​

In many of the mermaid oikotype’s collected in Ireland, the Maighdean Mhara refuses to speak when she comes home with her husband and captor. One oikotype referred to by Bo Almquist documents that  “ níor chuala éinne gáire ńo focal aisti ar feadh seacht mbliana (‘nobody heard her laugh or speak a single word for seven years') 

 

​