4/ Melusine, a female spirit of fresh water in a sacred spring or river, is usually depicted as a woman who is a serpent or fish from the waist down. She is also sometimes illustrated with wings, two tails, or both.
5/ According to folklore, Melusine was cursed by her fairy mother - and every Saturday the bottom half of her body would turn into a serpent tail.
6/ Melusine married a French Count named Raymond under the promise that he would never to try to see her on a Saturday. Raymond broke his vow, spied on his wife and saw Melusine in her half-serpent from.
7/ After seeing Raymond’s horror, she flew out of the castle as a winged serpent - only to return to nurse her children.
8/ The House of Lusignan (which ruled Cyprus for over 250 years) are said in folk tales and medieval literature to be descended from these children of the half-serpent Melusine.