The Sea Gives...

The Merman's Children.

"That was a reason why merfolk were scarce. They required more food afloat than men do ashore. A bad catch or a murrain among the shellfish might make an entire tribe starve to death." (VIII, p. 53)

That might also be a reason why merfolk were either extinct or at least so rare that they were never (?) seen in the twentieth century? A skillful writer makes an inherited fantastic premise seem plausible.

But what initially drew my attention to this passage was the immediately following sentence:

"The sea gives; the sea takes." (ibid.)

It sounds familiar. Can we see Biblical passages not only often quoted in but also sometimes hiding behind Poul Anderson's texts?

The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away

-copied from here.