This strange story, in which classic traditions are blended with the common form of a fairy-tale, was sent to me from Siena, where it had been taken down from some authority to me unknown. It begins very abruptly, for which reason I have supplied the introductory passage in parenthesis.
Minuzzolo, led strangely afar over the sea, drawn by the voice of the Siren, suggests that the Argonauts were called Minii, because they were descended, like Jason, from the daughters of Minia. There may be here some confusion with Minos, of whom Virgil says that “he holds in his hand an urn and shakes the destiny of all human beings, citing them to appear before his tribunal,” “Quæsitor Minos urnam movet.” In the Italian legend Minuzzolo, or Minos, has a ring which compels all who hear his charm to obey.
Minuzzolo wins his Siren by means of a ring, and it is remarkable that Hesychius derives the name Siren from σεἰρη, seire, a small ring. Moreover, the sirens in the old Greek mythology did not of their own accord or will entice sailors to death. “The oracle,” says Pozzoli (Dizionario Mit.) “had predicted that they should perish whenever a single mortal who had heard their enchanting voices should escape them.” Therefore they were compelled by a superior power to act as they did.
Confused and garbled as it all is, it seems almost certain that in this tale there are relics of old Græco-Latin mythology.
The names of the three Sirens were Aglaope, Pisinoe, Thexiopia; according to Cherilus, Thelxiope, Molpe and Aglaophonos. Clearchus, however, gives one as Leucosia, another as Ligea, the third as Parthenope. “Aglaope was sweetest to behold, Aglaophone had the most enchanting voice.” Therefore we may infer that Aglaope, or Aglaophone, was the heroine of this tale. It is remarkable that Aglaia, a daughter of Jupiter, was the fairest and first of the three Muses, as Aglaope was of the Sirens.
It would seem evident that Edgar A. Poe had the Siren Ligea in mind when he wrote:
“Ligeia, Ligeia,
My beautiful one,
Whose harshest idea
Will to melody run . . .
Ligeia! wherever
Thy image may be,
No magic shall sever
Thy music from thee;
Thou hast bound many eyes
In a dreamy sleep,
But the strains still arise
Which thy vigilance keep.”
Most remarkable of all is the fact that the Sirens, who were regarded as evil witches or enchantresses of old, are in this story, which was written by a witch, indicated as women compelled by fate to delude mariners, which has escaped all commentators, and yet was plainly enough declared by the Oracle.
LAVERNA.
One day a fox entered a sculptor’s shop,
And found a marble head, when thus he spoke:
‘O Head! there is such feeling shown in thee
By art—and yet thou canst not feel at all!’Æsop’s Fables.