...how his naked ears were tortured by the sirens sweetly singing..."

When I was 6 years old my Mom took me to see that wonderful old flick, Ulysses, with Kirk Douglas in the title role. I was really impressed by Ulysses' adventure with the Sirens. You will recall that the gods had warned him to beware the sirens, that their song would lure sailors onto the rocks where their ship would founder and they would be devoured.

The wily Greek instructed his crew to put wax in their ears so they could row past the danger without being bewitched, but he ordered them to lash him to the mast so he could hear their song for himself.

It has always amazed me at the different attitudes to knowledge of the two great cultures of the Bronze Age, the two wellsprings of western civilization. The ancient Hebrews saw knowledge as death, original sin, to the Greeks it was life itself, and worth any risk.

Never cared much for mermaids, I'm a leg and hip man, myself.