This strange “breathing” of the sea, if you will, had already stirred prehistoric peoples into seeking an explanation for the phenomenon of ebb and flow, but it was the Ancient Greeks were the first Europeans who came close to solving the mystery: The mariner, Pytheas, sensed that Moon must have something to do with the tides.
Coastal dwellers of the North Sea offered a more tentative explanation: for ages they believed that their gods governed the tides. And all manner of hocus pocus continued to surround the phenomenon of ebb and flood right up until relatively modern times. In some corners of the North Sea, people believe that at high tide a woman will bear a boy and at low tide a girl. And God help those who are born when the tide is a-turning! And for goodness’ sake, never bathe in the North Sea when it’s ebbing. It seems any excuse for not having a bath will do!
