The mermaid is half a woman and half a fish. A mermaid appeared in Ballyheigue a few years ago. A man seeing her on the rocks brought her home. She never spoke while in the house, and she had a little wand called the "slatín sraoideachta". The man took the wand and hid from the mermaid. One day he went to town and his mother was tidying the loft and in the rubbish she found the wand and she threw it down to the kitchen. The mermaid who was in the kitchen found it and she laughed and ran away.