Alphyn
Y Draig Goch
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Culture 
Siren
- #3026
Greek (culture)
Flying (attribute)
Seductive (attribute)
Deadly (behaviour)
These are birds that are unable to fly and they have the heads of women. They sing beautiful songs on beaches where there are bones of many sailors. They sing to lure men in order to devour them. According to Homer there are only two sirens but in other stories there are three; Parthenope- ‘Maiden-Face’, Leucoisa- ‘White One’ and Ligeia- ‘Shrill’. Some stories state that there are many Sirens. These include Aglaope- ‘Beautiful Face’, Aglophonos- ‘Beautiful Voice’, Molpe- ‘Music’, Peisinoe- ‘Mind Persuader’, Raidne- ‘Improvement’, Teles- ‘Perfect’, Thelxepeia- ‘Soothing Words’ and Thelxiope- ‘Persuasive Face’. It is said that the Sirens were once virgins who refused to court with man or god and so they were punished to be these flightless birds. It is also said that the goddess Demeter was angered by them for not helping her daughter and cursed them to find her. They are said to be flightless because they lost a singing competition against the muses who then plucked feathers from their wings to make crowns for themselves.
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Background Illustrations (Left top-bottom, right top-bottom): Medusa by Gonzalo Ordonez, Loch Ness Monster by dyb,
Basilisk by JustMick, Shuck by Serphire, Ts Um A Kas - Illustration of a rock painting (from Dover publications).