The Vain Mermaid

Once upon a time, a king of Scotland granted a coat of arms to a man named Glass. In the center of the shield was a red fleur-de-lis, among three red stars, on a silver field, surrounded by a red border. The crest of the helmet was in the image of a bare-breasted mermaid with a comb in her right hand and a mirror in her left. The Vain Mermaid by Bill Glass is a genealogy of the author’s ancestors. The histories date back to 1635 and include such momentous events as Monmouth’s Rebellion in 1685, the Battle of New Orleans in 1815 and the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. The legends start in the eighth century and involve Vikings, Norman knights and cathedral stone masons.