Throughout the coast of Ireland, there have been stories of beings that live in the depths. Beings that could change their form at will to walk amongst man on the shore. The rarest of these beings were the mara-corryn, spiders that walked along the ocean floor. Unlike the spiders found on land, these creatures were monstrous in size, just one of their legs twice the size of a man. despite their size, they were the most shy of the beings that belonged to the sea. They were content to live far beneath the waves, away from the sight of any man.

 

They survived their cold, crushing home by weaving a web large enough to wrap around their body, keeping them warm and protected from the cruelest of the ocean's embrace. But the land of their smaller cousins still calls to them, so once every while, on the darkest of nights when the moon is no longer present in the sky, they crawl through the waves to shed their web and become human to walk the shores.

 

Once on a very dark night, a stubborn fisherman had stayed out fishing, hoping to improve the meager catch he had made that day. He did not catch more than a few small fish so he returned to shore, dissapointed. As he walked along the sand, he took notice of a silken sheet. It shone white as the moon, woven in beautiful endless fashion. Captivated, he took the sheet with him, intending to sell it to make up for his failed catch. As he walked, he heard someone else behind him. He turned, thinking a thief, only to find a woman standing before him.

 

Even in the dim light of the night, the fisherman could see the woman's enchanting beauty. Her tall, slim figure outlined by long dark hair that fell to her ankles. Her face held a sad look, her voice almost quiet enough to be carried away by the waves.

 

"Please, may I have my web?" She asked. "Without it, I cannot return home beneath the sea."

 

The fisherman had heard stories of the beings, how they could not return to the sea without their web. He had fallen in love with her at first sight, and stubborn as he was, he refused to give her the web.

 

"Come home with me." he offered instead. "Be my wife and you will live in comfort."

 

"The life on land is not for me." She said. "The sea is my home."

 

"I will show you how wonderful life on the shore can be." The fisherman said. "You will not have to hide your beauty and you can weave as many webs as you like."

 

The mara-corryn refused, begging for the fisherman to return her web. The fisherman continued to deny her, offering again for her to be his wife. Defeated, she accepted his proposal and joined with him on land. The fisherman hid the web underneath the floor of his home, so the mara-corryn could never return to the sea.

 

Eventually, the mara-corryn accepted her new life on land and grew happy and content. She began to love her husband and together they had five children, two boys and three girls. She weaved many tapestries, some were sold by the fisherman while the rest adorned the home.

 

But the sea still called to the woman, her true home lying underneath the waves. While weaving, she would often pause to stare out at the sea. On dark nights, she would be found walking the length of the shore, tears streaming down her face. Seeing his wife's pain broke the fisherman's heart again and again.

 

One day, the fisherman had taken his two oldest out with him to fish, the mara-corryn had sent her daughters out to buy thread from the market. She sat out on the shore, staring at the sea in front of her. The fisherman returned from his trip to see his wife gazing at the waves yet again. The guilt weighed heavy in his heart as he went inside the house and took the sheet from it's hiding place.

 

The love he had for his wife was immense, and because of that love, he decided to give her the sheet. He couldn't bear to see his love in such pain, to be so close to home and yet so far. He brought the sheet to her, giving her the freedom to return home. Overjoyed, she took the sheet in hand, finally able to return to the life she once had. But even as she wrapped herself in the sheet, she hesitated. She felt a call, but it was not a call to the water before her.

 

Her heart ached, but not for the sea. It ached instead for the life that she had found on land. her husband whom she had grown to love deeply, and the children she had with him. The lonely life that she once had no longer appeased her, the sea called for her but the life that her husband had shown her kept her from leaving. She returned her sheet to her husband, proclaiming her love for him and their family and her newfound home.

 

Her husband was filled with gratitude and love for his wife and the choice she had made. For the rest of their lives, the fisherman and his wife stayed together. The wife still felt the call from the ocean, but now she preffered the warm sun to the cold embrace of the depths.