Greenville is a city that is located in Washington County in the state of Mississippi. Greenville is the largest city in northern Mississippi. The population in Greenville is around forty thousand, which makes it more plausible that there are famous or notable people living in this city.

This city was named after an American Revolutionary War hero by the name of Nathaniel Greene. Greenville sits on the eastern bank of Lake Ferguson, which is a lake left from an old channel of the Mississippi River. If you visit this part of Greenville, you will find a floating casino near downtown.

North of Greenville, you will find the Winterville Mounds Historic Site. This site includes a museum and a picnic area. There are also Indian burial mounds located in this area.

Greenville was the home to some very notable people and also the birthplace to some of those notable people. Jim Henson, the famous puppeteer was born in Greenville. His works are still delighting children today. It was also the birthplace of Mary Wilson, who was a singer for The Supremes.

Shelby Foote, a famous author, was also born here. Pro baseball player, Frank White was born in Greenville. Also born in Greenville: archaeologist Theresa Helbach, Chinese American journalist Sam Chu Lin and World War II Medal of Honor recipient Robert T. Henry. As you can see, a colorful array of people have originated from this city. Greenville is also the hometown of the Percy family.

Le Roy Percy is a United States Senator and William Alexander Percy was an author that took charge of the flood recovery in Mississippi in 1927. William Alexander Percy wrote an autobiography on the Mississippi Delta that was far more informative than any other was. Walker Percy, another author, wrote a novel entitled "Love Among the Ruins." An African American bear hunter by the name of Holt Collier is buried in Greenville. Holt Collier was a guide for President T. Roosevelt on a bear hunt at one point in time.

Betty Jo Crisler, also from Greenville, became one of the first women Methodist ministers in the plains of Texas. Leon Whittaker was an African American trombonist that lived in Greenville in the early days of his career. Jerry Rice, who is a famous athlete, resides in Greenville now.

As you can see, Greenville has been very prosperous with famous and notable individuals. Throughout Greenville's history there have been notable figures born and raised there. There were also several notable people that lived some of their days out in this city.

Can we learn life lessons from fairy tales?

I believe we can. We can learn from any good story because a good story is about people. Fairy tales are some of the oldest stories around. Some have existed for hundreds of years, some for thousands! During that time a process of selection occurs. Good, meaningful tales are kept, poor ones dropped.

Let us take the old European folktale of Melusina. Here is my favorite version:

The story starts with the fairy Pressina. Pressina married a King on the condition that he not visit her during her "laying-in". This is the time just before and after a woman gives birth. The King agreed and soon Pressina had three daughters, triplets. When the King was informed he forgot himself and went to see Pressina. Instantly, Pressina screamed and disappeared, taking the children with her.

The children grew to be beautiful young women. When they were 15 one of them, Melusina, asked Pressina why they did not live with their father. After Pressina explained, Melusina was seized with anger. She called her sisters and in secret they planned revenge on their father. They robbed him of all his wealth and imprisoned him.

Then Melusina told her mother what they had done. Pressina punished them for their actions. Melusina was cursed that every Saturday she would become a mermaid. This curse would endure until she found a husband who would marry her under the condition of never seeing her on Saturday. Melusina could not explain to him what happened to her or why.

Melusina left her mother then and went to live in France. She became a fairy queen and ruled the land around a fountain called the Fountain of the Fairies or the Fountain of Thirst.

One day a knight named Raymond came to the fountain to drink. There he saw three women, one of whom was Melusina. He was struck by her beauty and her pleasing manners and soon they were in love. He asked Melusina to marry him and she told him the strange condition: he must never see her on Saturday and he must never ask her why.

Raymond agreed and they were wed. They lived happily together for many years. The only flaw being that all their children where deformed and ugly. This occasioned Raymond some sadness but he never considered giving up his wife. Over time his love for her had only increased.

One Saturday, while Melusina was hidden away, Raymond's cousin came to pay him a visit. They talked and Raymond accidentally dropped a remark about the strange condition of his marriage. His cousin seized on this and insisted that Raymond find out what Melusina was up to on Saturdays. He suggested that the curse that haunted Raymond's children is because Melusina was a demon, or the mistress or some monster.

Raymond broke into his wife's room and found Melusina sitting in a bathtub. In the place of legs she had the long, scaly tail of a mermaid.

This was the end of their marriage. Some versions say that Melusina shrieked and jumped out the window. Others that she berated her husband and even killed him. All agree that they never saw each other again.

One interesting point about this story is that Melusina repeats her mother's situation with similar results. They asked for trust and love and were rewarded with suspicion and betrayal. Is this sort of thing still happening? Yes, though in different forms of course....

In some Latin American countries men do not allow their wives to have keys to their own houses. They do not trust their wives and are afraid of what they may do in private. These people are not from small towns far from civilization but modern city-dwellers. They are often well-educated and from all classes, rich and poor. Sad to say, Raymond and Melusina are alive and well.