Of course, they had heard of the Muses’ legendary music, but they also knew that the power of their own songs. She invited them to enter a singing contest against the nine muses.Īfter consulting together, the Sirens agreed to enter the contest.
#Who sang fish heads full#
She had heard praise for their songs, full of beauty and anguish, and she was not disappointed by the live performance! So the goddess decided to give the girls a challenge. Competition with the MusesĪfter some time, Hera came to visit the Sirens on their lonely island. Then she banished them to an uninhabited island. She cursed them, declaring that they would stay in their bird form until someone passed by their songs without stopping, at which point they would die.
Heartbroken over the loss of her daughter, Demeter lashed out against the innocent handmaidens, who had failed to bring good news back from their search. Demeter gave them golden wings, so that they could fly over the earth searching for Persephone-but the search was vain, since Persephone had been imprisoned in the underworld. When Persephone was abducted by Hades, the loyal handmaidens volunteered to help look for her. They sang to her in sweet voices and played instruments to please her. These lovely girls trailed behind Persephone when she visited her favorite meadows to pick flowers. Legends about Sirens Persephone’s Handmaidensīefore the Sirens became the Sirens, they were mortal girls who served the goddess Persephone. They also had-or claimed to have-prophetic abilities, which lent depth to the lyrics of their songs. They also accompanied their voices with musical instruments: lyres, flutes, and pipes. The Sirens are famous for their high, clear singing voices, which were so full of emotion that they drove men insane. Instead, the men might have died of starvation after keeping the Siren’s company for several weeks. Although the island was littered in human remains, there were no signs that the Sirens killed men. This truth was something that they needed to share, even if it was more painful than mortals could bear to hear.įinally, the Sirens may have been desperately lonely and used their songs to tempt men to join them on their island. “We know of all the sorrows in the wide land we know all things that come to pass on the fruitful earth.” It’s also possible that the Sirens sang to express their grief. Abused by life, they decided to become monsters and destroy the lives of others. It’s possible that the Sirens sang to avenge the wrongs against them. They were cursed by both Demeter and the Muses and exiled to a small island, where they were forced to live alone. So if Sirens aren’t cold-blooded killers, what motivates them to sing?īefore the Sirens took up their deadly singing career, they suffered several setbacks in life. “When a sailor hears the Siren’s perfidious song, and bewitched by the melody, he is dragged to a self-chosen fate too soon falling into the net of melodious fate, he forgets to steer, quite happy.” Few stories describe the temptresses physically attacking humans, which leaves the possibility that their songs weren’t designed to kill.
Yet, the Sirens may not have been evil by nature.
#Who sang fish heads skin#
They sit in a meadow men’s corpses lie heaped up all round them, moldering upon the bones as the skin decays.”Ī search of the sea floor around their island would turn up entire ships, wrecked as they tried to get to the Sirens. “They bewitch any mortal who approaches them. The Sirens were a deadly bunch there’s no use for argument there. They were not particularly beautiful, especially considered to the sea nymphs who frolicked in the waters below them. Instead of having fish tails, the first sirens had bird features: feathered wings, clawed feet, and sometimes sparrow’s tails. These images are a far-cry from the original Sirens. And she is set against a stormy background-a shipwreck waiting to happen. Her long hair and scaly tail are darkly colored. In many ways, the modern Siren is a creepy version of the mermaid. If you search the internet for images of Sirens, you’ll probably get a flood of beautiful women with fish tails.
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