Playing Up Old Changeling Myths.

This time I mean literal changelings. Anyway of adapting traits assigned to changelings in folklore to mermaid offspring?

Yes.

Didn't know River Song was a troper. So in the other thread Sparkysharps suggested having merbabies be born unable to survive in the sea at birth and have to be raised by humans until they were seven, as an allusion to the stories that say faerie offspring need to be nursed on human milk.

edited 29th May '11 9:05:14 PM by Zolnier

That sounds quite feasible.

So anyway a kid from the sea could be a little uncanny valley?

You can give them features subtly hinting at fish or marine-mammal origins.

Hmm, maybe they don't blink.

That would be pretty creepy. It would make sense, though: maybe they don't need to blink because they have an extra transparent layer of eyelid.

Any habits that could creep people out on occasion?

Also how could merfolk get their newborns into human hands?

So how could a mermaid get her offspring back if the adoptive parents moved inland?

First of all: The 'no blinking' idea sounds awesome. As for other strange behavior, maybe the children will, once they're four or five years old, start spending more time under water. Like putting their heads under when they're bathing and stay like that for several minuttes, or even hours.

How the merfolk could get their children to the humans ... hm, that's tricky. Maybe they swim up to docks by night and leave them in the boats there. If the adoptive parents move inland - unless the mermaid can grow legs or if there's a river leading into the new home, I'd say she's out of luck.

Maybe inland mer kids will run away and try to get to the ocean.