)
• Fear iron, the word "death" and being seen naked. Would revert to Nerieds if any of the above occurred
• Melusines (France) can be considered a corruptions of "la mere Lucine", the Roman goddess of childbirth.
• Considered a town / castle builder. Legends have it that she built the Parthenay castle.
• Mary Arseneau considers it France's version of the lamia myth
• Possibly also Eleanor of Aquitaine
• Family tree may include Elizabeth Woodville (Queen of Edward IV), the House of Lusignan in Poutou, and the Sassenages in Dauphine
• Excellent mother and wife
• Grillparzer's Melusine was written for Beethoven
• She flew and built castles and towns all over the province - Tuffauges, Mervent, Chateaumur, Vouvant
• Possibly the female version of the centaur.
• Festivals and maids make "melusine cakes"
• Tales is often passed down by nurses and other women
• All of her son's have some defect:
  • Uriens - 1 red, 1 grey eye
  • Oede - red shining face
  • Guy - one eye lower than the other
  Or the version in Venemous Women,
  • Uryan - huge ears
  • Geffrey - long tooth
  • Anthony - claw in cheek
  • Reynold - one eye that sees 63 miles
  • Herrible - 3 eyes and killed his nurses
• Often associated with the devil because she changes into a serpent / dragon on Saturdays
• Oldest of triplets and raised in exile by her mother on Avalon
• Herald s the deaths of Lusigan lords
• Very secretive. Even her husband doesn't know her lineage.
• Acts independently of her husband and is dominant in the relationship. The marriage is on her terms.

• First mentions in Montelier in the Valentinois
• End of 12th Century - first appearances
• 1387 - First written down in prose by Jean d'Aras in Melusine (Romance of Melusine).
• 1478 - D'Aras version printed in Geneva
• 1396 - Couldrette wrote a verse version,Li Livres de Lusignan, in France for the Dukes of Parthenay.
• 1456 - Thuring von Ringoltingen wrote Die schone Melusine in 1456.
• cir 1500 - English translation of d'Aras's version.
• 16th century - Melusine associated to crops, land fertility and harvest
• 1886 - "M Nowack's "Die Melusinen-Sage"
• 1885 - Desaivre's "La "L'engande de M."
• 1900 - Baudot's "Les Princesses Yolande, etc."

Melusine and Raymond (alternately Raimondin), Count of Anjou, meet at the Fountain of Soif in forest after Raymond has been boar hunting and accidentally killed his adopted father. They are betrothed ("sponsalia") and live happily until the townspeople find out her true identity during a church service one Sunday. She flies away and, in the rush, carries 2 of her children along.

Some say that the story actually starts with her parents, Pressine and Elynas / Brumblico, who had a history very near to Melusine's herself. Pressine met her husband by the well, fell in love, but told him that he was not to see her bear or tend to her children. But he fails his promise and now 15, Melusine locks him in a mountain as punishment. Her mother then punishes her by cursing her to be a serpent one day a week.

• The Fairy Melusina says that she married the Count only so that she could get a soul.
• She has alternately 6, 9, 10, and 12 sons.
• He spies her through a keyhole of her bedroom.
• She flies away, but stays near to visit her 2 youngest children every night.
• She's discovered in a well.
• One interesting source says that they are never actually married by the Church
• He owes all of his fortune and fame to her prowess and cunning and when she leaves because he was unfaithful, he ends up a hermit.
• Not really a romance - more of a business arrangement.
• His brother capitalizes on his jealousy and urges him to look in on Melusine and break their agreement.
• He closes the hole and is repentant and Melusine doesn't tell him that she knows right away.
• She doesn't leave immediately.
• Their son Geffrey is the catalyst for the final breakup when he kills his brother. It causes Raymond to turn on Melusine and reveal her secrets.

• Geog309i
• Legends of the Dragon
• Illiana, the Golden Dragon

• Sirens
• Mahabharata (5th, 6th Century BC)
• Rig Veda - Urvasi, a nymph, cannot be seen nude by her husband.
• Dorkedo (Fertility in Syria), is a city builder with a fish tail.
• Eros and Psyche
• Magna Mater (Gaul) - a city builder
• Wanda, Polish water sprite
• Meljuzini in Russia
• Daphne - when her arms change into branches
• Eve, from the Garden of Eden
• Launfal's mistress
• Melior and Partonope
• Lamia
• Sir Walter Map's story of Henno who marries a stranded maid.