Mermaids, Rainbows and Skeleton Leaves

Mermaids keep turning up everywhere at the moment.  I couldn't believe that Byron's family crest was a mermaid, mermaids already having their place in Fleams.  Then the Jacqueline Simpson pub name book (see last post) had The Mermaid Inn and its story.  It stands lonely on the ridge, on the opposite side of the valley to Fleams.  Its tale of a mermaid's pool is a different one from Fleams's own story, more melancholy.  There is another mermaid's pool on Kinder Scout (see Mass Trespass and Ewan MaColl).  These hills are full of mermaids, and we are the most landlocked place in the UK.
Now I am reading Tide-race by Brenda Chamberlain, inspired by our visit to Ruthin Craft Centre.  The first few chapters are full of silkies, selkies, and mermaids.
"Come to me.  Come to me, said the silkie".
"Ho there! beautiful beast.  Moon-dappled silkie!"
"she twists to dive and ... where her back of mottled fur touches the surface, is iridescent as mother of pearl.  Rainbow.  Mother of pearl, sheen of the sleek and mottled skin."
(Quotes from Tide-race)
Here is a photo of a cup-marked stone, that could represent a mermaid's pool in the hills:

 

 

Here is a some embroidery I did on some skeleton leaves, inspired by the above picture: