sm_monthly 5-2-10 theme
Because clearly one story about minotaur wasn't enough mythology-breaking.
Title: Siren Call
Author: purplekitte
Medium: Fanfic
Theme: Slash/Femmeslash--image
Genre: Drama, Romance
Version: Manga, Greek mythology
Rating: PG
The sirens had long been the terror of their seas, forcing sailors to take a longer route past the island of the Gorgons or between Scylla and Charybdis.
The brave men tried to kill the mermaids and their ships were dashed on the rocks. The sure men tried to tame the mermaids as wives and their ships were dashed on the rocks. The wise men put wax in their ears and sailed past if the god of the sea favored them, in times of greatest need.
Among the children of the queen of the land, there was one daughter who had been sired not by the king but by Poseidon himself, in the form of a great wave. This princess was drawn to the ocean and would often stand for hours on the beach, regardless of weather. In her disregard, she was eventually swept out to sea in a great storm.
The princess floated long on a piece of driftwood, but was carried through the waves by the Nereids, her half-sisters. They left her on an island inhabited by beautiful maidens, but no men. “Are you Amazons?” the princess asked a manish woman with hair like sunlight on sand.
“Nay,” she said, “We are sirens.”
“Then why do you not sing?”
“We might only sing in water, but any who hears our song is fated to cast themselves after us and drown. We do not sing now that you might live awhile longer.”
“Why must you sing?”
“We are the daughters of Ouranous, the sky father, after he was castrated by his youngest son. The Titans hated us and the gods who rule now, more. We are hated by the sun and moon and lightning, yet in the waters cursed to sing our would-be husbands to death.”
“I am a woman.”
“You too will be drawn to the water if you hear us and will be caught in the sea foam.”
“I will not cause you the pain of the open air on my account to only postpone my death a little while. I am brave if not wise.”
They wept at that, but the short-haired one told them to honor her choice, and they sank into the sea. The most beautiful music the princess had ever heard began and she found building in herself a great love for the eldest siren sister and picked her voice out from among the others and desired much to go to her.
Forgetting all caution, the princess leapt into the waves and swam to the beautiful siren. The siren sang to her and held her as the water filled her lungs.
But the princess did not die, and she said, “I am the daughter of Poseidon, god of the seas, and drowning is not my fate. Now there is one who has heard your song and lived, as you were cursed that there never was to be. Therefore, I say your curse is broken, from this day forth.”
And so it was. The sirens were overjoyed and cried long strings of pearls for tears and swam off through the ocean to sing for husbands who would not be taken from them by the sea. But the princess and the eldest siren stayed at the bay of the island Anthemusa, where, now that one knew she need not fear drowning and the other not forced to sing, they could finally kiss under the waves.
Title: Siren Call
Author: purplekitte
Medium: Fanfic
Theme: Slash/Femmeslash--image
Genre: Drama, Romance
Version: Manga, Greek mythology
Rating: PG
The sirens had long been the terror of their seas, forcing sailors to take a longer route past the island of the Gorgons or between Scylla and Charybdis.
The brave men tried to kill the mermaids and their ships were dashed on the rocks. The sure men tried to tame the mermaids as wives and their ships were dashed on the rocks. The wise men put wax in their ears and sailed past if the god of the sea favored them, in times of greatest need.
Among the children of the queen of the land, there was one daughter who had been sired not by the king but by Poseidon himself, in the form of a great wave. This princess was drawn to the ocean and would often stand for hours on the beach, regardless of weather. In her disregard, she was eventually swept out to sea in a great storm.
The princess floated long on a piece of driftwood, but was carried through the waves by the Nereids, her half-sisters. They left her on an island inhabited by beautiful maidens, but no men. “Are you Amazons?” the princess asked a manish woman with hair like sunlight on sand.
“Nay,” she said, “We are sirens.”
“Then why do you not sing?”
“We might only sing in water, but any who hears our song is fated to cast themselves after us and drown. We do not sing now that you might live awhile longer.”
“Why must you sing?”
“We are the daughters of Ouranous, the sky father, after he was castrated by his youngest son. The Titans hated us and the gods who rule now, more. We are hated by the sun and moon and lightning, yet in the waters cursed to sing our would-be husbands to death.”
“I am a woman.”
“You too will be drawn to the water if you hear us and will be caught in the sea foam.”
“I will not cause you the pain of the open air on my account to only postpone my death a little while. I am brave if not wise.”
They wept at that, but the short-haired one told them to honor her choice, and they sank into the sea. The most beautiful music the princess had ever heard began and she found building in herself a great love for the eldest siren sister and picked her voice out from among the others and desired much to go to her.
Forgetting all caution, the princess leapt into the waves and swam to the beautiful siren. The siren sang to her and held her as the water filled her lungs.
But the princess did not die, and she said, “I am the daughter of Poseidon, god of the seas, and drowning is not my fate. Now there is one who has heard your song and lived, as you were cursed that there never was to be. Therefore, I say your curse is broken, from this day forth.”
And so it was. The sirens were overjoyed and cried long strings of pearls for tears and swam off through the ocean to sing for husbands who would not be taken from them by the sea. But the princess and the eldest siren stayed at the bay of the island Anthemusa, where, now that one knew she need not fear drowning and the other not forced to sing, they could finally kiss under the waves.