Page:Modern Greek folklore and ancient Greek religion - a study in survivals.djvu/190

 him and made a wager with him that she would dance longer than he would go on playing. If he should win, he should have her to wife; if she should win, she was to take all his flocks as the prize. Three days the shepherd played, three whole nights and days; then his strength failed him, and the Lamia took his sheep and goats and left him destitute.

This poem has some points in common with a belief said to be held in the district of Parnassos, that if a young man—especially one who is handsome—play the flute or sing at mid-day or midnight upon the shore, the Lamia thereof emerges from the depths of the sea, and with promises of a happy life tries to persuade him to be her husband and to come with her into the sea; if the young man refuse, she slays him ; and presumably, though this is not mentioned, if he consent, she drowns him.

The same Lamia, it is recorded, is also known on the coasts of Elis as a dangerous foe to sailors; for her work is the waterspout and the whirlwind, whereby their ships are engulfed. Among the Cyclades too the same belief certainly prevails (though I have never obtained there any details concerning the character of the Lamia); for on seeing a waterspout the sailors will exclaim, 'the Lamia of the Sea is passing' ([Greek: pernaei hê Lamia tou pelagou]), and sometimes stick a black-handled knife into the mast as a charm against her.

In these somewhat meagre accounts of the Lamia of the Sea, there are several points in harmony with the general conception of Nereids. She is beautiful; she seeks the love of young men, even though that love mean death to them; she is sweet of voice and untiring in dance; and she passes to and fro in waterspout or whirlwind. It is not surprising then to find that in Elis she is actually named queen of the Nereids, that is, without doubt, of the sea-nymphs only, since she herself has her domain only in the sea. And the title 'queen of the shore' which I learnt of my boatman from Scyros points to the same belief; for as we found Artemis, 'queen of the mountains,' to be the leader of all the, p. 773 (1880).]