I held her leal and fair—
She turned to shadow on my breast
And melted into air!
And lo! about me, fold on fold,
A writhing serpent hung—
An eye of jet, a skin of gold,
A garnet for a tongue.”
Thomas Bailey Aldrich, Lamia.
Lamia. Beautiful woman, with a serpent’s nature and much of the serpent’s glittering, sinuous charm. A seductive creature who lures men only to destroy.—Lamia, poem by John Keats (1820).
Lamin´ak. Basque fairies, little folk, who live under ground, and sometimes come into houses down the chimney, in order to change a fairy child for a human one. They bring good luck with them, but insist on great cleanliness, and always give their orders in words the very opposite of their intention. They hate church bells. Every Basque Laminak is named Guïllen (William). (See Say and Mean).