A Thin Line: An Interview with Eric Lewis
Excerpt from Tales of Root, Silk & Bone
An encounter with the Goddess of the Sea—a mermaid—on the southern coast of Trinidad.
Excerpt from “A Thin Line: An Interview with Eric Lewis (Prince of Moruga)” in Tales of Root, Silk & Bone
All those things were part of the prophecies – like the belongings of the ancestors will come to you. The animals, the creatures, the whales will come to you and be a gift to you. You will know what to do with it when the time goes by, you will get your dreams and you will be guided by them…
One of the whales died, so I was like, why, how could these things be a gift to me as the Prince of Moruga, and it’s dead? They said, listen, those that lived, you gave back as a gift to the ocean, and the whale is the symbol for the Goddess of the Sea, and that she’s also a mermaid.
You know what happens next?
That was after the third whale. I was not very close, like, from the distance from here to that building. She’s down on the beach, on the rock, glittering, diamonds all over, long hair – hair coming over, covering the breasts and sprawling over her back. She wasn’t white – I couldn’t tell what colour she was. She looked like brown skin, like probably my complexion. It was the craziest thing.
Four of my other friends were there. One of the guys got mesmerised by her, he wanted to go down in the water, and he wanted to go and swim with her. He would’ve been dead. We had to literally pull him away to go and leave with us, and when we were driving now, because of how Moruga is made up, we’re driving along the coastal area there – the coastline, and he is in still in a mesmerised state, wanting to go to the beach to meet her.
I didn’t say anything when I first saw her, because I didn’t want to think I will come across as if I am crazy or I am hallucinating, I’m just probably tired, I just need to go and sleep. So I left, I went back in my truck and I sat there in my van. And then – my God I seeing that, look at that mermaid nah, she real pretty eh? I was like, I thought it was me alone, oh my God. I told them, guys, we need to get out of here. Right? And we got in and we got out.
I did speak to my uncle Justin about it and he laughed. He said he saw her long time ago when he was 16 years old. He said when he saw her, she did this – beckoned, and she dived. And he was in a boat and he saw her, out at the same front of that beach. When he saw her, he said – look arms! He said he said it so fast, like you know he wanted everybody to see – look, arms there – and she’s swimming, going like that.
I asked the elder council too, what’s going on? They said, that is the Goddess of the Sea approving you and everything that you have been doing and everything you have done, that is how we are saying thank you for saving our creatures, and taking care of them, whether in life or in death. In life and in death, they are all yours. I said all right.
Did you know that the teeth from the whale was the ceremonial object for the necklace for the prince and the chief? So with the Amerindian group now, they took it and they started to make the necklaces. So they did that for the ceremony of the unveiling of The First Peoples Monument and Statue in Moruga on Rock River Hill, which was the grand ceremony that we had there – everybody who attended was like, wow, this was like magic.
The story of the Prince of Moruga couldn’t become more completing and more compelling and interesting than with all these – I can’t say fictitious, cause it’s real, but this kind of mystical stuff happening and following in its scene.
I remember my drive down to Moruga for this interview. I didn’t quite know what to except—I had gotten Eric’s contact from Donna Mora in Lopinot, after interviewing her and letting her know I was in the process of collecting stories from people in Trinidad on folklore, the supernatural, the unexplained.
What I received was so much more than I even dreamed.
Eric says that “As part of my role as Prince of Moruga, I have been exploring the history of Trinidad, particularly in the area of Moruga, researching and documenting it. Coinciding in that as part of the history in the cultural aspect of it was the emergence of all these myths and legends. Sometimes, when I am doing the oral history interviews among the elders, there is a thin line, in Moruga, where there is a fact and where there is a fiction. It’s almost as if Moruga is a fairytale space altogether.”
As such, I received a wealth of stories and experiences from the Moruga area that spanned many decades, passed on from some of the people to Eric, and through him, to me. This excerpt above is only a small part of the 3-hour interview (which I transcribed and edited manually—no voice-to-text programs for me, oh no, just me and my headphones and computer against the world) which, in the book, is split into two parts: A Thin Line, on discussing the “mystical, magical”, and Moruga: A Land of Magic to discuss the hauntings and obeah.
One thing that I learned in my researching of the folklore of Trinidad (which, I admit, I am still learning something new every time I discuss it with others), is that the myth of mermaids—as we know it—are more associated with our sister isle of Tobago. Gerard Besson explained it as a difference in the histories of the two isles—Tobago, colonised by the English, and Trinidad, colonised by the Spanish, then French, then English. So while most, if not all, of Trinidad’s folklore has French roots in their names (Soucouyant, La Diablesse), the folklore of Tobago is more English based. The differences also split culturally; the churile, for example, has basis in our past through the East Indian indentured labourers, and stories of this folklore character are more found in Central Trinidad, where we have a greater population of peoples of East Indian descent.
It was really interesting to hear of this Goddess of the Sea myth from our southern coast, but considering the prevalence and popularity of mermaid myths worldwide—especially with stories of sailors over the decades, I don’t know why I would be surprised. Maybe because I never heard of mermaids in Trinidad, hearing more of our Mama Dlo (or Maman D’leau), in connection with our rivers and seas.
I aim to research and learn more of Tobago’s folklore (especially mermaids) at a future date, and really look forward to connecting to our sister isle through the history and stories told there. (Maybe—even—a compendium of mermaid myths throughout the Caribbean? Oh, what a dream.)
But, til then, I will remain enchanted with the stories traversing the thin line where there is a fact and where there is a fiction.
Stay wondering,
ᛝBritt
What is a mermaid myth or story that enchants you to this day?
Post Scripts 🧜🏽♀️
🧜🏽♀️ To find out more about Tales of Root, Silk & Bone, check out the links I have here.
🧜🏽♀️ To learn more from Gerard Besson on Trinidad folklore, check out the Fables Series done by Loop TT.
🧜🏽♀️ To read a hauntingly beautiful story on mermaids inspired by Charlotteville, Tobago, check out The Mermaid of Black Conch by Monique Roffey.